Being employed in an “essential service” has a definite upside — essential workers are working and earning money, though they risk their health to do so. And for migrant farmworkers, having a visa has a definite upside — their visa authorizes them to work here so they don’t fear deportation, though they may worry about their visa being revoked without cause. Wages for H2-A workers vary from state to state; only two states pay at least $15/hr. (though a few pay $14.99/hr.).
Now, in trump’s continual efforts to comfort the comfortable and afflict the afflicted, Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue and WH Chief of Staff Mark Meadows are cutting the wages of H-2A workers in order to benefit their employers.
So how much does the “administration” want to cut the hourly rate? A whole freakin’ lot!
They want to pay only $8.34/hr. for backbreaking work that most Americans can’t and won’t do. That’s the “afflict the afflicted” part of it. But wait, there’s more!
California growers aren’t on board. They say wage cuts won’t address the root cause of their problem: closed restaurants and other commercial customers. Although most people are eating almost exclusively at home, they aren’t making up for the loss of commercial revenue:
“To see wages being depressed would be reason for concern and evaluation,” said Chris Valadez, president of the Grower-Shipper Association of Central California, which represents more than 300 companies. “We are one of the few industries still essential, still open for business.
Here’s the “comfort the comfortable” part of the story:
As the administration contemplates cutting pay to workers on the frontlines, farmers also may be on the verge of receiving a $16 billion $19 billion* bailout to keep their operations going.
But agricultural industry representatives and workers’ advocates alike say the move to cut worker pay won’t solve the food-supply-chain crisis.
That’s right, get ready for a new wave of corporate bailouts!
* Update: Make that $19 billion:
President Donald Trump on Friday announced a $19 billion economic rescue package for farmers and ranchers, including a combination of direct payments and commodity purchases.
[…] Support from the industry could be crucial to the president’s reelection hopes this November in key Midwestern swing states like Wisconsin and Michigan.
[…] The stimulus plan is the latest in a long string of recent ad hoc relief efforts for the agricultural economy. Trump has pulled out the stops to bail out farmers and ranchers stung by his own trade war and biofuel policies, in addition to long-term economic headwinds.
But they’re not done afflicting the afflicted:
Union officials say a pay cut for temporary workers may reduce the pay of domestic workers, too, because the H-2A pay rate is considered the average pay for all farmworkers.
I don’t have access to the WSJ piece so I can’t tell whether they offered any justification for such deep cuts, but I imagine they sound something like “During these difficult times, President Trump and Secretary Perdue are doing everything to ensure farmers have the tools to carry out the vital work of feeding the American people vote to re-elect trump.”
They’ve made one thing abundantly clear: taking money away from laborers and giving it to their employers is their idea of the American Way.