ROCHESTER — With an estimated 47 million Americans quitting their jobs in 2021, legislators have called for an increased employment of foreign workers to remedy the shortage.
In turn, activists, Republican and Democratic politicians, and farmers alike see reforming the seasonal visa system as a necessary first step before bringing more international workers into the country.
“It’s a churn and burn workforce,” said Pommella Wegmann, the president of the AFL-CIO’s Southeast Minnesota Area Labor Council, which represents over 40,000 union members from construction workers to nurses.
The labor council, according to Wegmann, fights for good wages, benefits and workplace safety for all workers, including seasonal visa workers and immigrants.
Wegmann believes that the business model for hiring foreign labor on H-2 seasonal visas creates unbalanced power dynamics between workers and employers where workers don’t have the freedom to stand up for themselves.
Since 2021, two local farms and landscaping companies have been disbarred from hiring foreign labor on account of violating wage and hour regulations.
“The whole business model was to exploit workers and pay as little as possible, offer zero benefits, not provide any training, have dangerous working conditions,” Wegmann said. “And in the next year, start all over again.”
As of 2019, Minnesota has one of the tightest wage theft laws in the country. However, accounts of employers withholding seasonal worker’s due pay continue to...
Welcome to Reality Check, NewsGuard’s nonpartisan newsletter that tracks the false claims and conspiracy theories that shape our world — and who’s behind them. Please support us by becoming a premi...