N.Y. farmers fear a shortage of skilled workers

By CAROLYN THOMPSON, Associated Press Writer
Tuesday, May 13, 2008 1:46 PM CDT

BATAVIA, N.Y. - New York farmers say a shift in state policy is making it harder for them to hire experienced seasonal workers through federal guest-worker contracts.

During a meeting with Gov. David Paterson on Monday, farmers said the state Labor Department is forcing less experienced domestic workers upon them by rejecting growers’ applications to hire foreign workers on H-2A visas.

“There’s been kind of a shift in the Department of Labor’s response to growers trying to get certified for the H-2A workers, and it’s been a shift from previous administrations,” Oswego apple grower Eric Behling said. “Other states have applied through the H-2A program and haven’t met the resistance.”

The H-2A program allows employers to hire foreign workers temporarily if they show that they were not able to find U.S. workers for the jobs.

Paterson said the state’s handling of applications is dictated by federal law. His labor commissioner, Patricia Smith, said the Labor Department has been accused of falling short in its efforts to recruit domestic workers.

“We are balancing right now our legal requirements imposed upon us by the federal government with your needs to get as much labor as possible,” she told farmers.

Farmers said they doubt the new hires will possess the experience, skill and reliability of longtime workers from places like Jamaica and Mexico, and fear their crops and business will suffer.

“We advertise for workers who can drive tractors and work in other areas of harvesting and during the year, trimming trees and that sort of thing,” said Behling, who grows about 200 acres of apples. “It’s like they’re pushing people onto us that are perhaps not qualified. Are they qualified to drive a tractor?”

Paterson said he would look to find a compromise in the federal farm agriculture bill. In the meantime, Smith said she will work with labor officials in Puerto Rico to enlist more qualified workers.

“No one’s going to be required to take workers that are not experienced,” she said.

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