Industry greets labor developments with cautious optimism
Recent labor decisions have agricultural industry insiders cautiously optimistic that long-lasting reform may be on the horizon. Learn more.
Recent labor decisions have agricultural industry insiders cautiously optimistic that long-lasting reform may be on the horizon.
In early September, the USDA announced it was discontinuing a method of measuring farm wages dating to the 19th century. In a Sept. 3 notice to the Federal Register, the National Agriculture Statistics Network (NASS) said the Agricultural Labor Survey (or Farm Labor Survey) was not designed to reflect the current state of agriculture or labor.
That came on the heels of a federal court decision vacating the Department of Labor (DOL)’s 2023 Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR) Methodology rule, which followed the June suspension of a contested measure that extended protections to H-2A guest workers who organize to form labor unions.
Agricultural organizations including the National Potato Council (NPC), the National Council of Agricultural Employers (NCAE) and the Georgia Fruit & Vegetable Association greeted the actions with relief and applause.
“We continue to push for comprehensive ag labor reform,” Mike Wenkel, NPC chief operating officer, told Great American Media Services in a Sept. 10 interview. “There’s really two key components to that. One is stabilizing the existing workforce by providing some sort of legal status for those people currently working in the country to stay here and to continue to work. Secondly is having a functional guest worker program.
“From an optimism standpoint, we really believe we’re at a place where most of the stars are aligning, and we truly believe it’s attainable.”
Industry groups also argued the DOL’s reliance on FLS results allowed wages for foreign farmworkers under the H-2A guest worker program to outpace those for domestic food producers.
“The belief is that it created a false wage rate within agriculture,” Wenkel said. “The question for the near future is, what’s going to be used to determine that Adverse Effect Wage Rate? You have to be able to prove that there’s an adverse effect on domestic workers first, which much of the data shows there’s no domestic workers willing to do the work. So it’s a little bit of a balance, but I think (the decision) creates a positive opportunity for us to try to get something that’s more reflective of what’s happening on those operations.”
In its fiscal year 2026 appropriations bill, the House Appropriations Committee advanced a provision that would freeze the AEWR for H-2A workers at 2023 levels for two years.
Mike Wenkel
AEWR calculation debate
On Aug. 27, a federal court in Louisiana vacated a 2023 DOL rule that based the H-2A program’s AEWR on the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey in addition to the Farm Labor Survey (FLS), applying permanent, non-agricultural wage data to seasonal agricultural jobs and subjecting growers to periodic wage increases. “For years, federal regulators forced America’s farm and ranch families to pay an escalating, imaginary wage,” said Michael Marsh, NCAE president and CEO. “For years, NCAE and our members fought to have the Department put an end to misusing the FLS as a wage-setting mechanism for H-2A workers.” In response to that ruling, DOL said it would revert to a 2010 regulation that defaulted to the FLS for establishing wage rates. On Aug. 29, USDA filed a notice in the Federal Register of its intent to discontinue the FLS, saying it was outdated. In the Sept. 3 notice, NASS said improvements to the DOL’s Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) program “make OEWS the superior barometer for measuring farm wages.” The FLS collected information from farmers and not farm labor contractors — data that is instead collected by OEWS, USDA said. The agency said that, given the shortage of domestic labor and the complex process to navigate visa programs for foreign workers, more and more farmers rely on farm labor contractors to supply their workforce.Industry groups also argued the DOL’s reliance on FLS results allowed wages for foreign farmworkers under the H-2A guest worker program to outpace those for domestic food producers.
“The belief is that it created a false wage rate within agriculture,” Wenkel said. “The question for the near future is, what’s going to be used to determine that Adverse Effect Wage Rate? You have to be able to prove that there’s an adverse effect on domestic workers first, which much of the data shows there’s no domestic workers willing to do the work. So it’s a little bit of a balance, but I think (the decision) creates a positive opportunity for us to try to get something that’s more reflective of what’s happening on those operations.”
In its fiscal year 2026 appropriations bill, the House Appropriations Committee advanced a provision that would freeze the AEWR for H-2A workers at 2023 levels for two years.