Rotary hears talk on farm labor housing

Raised on local farms, local vineyard and orchard managers Tom Waliser and Leonard Brown have worked the apple and wine grape business for more than 40 years.

They discussed the H2A housing program for seasonal farm labor workers during a recent Milton-Freewater Rotary Club meeting, reported Rotarians Lynn Crawford and Leslie Brown.

They shared the history of fruit labor workers and their housing beginning in the 1960s, Lynn said via email.

It’s been more difficult in the last few years to find seasonal laborers to harvest the apples at the critical time they need to be harvested to ensure premium quality for the market, the men said.

The H2A program is growing in the United States each year. It’s the only legal nonimmigrant temporary seasonal foreign worker visa program for U.S. agricultural employers. H2B is similar for non-agriculture labor or services.

Employers may apply for these programs to meet temporary or seasonal needs in positions where sufficient workers able, willing or qualified are unavailable at the time or place needed.

The employment must not adversely affect the wages and workers in the U.S. similarly employed, they said.

Agri Placements provides administrative services to file H2A documents with the State Workforce Agency, U.S. Department of Labor and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services for specified agriculture labor employment.

Among the requirements for H2A Housing are wages set by the Department of Labor and adverse effect wage rate of each state, guarantee of at least three-fourths of the total hours in the worker’s contract period, recruitment advertising to recruit U.S. workers, approved and inspected housing, meals or convenient cooking facilities and transportation.

There are many more requirements, contractual obligations and notifications, they said.

The H2A Housing Project currently being built this year in Milton-Freewater behind Earl Brown and Sons is projected to house 24 H2A employees for the 2017 apple harvest season.

Etcetera appears in daily and Sunday editions. Annie Charnley Eveland can be reached at annieeveland@wwub.com or afternoons at 526-8313.