A group project
ajdfb
SenateBillforWorkandSociety.docxWe are doing Worker Fluidity/Mobility for immigrant workers. Please send me facts or research about this topic. Thank you :)
Our stance is that guest workers should have the right to switch employers if they want to.
Format:
· Our position (that of our stakeholder group Immigration Works USA.)
· Identify Allies
· Counter-arguments.
· Identify Opponents
Counter arguments:
· Guest workers are expensive.
· American workers could do the jobs of guest workers.
For whoever does the opposition, this might be a good article to use: https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2017/05/18/528948143/government-confirms-a-surge-in-foreign-guest-workers-on-u-s-farms
Senate Testimony
Work Fluidity and its Impact on Guestworkers in America
By Shannon Enstad, Carina Lu, Kameron Halsall, and Bryan Buzzo
As representatives of ImmigrationWorks USA we believe the proposed senate bill will have a positive impact on workers and employers alike. The currently existing H-2A, and H-2B visa programs are rampant with abuse and inefficient in satisfying this country's labor need.
When workers are tied exclusively to one employer they become victims of a very serious power imbalance; one reminiscent of slavery. “Large agricultural corporations have created a supply chain that enriches its executives at the expense of those who work in the fields.” (Farm Labor Organizing Committee.)
In 2015, Signal International, an oil rig company, issued an apology to hundreds of exploited Indian guest workers in response to labor trafficking lawsuits brought against it by Southern Poverty Law Center in 2008. (Jamieson, 2013.) Signal told its workers they were traveling on visas to work for reputable companies that would lead to permanent citizenship. This was false.
Among other things, “H-2A workers are routinely cheated out of wages, they are paid lower wages than U.S. workers, they are forced to work overtime without pay, and they receive phony earnings statements.” (Palacios, S. I., & Rubio., K. A. 2010.). Furthermore, workers are intimidated into staying silent against their abusers, or face loss of wages and potentially deportation. They are rarely, if ever, given appropriate medical care for their injuries.
According to a report published by the National Guestworker Alliance, “some H-2B employers attempt to control workers by charging above-market rates for benefits such as housing, food, and insurance, while also requiring that the workers live where the employer tells them, eat where the employer tells them, and purchase the insurance that the employer provides.” (National Guestworker Alliance, 2012.)
In accordance with section 2, article F, which would allow workers to chose their employers, we believe allowing workers to pick their employers would not only eliminate the severity of exploitation these workers suffer, but, to quote the president of ImmigrationWorks USA, Tamar Jacoby, ““business owners get access to a more flexible labor force, including the possibility of hiring in real time without going back to the government for approval.” (Jacoby, 2013.)
The dairy industry in particular would be crippled without the aid of immigrant workers. Though farmers with seasonal crops such as blueberries can apply for H-2A workers, there is currently no such system for year-round employment, like the dairy industry where production never stops.
“According to researchers, eliminating immigrant labor in the dairy industry would reduce production by 23 percent or 48 billion pounds of milk. The number of farms, currently at around 58,000, would decrease by 7,011. Retail milk prices would increase by 90 percent, meaning a $3 gallon of milk would cost consumers nearly $6, according to the study.” (Hall, 2017.)
Our opponents would say, “the agricultural industry was the most profitable sector of the U.S. economy and could well afford to pay its hourly workers 20-30 percent more, while still remaining highly profitable” However, this fails to take into account that despite high unemployment rates in many communities surrounding areas of high agriculture many native born American citizens are reluctant to take farm jobs. The North Carolina Growers Association reported that in 2011 only 268 of 500,000 unemployed North Carolinians applied for jobs as farm laborers, and only 163 reported for work. Of those 163, only 3 percent of US workers hired completed the growing season, compared to 90 percent of Mexican workers. (Clemens, Michael A.)
Works Cited:
“Farm Labor Organizing Committee, AFL-CIO.” Farm Labor Organizing Committee AFLCIO, www.floc.com/wordpress/about-floc/.
Jacoby, Tamar. “GUEST WORKERS ARE THE BEST BORDER SECURITY.” Wall Street Journal , 11 June 2013, pp. 33–33.
