The U.S. Department of Labor is preparing to release new rules for the H-2A visa program, covering agricultural workers from other countries who work in the United States on a temporary basis.
The changes are expected to be published on April 15, and were reportedly prompted by a lawsuit charging the Labor Department with violating federal law by allowing special – and substandard – rules for livestock herders. Now, the department is preparing to shepherd its new requirements through the larger rule-making process.
We wholeheartedly support strong protections for migrant workers, and we have a strong hunch that most Montanans also feel that seasonal workers who come to this state to work in any industry ought be given fair compensation and comfortable housing, at the very least. However, providing those protections does not necessarily require the sort of restrictions the Labor Department is suggesting.
Ranchers across Montana who employ workers through the H-2A visa program are worried that the new rules may obligate them to provide housing on a permanent foundation and to pay their workers an hourly wage. Needless to say, these kinds of requirements are ill-suited to life on the open range.
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