01/29/09 H2A Changes

H2A Changes. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report. The Bush Administration on its way out made some positive changes in the H2A program that help out both employee and employer but the question that Dan Fazio with Washington Farm Bureau is asking, will the new administration stay the course. FAZIO: The problem is that there is also a lot of talk that the Congress is going to in some way discontinue this program. They're going to legislatively amend the rule or legislatively retract the Bush changes that came down in December and January. And he says that moves like this are certainly not unprecedented. FAZIO: The Clinton Administration enacted an ergonomics rule at the end of his presidency and it was retracted by Congress shortly thereafter so one of the missions for Farm Bureau is going to be to fight any attempt to retract the H2A rule because it is a good rule. And it's going to help farmers get a legal workforce. In addition to the H2A issue Fazio says they are taking a look at the new session just underway. FAZIO: The legislature is in full swing and there's some really bad laws. I think the worst of the laws right now is probably the Worker Privacy Act, House Bill 1402 which would make it a crime in a sense for an employer to talk to their workers about issues like religion, politics and labor unions - with emphasis on the latter. So without prior written approval from a worker an employer could not discuss the subject of a labor union. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.