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WASHINGTON – Education and the Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) and Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-PA) recently submitted a comment letter to Department of Labor (DOL) Acting Secretary Julie Su urging the Department to withdraw its proposed rule affecting the H-2A temporary agricultural guest worker program. The rule puts Big Labor interests ahead of American farmers. Already under threat from the Chinese Communist Party and Green Energy Czars, American farmers will also face the Biden administration’s “all-of-government” push to empower union bosses. 
 
In the letter, Foxx and Thompson write: “The H-2A temporary agricultural worker program is crucial to thousands of employers across the nation, with 371,619 job positions certified by DOL in Fiscal Year 2022. The proposed rule allows unprecedented access by organized labor to the property of farmers and makes other onerous changes to the H-2A program that will impose unnecessary burdens on American farmers, and it should be withdrawn.”
 
The letter continues: “The Biden administration has threatened an ‘all-of-government’ approach to empower labor unions. It is disappointing but not surprising to see the administration inappropriately use the H-2A program to continue acting on this threat. The proposed rule puts its thumb on the scale to favor labor unions in several ways that exceed DOL’s authority and are contrary to congressional intent. … What is most offensive about these provisions in the proposed rule is that Congress has given no authority to DOL to impose these mandates on H-2A employers.”
 
The lawmakers conclude: “[T]he proposed rule adds red tape when an employer may need to terminate a worker who is endangering the safety of other workers or is disrupting a farm’s operations. The proposed rule is thus overly burdensome to employers and may harm the interests of workers. … This letter only covers a few of the many damaging changes included in the proposed rule, which also has new documentation and disclosure requirements littered throughout its provisions. The proposed rule exceeds DOL authority, is a giveaway to Big Labor, infringes on farmers’ property rights, and is overly burdensome in numerous other ways. DOL needs to withdraw this proposed rule and go back to the drawing board.”   
 
To read the full letter, click here.

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