Seven Kentucky farmers sued the U.S. Department of Labor last week to stop the implementation of new federal protections for foreign farmworkers who enter the country on temporary visas of type H2-A.
Russell Coleman, the Kentucky Attorney General, joined them on Monday, asserting that the new rule would facilitate the unionization of farmworkers in Kentucky.
According to a release from Coleman’s office., Republican attorneys general from Alabama, Ohio, and West Virginia are also attempting to intervene in order to prevent the implementation of the new rule.
Earlier this year, a federal magistrate in Georgia prevented the Biden administration from enforcing the rule in 17 additional states.
Announced in April, the rule expands the protections available to seasonal workers, safeguarding them from employer retaliation, unsafe working conditions, and unlawful recruitment practices. Vans used to transport laborers must have seatbelts installed.
The new regulation, according to Coleman, a Republican, “would compel Kentucky farmers to permit temporary foreign-migrant workers to establish a union and participate in collective bargaining.” It would impose an inordinate amount of new bureaucratic burdens on Kentucky agricultural employers, who are already struggling to make ends meet.
Rural Migration News reports that the Labor Department issued H2-A visas to 378,000 temporary laborers, the majority of whom were from Mexico, in fiscal year 2023. Kentucky employed nearly 8,000 of the temporary laborer.
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit, which was filed in the Eastern District of the U.S. District Court of Kentucky, also include organizations that assist growers in navigating the H2-A process. One of these organizations is the Agriculture Workforce Management Association, which is based in Lexington and is “owned and managed by agricultural employers.”
The Agriculture Workforce Management Association, a Lexington-based organization, is under the ownership and management of agricultural employers.
They contend that in the absence of congressional authorization, the Labor Department is unable to grant “certain new ‘rights’ to foreign agricultural workers who are employed temporarily in the United States on H-2A visas, as well as to American agricultural workers who are deemed to be engaged in ‘corresponding employment’ with the H-2A workers.”
The Labor Department isadmitted. by federal law to ascertain that U.S. workers will not experience a decrease in employment or wages as a result of foreign laborers being admitted Federal law requires the Labor Department to ensure that the admission of foreign laborers under temporary visas will not result in a decrease in employment or wages for U.S. workers.
U.S. Labor Secretary Julie Su unveiled the rule in a California vineyard, stating that its purpose is to empower H2-A workers to advocate for themselves and speak up when they encounter labor law infractions.
Coleman stated that the rule “will impose additional responsibilities on our growers, thereby complicating the process of bringing their products to market and increasing the costs for families at the grocery store.”
Joe Bilby, the attorney who initiated the lawsuit, was previously the general counsel of the Kentucky Department of Agriculture.