Migration that Works — a coalition of unions, workers, advocates, researchers, and anti-trafficking organizations— strongly condemns the Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR) methodology Rule published last week by the Trump administration which will cut farmworker wages by at least $17.29 billion over 10 years.
This means that employers can hold back per year $2.46 billion earned by the farmworkers who toil to bring food to our tables.
Farmworkers are some of the most essential yet lowest paid workers in the United States. And now, through this new AEWR methodology, the Trump administration is proposing to reduce their wages even more. Because of this exploitative and incredibly shortsighted rule, by the Department of Labor’s own admission, an individual farmworker would earn around $5,500 less in a year — making it harder to make ends meet.
Employers will also get to deduct housing fees from the wages of migrant workers in the H-2A program, which will result in some guestworkers earning well below minimum wage.
The AEWR determines the minimum wage employers must pay farmworkers under the H-2A visa program, as well as U.S.-based farmworkers employed alongside them. It is a measure that is supposed to keep greedy corporations and low-road employers from purposefully driving down wages for all farmworkers.
The Trump administration claims this new methodology will allow employers to hire more workers, but in doing so, it will exacerbate the exploitation of internationally recruited workers and further displace domestic farmworkers. Through their shortsighted actions, the Trump administration is affecting all farmworkers’ livelihoods and ability to provide for their families.
The message this rule sends is clear: the Trump administration has no respect for farmworkers.
Migration that Works calls on the Department of Labor and the Trump Administration to immediately reverse this rule and restore the wage protections that uphold fairness and dignity for all farmworkers.
migrationthatworks.org 