“H-2B Visa Program Report: Leveling the Playing Field.” National Guestworker Alliance, 2 July 2012, www.guestworkeralliance.org/2012/07/h-2b-visa-program-report-leveling-the-playing-field/ .
Jamieson, Dave. “'Abusive' Guest Worker Programs Offer A Poor Model For Immigration Reform, Advocates Say.” The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 19 Feb. 2013, www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/19/immigration-reform_n_2718441.html.
Palacios, S. I., & Rubio, K. A. (2010). Guest Workers' Working Conditions in U.S. Farming: The Example of Farm Workers from Tamaulipas. Journal Of Workplace Rights, 15(1), 27-46. doi:10.2190/WR.15.1.c
Hall, Alexandra. “Under Trump, Wisconsin Dairies Struggle to Keep Immigrant Workers.”WisconsinWatch.org, 24 July 2017, wisconsinwatch.org/2017/03/under-trump-wisconsin-dairies-struggle-to-keep-immigrant-workers
Ruark, Erik. “Agribusiness Chooses to Exploit Workers; There Are Other Options.” NumbersUSA, 30 Nov. 2017, www.numbersusa.com/blog/agribusiness-has-made-choice-exploit-workers-there-are-other-options
Clemens, Michael A. “International Harvest: A Case Study of How Foreign Workers Help American Farms Grow Crops - and the Economy.” New American Economy , May 2013, www.newamericaneconomy.org/sites/all/themes/pnae/nc-agr-report-05-2013.
Senate Testimony
Appendix with Team Contributions
Senate Testimony
Shannon Enstad:
As representatives of ImmigrationWorks USA, we believe the proposed senate bill will have a positive impact on workers and employers alike. The currently existing H-2A, and H-2B visa programs are rampant with abuse and inefficient in satisfying this country's labor need.
When workers are tied exclusively to one employer they become victims of a very serious power imbalance; one reminiscent of slavery. “Large agricultural corporations have created a supply chain that enriches its executives at the expense of those who work in the fields.” (Farm Labor Organizing Committee.)
In 2015, Signal International, an oil rig company, issued an apology to hundreds of exploited Indian guest workers in response to labor trafficking lawsuits brought against it by Southern Poverty Law Center in 2008. (Jamieson, 2013.) Signal told its workers they were traveling on visas to work for reputable companies that would lead to permanent citizenship. This was false.
Among other things, “H-2A workers are routinely cheated out of wages, they are paid lower wages than U.S. workers, they are forced to work overtime without pay, and they receive phony earnings statements.” (Palacios, S. I., & Rubio., K. A. 2010.). Furthermore, workers are intimidated into staying silent against their abusers, or face loss of wages and potentially deportation. They are rarely, if ever, given appropriate medical care for their injuries.
According to a report published by the National Guestworker Alliance, “some H-2B employers attempt to control workers by charging above-market rates for benefits such as housing, food, and insurance, while also requiring that the workers live where the employer tells them, eat where the employer tells them, and purchase the insurance that the employer provides.” (National Guestworker Alliance, 2012.)
Allowing workers to pick their employers would not only eliminate the severity of exploitation these workers suffer, but, to quote the president of ImmigrationWorks USA, Tamar
Jacoby, ““business owners get access to a more flexible labor force, including the possibility of hiring in real time without going back to the government for approval.”
The dairy industry in particular would be crippled without the aid of immigrant workers. Though farmers with seasonal crops such as blueberries can apply for H-2A workers, there is currently no such system for year-round employment, like the dairy industry where production never stops.
“According to researchers, eliminating immigrant labor in the dairy industry would reduce production by 23 percent or 48 billion pounds of milk. The number of farms, currently at around 58,000, would decrease by 7,011. Retail milk prices would increase by 90 percent, meaning a $3 gallon of milk would cost consumers nearly $6, according to the study.” (Hall, 2017.)
