Seasonal Worker Coalition Renews Call for Congressional Action
WASHINGTON, DC, November 6, 2007. As a result of continued strong interest in passing immediate H-2B relief, the H-2B Workforce Coalition, co-chaired by the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA), has delivered a letter urging immediate action on the "Save Our Small and Seasonal Business Act of 2007" and asking for prompt passage of the legislation to renew the relief provision for the H-2B visa program. This letter is a revision to one originally sent to the every member of the United States Senate and House of Representatives on October 5, 2007. The number of signatories rose from 600 in October to a new total of nearly 1,300, representing the lodging, restaurant, landscaping, seafood, and numerous other industries in all 50 states.
The H-2B visa program, operated through the combined efforts of the Departments of Labor, Homeland Security, and State, is utilized heavily by hoteliers, who often spend thousands of dollars and many hours in aggressive recruiting campaigns attempting to hire Americans for short-term seasonal jobs. When employers are unable to find U.S. workers, they must turn to the federal government's H-2B worker program in order to legally obtain short-term workers.
"Without question, the significant increase in the number of signatories to this letter emphasizes that the need for H-2B relief is now more critical than ever," said Joseph A. McInerney, CHA, AH&LA president and chief executive officer. "Representatives of the a wide cross-section industries from throughout the United States continue to press the point to representatives in Washington that unless relief legislation is passed, many employers will be unable to hire the temporary seasonal workers vital to the sustainability of their businesses, and may in fact face severe economic hardship and be forced to lay off full-time permanent employees."
The number of H-2B visas is capped at 66,000 visas per year, a number not adjusted since the visa category was initially capped in 1990. After intense lobbying by AH&LA and others, the "Save Our Small and Seasonal Businesses Act of 2007" was introduced by Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) in the Senate and Rep. Bart Stupak (R-Mich.) in the House of Representatives.
This legislation provided emergency relief to the H-2B program and seasonal employers who rely on seasonal business for their survival by exempting from the cap prior H-2B workers who were counted against the annual cap in one of the previous three years and successfully complied with all program requirements. This provision was temporary and initially expired on September 30, 2006. The additional one-year exemption which had been provided expired on September 30, 2007, and the 33,000 cap for the first half of FY 2008 was met on September 27, 2007 - three full days before the start of the fiscal year.
For more information for AH&LA's involvement with H-2B relief, please visit the association's website, www.ahla.com.
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