Farm Labor Union Challenges DOL Foreign Worker Wage Overhaul

A Trump administration overhaul of wage standards for farmworkers on seasonal work visas should be set aside because it harms US workers and violated procedural requirements, the nation’s largest farm labor union argues in a new lawsuit.

The Department of Labor’s Oct. 2 adverse effect wage rate rule was welcomed by employers that rely on the H-2A seasonal agricultural visa program as a needed measure to staunch out of control labor costs. But United Farm Workers and individual plaintiffs who joined the suit said the rule will undercut US workers by allowing for H-2A workers to be paid less than ...