Georgia representatives oppose wage increase for farm workers

Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Athens, is leading 45 Congressional Representatives, including all of Georgia's Republican representatives, in asking Labor Secretary Marty Walsh not to increase wages for H-2A temporary agricultural workers as the department normally would

Georgia Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Athens, this month wrote a letter to Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh expressing concern about what he anticipates is an increase in wages for temporary agricultural workers on H-2A visas.

The letter was signed by 45 Congressional representatives in total, including all eight of Georgia's Republican representatives and the third-ranked Republican in the House, Elise Stefanik. Clyde wrote the letter after the Nov. 23 publication of the Farm Labor Report, which noted a 7% increase in wages. The report shows an average gross wage of $17.72 an hour. According to the letter, the average wages paid for farm workers is typically used as the federally mandated wage rate for H-2A workers, adjusted by state.

The Department of Labor did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the letter.

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The current rate for H-2A workers in Georgia is $11.99, while the annual average gross wage rates in the most current report shows a new wage of $13.67, about a 14% increase. Because the Department of Labor is not required to set the wage rate for H-2A workers at the average wage, Clyde and the other congressional representatives are asking Walsh to “significantly lower the increases” when setting the actual H-2A compensation.

“This unsustainable and unrealistic increase will have disastrous effects on our farmers and growers — in addition to the burdensome costs passed down to consumers already battling soaring inflation,” Clyde wrote.

According to the Department of Labor, Georgia had the second highest number of H-2A positions certified in 2021 after Florida, with 35,205 positions or 11% of the national total.

The H-2A program has also been controversial. Last year, federal prosecutors in Georgia announced that two dozen defendants had been indicted on conspiracy charges related to human smuggling and labor trafficking of H-2A workers, victims the prosecutors said had faced “modern-day slavery.”

The USA Today network later reported that a former employee of the state Department of Labor were among the people indicted, another then-current Department of Labor employee was not indicted but had his home raided. A federal agent also testified some state employees took bribes to approve unfit housing for the migrant workers.

USA TODAY

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Rep. Andrew Clyde asks Labor Secretary to block H-2A wage increase