WHAT THE PROPOSED LEGISLATION WILL DO:

• provides a workable program to adjust the status of 500,000 farm workers working in the United States without employment authorization, thereby assuring that agriculture has a legal workforce;

• preserves the labor standards of the current H-2A program while streamlining the process;

• ends the discrimination against H-2A workers by giving them for the first time the same labor protections as U.S. workers (AWPA);

• removes the incentive to discriminate against U.S. workers by requiring the employers of H-2A workers to pay the equivalent of FICA and FUTA taxes to a fund to improve labor management practices in agriculture;

• ends the historic discrimination against all farm workers by giving them the right under federal law to join union, a right which other workers have had for six decades.

In order to be eligible for the earned adjustment program, a farm worker would have to have performed 90 days of agricultural work during the 18-month period ending July 1, 2001.

Thereafter, a farm worker would be able to apply for permanent residency after completing 90 days of agricultural work in three out of the next four years. Farm workers would be free to change employers and accept non-agricultural work during this period. There are additional protections:

• the farm workers could not be fired from agricultural employment except for just cause;

• the farm workers would receive credit for any days lost because of on-the-job injuries;

• Immediate family members would be eligible for adjustment to permanent resident status when the farm worker completes the work requirement.

Central to the approach taken by the bill is the belief that collective bargaining provides the best way to improve wages and working conditions, and stabilize the agricultural labor market. The bill encourages the organization of the newly legalized workforce by:

• creating a federal right to organize similar to Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act;

• providing incentives for H-2A employers to enter into collective bargaining:

• a streamlined application process for employers with collective bargaining agreements;

• employers with collective bargaining agreements are exempt from increased H-2A user fees;

• prohibiting the use of H-2A workers as strikebreakers;

• funding labor-management partnerships to increase worker productivity.

The bill gives guest workers the same labor rights as U.S. workers by ending the unfair exclusion of H-2A workers from coverage under the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act (¡°AWPA¡±). Coverage under AWPA means H-2A workers will have the right to bring a private action to enforce their working arrangements with their employers rather than have to depend on DOL to protect their rights.

The bill reforms the H-2A program by substituting an application process modeled after the H-1B program for the current labor certification process which has failed to protect worker rights. While the process may be simpler for employers, the legislation maintains the labor protections of the current program:

• growers would be allowed to provide a housing allowance in lieu of free housing, but only if the governor of the state certifies that housing for migrant workers is available in the area of intended employment;

• the wage standard remains the same as the current program; however, both GAO and a special commission would be established to study the issue and make recommendations to Congress.

Currently, employers of H-2A workers are exempt from paying FICA and FUTA taxes on their H-2A workers. This exemption (which is not available to employers under the H-2B and H-1A programs) creates an incentive for H-2A employers to discriminate against U.S. workers since it costs the employer 13.85% less to employ an H-2A worker than a U.S. worker. The legislation removes this incentive by charging the employer an equivalent user fee which would go to a fund to be used to pay the administrative costs of the program and to improve labor management practices in agriculture in order to use the existing labor force more efficiently. The fund will be used for:

• funding farm and ranch labor-management partnerships as is done currently under the Labor Management Cooperation Act of 1978;

• funding demonstration projects and programs directed at improving farm labor management including projects directed at recruitment, workplace literacy and training, health and safety, and development of labor-saving technology.