NASHVILLE, TENN. (RFD-TV) — The labor group United Farm Workers is taking the Trump Administration to court over recent changes to the H-2A program. The lawsuit, filed Friday in the Eastern District of California, argues that the cuts to H-2A minimum wage rates will also reduce pay for domestic workers.
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) estimates that the move will save farmers and ranchers $2.5 billion each year. The group warns that new methods for calculating the adverse-effect wage rate would result in lower pay for foreign workers.
“By DOL’s own admission, DOL engineered the IFR to reduce wages paid to temporary foreign farmworkers and, in turn, U.S. workers—the precise workers whose wages and working conditions federal law protects. In short, the IFR has created the ‘adverse effect’ that DOL is tasked with preventing,” says the lawsuit filed on behalf of 18 individual farm workers as well as the United Farm Workers of America and the UFW Foundation.
Other agricultural groups, like the National Council of Agriculture Employers, disagree and say the new rates bring ag wages back to reality. The International Fresh Produce Association called the interim final rule “an historic step forward in creating a fairer, more predictable, and administratively workable process for setting H-2A wage rates.”
A U.S. Federal District Court upheld an Arizona rancher’s legal complaint against the Biden Administration’s decision to halt construction on a U.S.-Mexico border wall violated environmental law and the plaintiff’s property rights.
October 30, 2024 01:09 PM
·
The German company Constellr is part of the John Deere Start-Up Collaborator Program in 2024. It plans to launch a geothermal satellite next year that will give farmers and ranchers better tools to monitor surface temperature from space.
October 21, 2024 11:51 AM
·
October 14, 2024 11:24 AM
In his latest Firm to Farm blog post, Ag Legal & Taxation Expert Roger McEowen examines contracts, insurance, and property rights and how those legal processes can impact your farm or ranch operation.
October 08, 2024 02:26 PM
·
Digital contracts are becoming more common for farmers and ranchers, which means some unique legal issues might arise. RFD-TV’s farm legal expert Roger McEowen briefly examines those.
October 06, 2024 02:15 PM
·
September 30, 2024 11:35 AM
RFD-TV ag legal expert Roger McEowen examines common issues facing farmers, ranchers, and rural landowners: SAF fuel, R&D credit, drones, and cleaning fencerows.
September 17, 2024 12:15 PM
·
Right-to-Farm Law Inapplicable when Farming Operation Not in Compliance with State Law – All of It
August 28, 2024 12:02 PM
·
In today’s Firm to Farm blog post, RFD-TV ag law expert Roger McEowen briefly examines several of the issues that farmers and ranchers face.
August 08, 2024 12:24 PM
·
