Small and seasonal businesses – and the American workers we employ – suffered another slap in the face by Congress when the House & Senate Appropriations Committees issued a conference summary on the FY 2010 Homeland Security Appropriation Bill (H.R.2892).  Congress also expanded the H-2B program in Guam, while continuing to ignore you and me. These bills are expected to pass the full Congress in the coming days.

While this is great news (especially if you are a millionaire or a contractor living in Guam), it shows that Congress and the President could care less about the American workers employed by small and seasonal businesses in Cape Cod, California, Kalamazoo and every corner of our great country.

Congress SHUNS Americans Working for Small and Seasonal Employers

A. Visa Law Extension

House and Senate Appropriators agreed to provide a three-year extension for each of the following visa categories:

1.       Religious workers (R visa)

2.      Doctors in Underserved Areas (Conrad 30 Program)

3.      Investor (Million Dollar Visa) Program (EB-5 Visa)

4.     E-Verify/Basic Pilot Program

While they could easily have added our program to this list, your Senators and Members of Congress refused to include the H-2B Returning Worker Exemption with this group.

B. Guam H-2B Expansion

If being shut out of consideration by Congress was not bad enough, a House-Senate Conference Committee yesterday expanded H-2B workers in Guam by extending Guam’s ability to certify the need for H-2B workers as long as an additional certification to the Secretary of Defense has been submitted.

You can read more at:

http://www.guampdn.com/article/20091008/NEWS01/91008009/1002/%3CB%3ENEWS+UPDATE+%3C/B%3EU.S.+Davis-Bacon+wage+protections+will+apply+to+Guam+buildup+contractors++workers

Report from Ski Country

Recent media articles have focused on expected reduced usage of the H-2B Program for the Skiing Industry in the 2009 – 10 season.  Many resorts in Colorado, Utah and Idaho who were forced to turn to turn to the program in the past for significant numbers of temporary workers have found a way to supplement their temporary labor needs by hiring locally or increasing their use of J-1 participants.

This decrease in usage simply validates the success of the H-2B Program. When there are not sufficient US workers, employers have no choice but to turn to the program. When there are more US workers willing to be employed in temporary positions, then demand for H-2B workers goes down. WHAT COULD BE SIMPLER? Except for the absence of a Returning Worker Exemption, Congress actually got it right when it created the H-2B program.

Here are links to a few recent articles regarding demand for foreign temporary workers:

http://www.steamboatpilot.com/news/2009/oct/04/ski_corp_cuts_international_hiring_amid_broad_inte/#

http://www.globalvisas.com/news/idaho_resorts_to_hire_fewer_us_work_visa_holders1689.html

http://www.parkrecord.com/ci_13421437

Anti-Immigration Groups Targeting H-2B

Our contacts in Washington, DC have informed us that several zealous opponents of the H-2B Program continue to go after the Program by pushing for stricter rules as part of an H-2B Reform Bill.

As far as we know the bill has not been formally submitted by the Committee on Education & Labor, chaired by Rep George Miller (CA).  However, when it does, expect it to be very unfavorable to the H-2B Program.

That is why now would be a good time to remind Congress that the H-2B Program is essential to your survival and the survival of American small and seasonal businesses throughout America.

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As always, SSB will try to keep you informed of new developments as they occur.  In the meantime, I know I can count on all of you to continually fight our battle.

Charge On!

Hank Lavery

Dear Friends,

Today is October 1, an appropriate date to provide you with the latest H-2B Cap Count along with other Congressional developments from Capitol Hill:

1.       Fiscal Year 2010 H-2B Cap Update:

Cap count as of 9/25/2009 is 19,943

Will the first-half cap count hold out until the end of February or early March?  Time will tell.

2.      News from Congress:

A.    Congress passes “Millionaire Visa” extension: Despite continued protests that no immigration laws should be addressed without Comprehensive Immigration Reform, on 9/25/09, the House of Representatives passed a continuing resolution that would fund continued federal government operations through October 31, 2009.  Included in the legislation are provisions that would extend the E-Verify, Religious Worker, Conrad 30 (the millions dollar visas) and EB-5 Programs.

What does this mean?  It means that once again Congress continues to punish you and me by refusing to pass the Save our Small and Seasonal Business Bill.  Like much of what comes out of Washington, Congress has shown itself to talk out of both sides of its collective mouth and would rather help the million dollar visa recipients than help small businesses like yours and mine who serve their communities and employ full time American workers.

B.     No Accountability Yet for Loss of 37% of 2009 H-2B Program: No one has come forth yet to demand an explanation from the Obama Administration as to how 37% (25,000 visas out of 66,000 allowed) of the 2009 H-2B visas were lost.  Also no effort has been made by Congress to recapture the missing 25,000 visas out of the allocated 66,000.  Is this asking too much?  No it is not.

C.    H-2B KILLER Bill May Be Introduced in House: As if all of this news is not bad enough, the H-2B “Reform” Bill is back on the table and may likely be introduced soon thanks to pressure from unions and anti-immigrant groups.

Folks, the bottom line as of October 1, 2009 is simple:  We are under siege by individuals and groups that appear to hate small and seasonal businesses and the American workers we employ. These people want to destroy us.

With the haters of small and seasonal businesses lining up to try to destroy us, NOW would be a good time to reintroduce yourself to your Senators and Representatives to let them know how dependent you are on seasonal workers. You want to hire Americans, and many of you are able to do so this year as a result of the bad economy. But once the economy bounces back, you will be in the same bad shape as you have been in the past. Again, you want to hire Americans, but if they are not available, you are FORCED to hire foreign nationals. Since you want to follow the law, your sole choice currently is the H-2B program.

If we don’t begin to reconnect with our elected officials we will be overwhelmed by the powerful Unions and anti-immigration zealots intent on the destruction of America’s small businesses and the American workers they employ directly and support indirectly.

3.      SSB CANNOT Provide Legal Advice: Many of you have phoned or emailed us about how to deal with specific legal and procedural issues affecting your particular company. We have recently received a slew of calls related to DOL Wage & Hour issues. While we try to be helpful as possible, we cannot dispense legal counsel. Individual issues related to your company need to be addressed by the professionals advising you and/or handling your H-2B needs.

I hope you share my outrage at the hypocrisy Congress’ decision to ignore the needs of seasonal businesses while simultaneously voting to ensure that millionaire visa applicants get everything they want. Moreover, it is shameful that no one in the US Government has been made responsible for the loss of 37% of the H-2B program this year.

We must let our elected officials know that we demand more from them. We cannot allow Washington-centered zealots to succeed in their efforts to close down our doors through their lies and distortions.

Together we will – we must – succeed. And together will continue to

Charge On!

Hank Lavery