Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Urges Congress to Reject Legislation That Would Reduce Wages of Agricultural Guestworkers
Feature Story by Rob Randhava - 11/16/2001
The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR), in a November 13, 2001 letter, urged the membership of the House and Senate to oppose the “Wage Equity Act of 2001” (S. 1442 and H.R. 2457). Joining LCCR Executive Director Wade Henderson in signing the letter were the heads of several LCCR member organizations: Antonia Hernandez, President & General Counsel of the MALDEF; Karen K. Narasaki, Executive Director of the NAPALC; Raul Yzaguirre, President of the NCLR; and Hilary O. Shelton, Director of the NAACP’s Washington Bureau.The Wage Equity Act, introduced by Rep. Chris Cannon (R-UT) in the House and Sen. Zell Miller (D-GA) in the Senate, would eliminate what is known as the “adverse effect wage rate,” (AEWR) which serves as a minimum wage rate that agricultural guestworkers under the H-2A visa program earn. The AEWR exists in order to prevent the wages and jobs of American agricultural workers from being undercut by employers who might otherwise pay much lower wages to foreign guestworkers – workers who lack the economic and political bargaining power to demand truly fair wages.
Eliminating the AEWR has been a top priority for agricultural employers, who for many years have been attempting to overhaul the H-2A guestworker visa program. Their efforts to pass the Wage Equity Act, however, have intensified in the past month, and agricultural employers have been lobbying hard to have the bill attached to the economic stimulus package or other legislation pending before Congress. The LCCR spoke up against the measure because its net effect would be to drastically reduce the wages of farmworkers, wages that are already far too low. “The wages of farmworkers under the AEWR are already too low,” the letter states, “so low, in fact, they currently relegate H-2A workers to poverty. Yet the Wage Equity Act would reduce H-2A wage rates even more.”
The LCCR has long been concerned with legislation that would affect the conditions of guestworkers, who are overwhelmingly racial and ethnic minorities. As the letter points out, “whether it was Chinese immigrants in the 19th century, the 4.5 million braceros brought into the United States during the World War II era, or H-2A workers under the current program, guestworkers have long been the most vulnerable and poorly treated workers among us. Even today, they are subject to below-level poverty wages and a lack of coverage by basic labor standards that other American workers take for granted. Guestworkers lack the political and economic power to improve their conditions and to fight proposals such as the Wage Equity Act that would make them even more vulnerable to exploitation. It is because of this that we speak up today for their rights.”
The letter concludes by arguing that special interests should not use the anti-immigrant climate that exists following the September 11 attacks to their advantage. “At a time in which all Americans are coming together to respond to the recent terrorist attacks, the Leadership Conference is especially concerned that there may be actors in the policy debate on immigration and immigrants’ rights that may seek to capitalize on the fear and grief of Americans, and the resulting anti-immigrant climate, to further their agendas. We ask Congress to be particularly watchful in this regard; we would hope that there would not be an attempt during the current challenges to our economy and in international relations to adopt such a one-sided, unfair policy aimed at farmworkers.”
Unfortunately, the effort of the agricultural industry to further reduce the wages of farmworkers is not the only instance of anti-immigrant legislative efforts that have been re-invigorated following the tragic events of September 11. Organizations like the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), for example, have attempted to take advantage of the tragedy by renewing their call for “national ID cards” aimed at reducing illegal immigration, and other policy measures designed to “get tough” on immigrants and cut down on immigration. The Leadership Conference will keep visitors to civilrights.org apprised of such developments.
