I work as a Farmworker Organizer with CATA, and many days I visit farmworkers who are in the US on the H-2A foreign worker visa. In short, the H-2A program allows farmers (or labor contractors) to bring workers from abroad for a period of time when a farmer can prove they cannot find domestic workers for these jobs. Each state has what's called the Adverse Wage Rate (AWR), which is what employers must pay all H-2A workers. In New Jersey, the AWR is $14.05 an hour. But in my visits to H-2A workers in Atlantic County this season, seldom are workers actually paid that rate. Often, in Hammonton, they are paid a piece rate for blueberries or blackberries and often work 10-14 hour days and/or 7 days a week. So many workers I have met knowingly avoid the question, "how much are you paid?" Others are surprised to find their contracts say they are working in different states (with lower AWRs). But when it comes to filing a complaint, seldom do these friends and comrades feel it is worth it to act. The labor contractors capitalize on the fact that these workers' legal status is tied to their employment, and if they get fired, they must immediately leave the country, and that these workers want to work for US wages, even if they are being paid $3 less an hour than they legally should. |