Our opponents would say, “the agricultural industry was the most profitable sector of the U.S. economy and could well afford to pay its hourly workers 20-30 percent more, while still remaining highly profitable” However, this fails to take into account
Bryan Buzzo:
The issue of worker fluidity seems to be an issue where lack of awareness seems to contribute to its negative effect on immigrant workers. Many people don’t quite understand the issues that occur when all options are taken away. Reports of the employment situations that occur through systems where fluidity is not granted to migrant workers tend to be abusive and leave the worker with no alternatives. This problem strikes in our culture yet again with Americans feeling the callous scars of racist policies and systemic oppression. It leaves us to ask ourselves if immigrants have the rights of American citizens? Do they have them in full? Where is our reference point for this problem? Well, I believe they do have the same rights as American citizens within the confides of our country, If the question arises about their full rights to help answer that question we can ask ourselves the third question which is where is our reference point? You see, the current system rings echoes of slavery and indentured servitude a system which has to be viewed as mankind biggest fallacies. The idea is offensive and in this context, it can be argued that this system violates the Thirteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. That seems to be the extreme, on a very basic level it shows remanence of the old reserve clause for major league baseball back in the early part of the 20th century. When one club would own the rights of a ball player and continuously renew one year contracts for the player because the player had no rights to sign with another team. Not until the 1970’s were players freed from the clause that allowed them to sign contracts out of the free agency system. It was under that system that their rights were expanded upon, their salaries increase and the league’s money also increased because of a free market system. It’s an Interesting parallel to the situation many immigrants are facing. In the current political climate, we are seeing fluidity actually being effected for fear of the more aggressive immigration and deportation policies. Fear of moving and becoming more “visible” to people may subject workers near the end of their visas or slightly over their visas to be jailed and deported. That is what seemed to be reported on Wisconson Dairy Farms. What stagnates the current system for working immigrants isn’t what the economy dictates, it’s fear http://constitution.findlaw.com//amendment13.html
https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Reserve_clause
http://wisconsinwatch.org/2017/03/under-trump-wisconsin-dairies-struggle-to-keep-immigrant-workers/
Carina:
“Slower job and worker reallocation goes hand in hand with a slower arrival rate of new job opportunities,” the Davis-Haltiwanger paper reads. For the unemployed, this process of less worker fluidity increases the risk of people being out of work. In regards to workers that are already employed, this prohibits their ability to change employers resulting in an inability to move up the job ladder and switch careers when and if they please. So what is the cause of the slow-down of worker fluidity? One reason is the demographic of the U.S. Our workforce has grown older and these people cannot work the same jobs they once did. Another factor is government policy. For instance, employer provided health insurance and at-will employment are major factors that force workers to stay in their current positions.
Another profound reason for this slow down in worker fluidity are the government restrictions placed on occupational certification as well as licensing. Thirty-eight percent of employees must have a government-issued license of certification to perform their jobs. The people who suffer from worker fluidity are those without college degrees, immigrants, and guest workers. They have suffered from a less dynamic labor market. Realistically, the U.S. cannot tell everyone to get a college degree. Therefore, we must create career paths and institutions to connect people straight out of highschool to the job market.
Kameron:
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article39209193.html
Counter arguments:
· Guest workers are expensive.
· American workers could do the jobs of guest workers.
Some may believe that guest workers are needed in all aspects of work. But what if you do not have the money? Guest workers may be too expensive to hire, especially when American workers are fully capable of completing jobs that guest workers would be in charge of. Though their wage may not be expensive now, wages may inflate in the future as well.
Take agriculture as an example. Crops may be required to be harvested and picked in a timely manner. Some may hire guest workers in order to complete this task in the given time, but the task may be expensive and able to be done by an American worker instead. Thus meaning that the guest worker is not needed and is a waste of valuable money. Essentially you may be paying the guest worker the money made from the crops, just for picking the crops. This may also lead to the issue where immigrants take the job of native Americans.
Illegal immigrants are capable of making their way into America as guest workers, which is a problem. “Regarding guest workers, we need an accurate system that verifies a person’s eligibility to work through a criminal background check and ID verification. This system should be universally mandated to employers because illegal employment is a two-way street. This would hold more employers accountable for hiring illegal workers, and simultaneously discourage illegal immigration by making it more difficult to work here illegally.” This may be an expensive and timely task. That being said, guest workers are not needed.
Refutation -
