{"id":1078,"date":"2026-07-08T19:11:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T19:11:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/farmstand.chee.studio\/five-former-labor-secretaries-call-trump-administration-h-2a-wage-calculation-change-unlawful\/"},"modified":"2026-09-09T01:59:55","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T01:59:55","slug":"five-former-labor-secretaries-call-trump-administration-h-2a-wage-calculation-change-unlawful","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/farmstand.org\/es\/five-former-labor-secretaries-call-trump-administration-h-2a-wage-calculation-change-unlawful\/","title":{"rendered":"Cinco exsecretarios de Trabajo califican de ilegal el cambio de la administraci\u00f3n Trump en el c\u00e1lculo salarial de la visa H-2A"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><em>In amicus brief, Tom Perez, Robert Reich, Hilda Solis, Julie Su, and Marty Walsh<\/em> <em>lend support to legal challenge to new rule<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A new Trump Administration rule regarding the Adverse Effect Wage Rates for workers with H-2A visas and the U.S. workers who work alongside them is slashing wages for U.S. and H-2A farmworkers alike and was adopted unlawfully, according to five former U.S. Secretaries of Labor. An <a href=\"http:\/\/farmstand.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2026.07.08-Dkt-74-2-Proposed-AC-Brief.pdf\"><strong>amicus curiae<\/strong><\/a> in<em> UFW v. DOL <\/em>&#8211; filed today by fair food system advocacy group FarmSTAND and signed onto by former secretaries Tom Perez, Robert Reich, Hilda Solis, Julie Su, and Marty Walsh &#8211; lays out a wide variety of reasons a federal court should invalidate the new DOL rule. It argues that the new rule inconsistently and incoherently employs different kinds of averages as the basis for the new AEWRs, that DOL failed to consider obvious alternatives to slashing H-2A workers\u2019 wages by applying a \u2018housing deduction,\u2019 and that DOL skipped the notice-and-comment process for the rule without good cause. The former secretaries signing onto this amicus brief are doing so in their personal capacities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The H-2A visa program allows agricultural employers who anticipate a shortage of domestic workers to bring nonimmigrant foreign workers to the U.S. to perform agricultural labor or services of a temporary or seasonal nature. The Department of Labor is bound by law to protect U.S. workers from adverse effects on their wages or working conditions resulting from hiring foreign workers, and so requires employers of H-2A workers to pay both those workers and the U.S. workers who labor alongside them the same wage. It has calculated the Adverse Effect Wage Rate in a mostly consistent and reasonable manner &#8211; tied to the average wages for all farmworkers &#8211; since the modern H-2A program was established by Congress in 1986.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Trump DOL\u2019s new rule splits workers earning the AEWR into two classes for the first time. This unprecedented change, the brief explains, is guaranteed to drive down pay for both H-2A and U.S farmworkers. \u201cAllowing growers to pay H-2A workers <em>below<\/em>-average wages would systematically incentivize growers to hire foreign workers over their U.S. counterparts. It would also undercut the bargaining power of U.S. farmworkers to seek better wages and working conditions,\u201d according to the amicus brief filed today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe responsibility and commitment of the U.S. Department of Labor is to protect the pay, rights, and wellbeing of the American workforce,\u201d said <strong>Hilda Solis, former Secretary of Labor under President Obama.<\/strong> \u201cAs the first Latina to serve on a Presidential Cabinet, I have long stood by farmworkers and our agricultural workers. I am deeply concerned at this federal administration\u2019s dedication to driving down wages and harming the backbone of our economy across the nation. I would urge the court to do what is right and stand with workers\u2019 rights to strike down this unlawful rule.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"http:\/\/farmstand.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2026.07.08-Dkt-74-2-Proposed-AC-Brief.pdf\"><strong>Today\u2019s amicus brief<\/strong><\/a> is filed in the <em>UFW v. DOL<\/em> case, a legal challenge to the AEWR changes brought by plaintiff groups the United Farm Workers and the UFW Foundation, along with individual H-2A and U.S. farmworkers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe Trump Administration\u2019s interim final rule is unlawful and harmful to farmworkers and rural communities,\u201d said <strong>Nathan Leys, FarmSTAND Staff Attorney<\/strong>. \u201cThat former Secretaries of Labor are coming out against this rule underlines just how egregiously the Trump Administration overstepped.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&nbsp;<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A new Trump Administration rule regarding the Adverse Effect Wage Rates for workers with H-2A visas and the U.S. workers who work alongside them is slashing wages for U.S. and H-2A farmworkers alike and was adopted unlawfully, according to five former U.S. Secretaries of Labor.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"issue":[17],"class_list":["post-1078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-releases","issue-worker-justice"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - 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