A plan by President Donald Trump's administration will reduce the wages of agricultural workers by between $5 and $7 per hour, warns the United Farm Workers (UFW).

This comes after the Department of Labor (DOL), led by Lori Chavez DeRemer, published a rule to modify its governing regulations the certification of agricultural labor or services and corresponding payment.

“Trump's wage cuts are a catastrophe for American farmworkers, whom farmers intend to replace with foreign guest workers, who are cheap and exploitable,” warns Teresa Romero, president of the UFW.

Although the document refers to agricultural workers with H-2A visas, the UFW warns that the plan published in the Federal Regulation on October 2 establishes impacts on all agricultural workers in the United States.

“When guest worker wages are reduced, American jobs are lost. Since the H2A visa has no cap, and since H2A visa fraud is already causing H2A workers to take jobs in construction and other industries, Trump's wage cuts open the door to a potentially unlimited loss of American jobs,” explains Romero.

The estimated impact on wages is $2.46 billion annually and $17.29 billion over the next ten years.

“Farmworkers should be paid more, not less. regulation is a victory for corporate greed; a fund grab for Big Agribusiness that transfers millions of dollars through wage cuts and housing deductions from workers to employers,” said Erica Lomeli Corcoran, executive director of the UFW Foundation. “The farmworkers who feed us every day deserve so much more, and we remain committed to ensuring their work and dignity are respected.”

What is the change?

The DOL announced that it is revising the methodology for determining hourly Adverse Effect Wage Rates. (AEWRs) for out-of-range occupations, using wage data reported for each US state and territory by the Department of Labor Statistics' (BLS) Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey.

“These AEWRs will be divided into two skill-based categories to account for salary differentials resulting from the qualifications included in an employer's job posting,” the plan states. “To address the compensation gap between the majority of US workers and H-2A workers who receive free, employer-provided housing, the Department will implement a standard adjustment factor to the AEWR to account for this non-monetary offset that employers will apply when compensating H-2A workers under seasonal agricultural labor certifications.” The UFW warns that the housing rights of H-2A employees would be transferred to foreign workers, who would be able to deduct the rent from their wages. “The new regulations also cut wages for certain more skilled and desirable positions, such as tractor driver positions, resulting in lower wages than workers on jobs that would previously have paid more,” the organization says. “By reducing the wages of H-2A visa workers, the Trump Administration is putting downward pressure on the wages of American workers and will ultimately displace many American citizens from their jobs in agriculture.”

Affects by State

The proposed wage cut will have different impacts by state, forcing a reduction in pay for agricultural workers, says the UFW.

The states of California, Georgia, Missouri, and Michigan would be the most affected, since the former workers would lose $3.52 per hour, that does not consider the cost of housing and, in that sense, the salary would be $13.45, which is below the state minimum wage.

The regulation takes effect immediately without offering the opportunity for public comment.

The following table shows examples of mostly agricultural states.

– California: from $19.97 to $16.45 per hour.– Georgia: from $16.08 to $12.27.– Michigan: $18.15 to $13.78.– New York: $18.83 to $15.68.– Washington: $19.82 to $16.53.– Missouri: $18.65 to $14.56.– Arizona: $17.04 to $15.32.