UFW labels court ruling blocking Trump’s H-2A farmworker wage cuts a victory

A federal court ruling striking down the Trump administration’s cuts to H-2A farmworker wages is a victory for both agricultural guest workers and domestic farm workers the United Farm Workers union insisted. Union officials pointed out that the decision will carry particular significance in New York, where many farms rely heavily on H-2A workers,

Following a lawsuit filed last fall by the UFW and 18 individual farm workers, U.S. District Judge Kirk E. Sherriff ruled last week that a Department of Labor policy reducing wages for H-2A workers by as much as $7 an hour was illegal. The administration had adopted the rule on an emergency basis, arguing that lower costs were necessary to address agricultural worker shortages it said had been exacerbated by its own immigration crackdown.

The H-2A visa program allows U.S. farmers to temporarily hire foreign workers to fill seasonal farm jobs when they say they cannot find enough domestic workers.

Sherriff ordered the Labor Department to develop a new methodology for calculating the wage rates and notify employers that they could be responsible for back pay.

The ruling could have consequences well beyond the H-2A workers whose wages were directly affected.

“It impacts every single farm worker in the country,” UFW Secretary-Treasurer and lead New York organizer Armando Elenes told The Chief on Sept. 1.

That is particularly true in New York, where the apple, vegetable and nursery industries have become increasingly reliant on H-2A workers, Elenes said, specifically workers from Jamaica, who comprise a large percentage of immigrant farm workers in New York. 

On some farms, he estimated, roughly 90 percent of the workforce is made up of guest workers. He described a typical mid-sized operation with about 80 workers employing approximately 70 through the H-2A program.

‘It impacts every single farmworker in the country’

Elenes pointed to a contradiction in the Trump administration’s federal policy: its immigration crackdown reduced the pool of available guest workers, yet the administration responded by making H-2A labor cheaper for growers—a move he said ultimately put downward pressure on wages for American farm workers as well.

The heavy reliance on H-2A labor can affect workers who are already living in the communities where farms operate, Elenes said. When employers lower the rate paid to guest workers, local workers can find themselves facing wage cuts or freezes as growers use the H-2A rate as a benchmark.

A reduction of $2 or $3 an hour over an entire growing season can translate into thousands of dollars in lost income, Elenes said.

He recalled one Jamaican worker who typically travels to New York in April and stays through early November. The worker and other Jamaicans had lost homes in a hurricane and were counting on their seasonal earnings to rebuild. Instead, Elenes said, they arrived to find that their wages had been reduced.

Crisanto Serrano, a farm worker in Sunnyside, Washington, and a plaintiff in the lawsuit challenging the wage rule, said the fight is also about the ability of local workers to find and keep agricultural jobs.

Serrano said that farmworkers' jobs "are very difficult.” Despite the difficulty, he said, many workers in his community are unable to find work as growers increasingly turn to H-2A labor.

“More and more, the growers just want to hire H2-A workers, who they can keep trapped on their property, instead of us local workers, who live here and who pay taxes here and have decades of experience,” Serrano said.

UFW president Teresa Romero called the ruling an important recognition of the work farm workers perform to keep the nation fed, while warning that the fight over wages is not over.

“This decision recognizes the important and essential work of the men and women who put food on our tables and that farm workers should get paid fairly,” Romero said in a statement.

“While this decision is a heartening step, we know attacks on farm worker wages will continue,” Romero continued. “The United Farm Workers will always be there to fight for the wages farm workers deserve.”

Recovering unpaid wages

Elenes said the UFW is preparing to help workers navigate the process of recovering unpaid wages by collecting contact information from affected workers and keeping them informed as the government begins its recompense.

The ruling is also likely to intensify the UFW’s broader campaign to reform the H-2A system.

Elenes said guest workers should have more freedom to change employers rather than being effectively tied to the company that sponsors their visas.

“Right now, they’re beholden to just one employer,” he said. “If that employer decides not to bring them back, they really don’t have any other recourse.”

New York farm workers have had the legal right to organize since 2020, and the UFW has secured contracts at farms in the state. But Elenes said enforcement remains a challenge.

The “lack of teeth in the law”, as he described it, is preventing workers from protecting their rights particularly when employers resist bargaining or retaliate against organizing efforts. Ultimately, he said, the wage dispute raises a broader question about whether agricultural work can continue to provide a viable livelihood.

“This is a massive transfer of wealth from a worker’s pocket to a grower’s pocket,” Elenes said.