11/12/07 H2A Workshop Part 2

H2A Workshop Part 2. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report. The H2A program is just about the only game in town when it comes to the immigrant workforce, at least until next years Congress decides to try it again. But the H2A program can be difficult to work with so the Employment Security Department developed a workshop designed to help producers according to Ignacio Marquez, Agricultural Services Program Manager, with Employment Security. MARQUEZ: It's a complicated program. There's a lot of laws and rules and regulations that have to be followed and there's a lot of agencies involved so we decided it would be great to get every government agency in the same room and talk to the growers. With a program as difficult to navigate as the H2A program is Marquez says there will be people available to answers all your questions. MARQUEZ: So that way when you use the H2A program you know why we have to do certain things and who you need to talk to if you have a question about whether it's housing, whether it's what do we pay these workers, where are these workers coming from, why isn't my application being accepted? The training is free and is scheduled for the 31st of January and you should get your application in right away. If more people are interested Marquez says they might consider another session. MARQUEZ: If there is an interest, if we receive a list of a lot of employers that would like to have the training somewhere else then we would consider that but at this time we're just offering it one time and it's for a limited amount of employers. Sign up by visiting the Employment Securities web site. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.