H-2B has become a vital source of labor for our members who use the program. We urge all of our members to write or fax or call their representatives to ask them to support a continuation of the exemption. A sample letter is below:
January 14, 2008
The Honorable (Firstname Lastname)
(Street Address)
Washington, DC 12345
Fax #
Dear [Official’s Title and Name will be inserted here]:
I am writing to you as a small business owner to urge your support for the “Save Our Small and Seasonal Businesses Act of 2007” (S. 988) and to ask you to push for its immediate passage.
My company uses the H-2B visa program to assure its workers are legally documented. The H-2B program provides a vital and legal source of seasonal labor for our industry and other industries that cannot fill their labor needs with American citizens. Unfortunately, the program’s congressionally mandated cap of 66,000 was met January 3. Clearly, it is inadequate to meet the seasonal needs of tree care companies and other small businesses whose labor needs do not begin until spring.
The failure of Congress to extend the H-2B returning worker exemption means that I will not have access to the workforce I need this year. For the past few years, I have been able to hire my past H-2B employees because returning workers were exempt from the cap. The cap exemption for returning workers expired on September 30, 2007, leaving me without a source of legal labor to supplement my year-round American workforce during the busy season.
The viability of my company is dependent on an immediate extension of the returning worker exemption. I cannot expand my business, order supplies or purchase new equipment without knowing if I will have the employees to do the work. For this reason, I urge you to immediately push for an extension of the returning worker exemption. Three years of successful implementation have proven that the exemption works. A temporary visa program should not be confused with the larger issues concerning immigration.
Again, thank you for cosponsoring “Save Our Small and Seasonal Businesses Act of 2007” for my business and for other small businesses with seasonal labor needs.
Sincerely,
(Your Name, Title, Business Name and address)
The Senate this morning rejected Majority Leader Reid's attempt to bring a comprehensive immigration measure to a final vote, dealing a potentially fatal blow to the White House-backed measure. The vote was 53-46 against Reid's motion for cloture, 14 votes short of the 60 votes that were needed.
With elections approaching, both House and Senate leadership are pushing an agenda that will bolster Republicans’ chances at the polls and energize the GOP base. This includes two big ticket items for business –- immigration and the estate tax.
In late June, the House passed legislation that would permanently reduce the estate tax by exempting most estates under $10 million and cutting rates for others. Senate leadership has struggled to secure the 60 votes needed to move the legislation and is considering alternatives, such as attaching it to unrelated legislation that is likely to pass.
While Senate leadership seems bent on passing estate tax legislation, their counterparts in the House appear focused on stopping efforts to create guest worker programs and expanding legal immigration. On May 25, the Senate passed a comprehensive immigration reform bill by a vote 62 to 36. The bill, S. 2611, would provide a pathway to legal residency for millions of undocumented workers, expand immigration opportunities for highly skilled workers, create a temporary guest worker program, establish new employment verification procedures and increase boarder security. The House passed its own legislation, H.R. 4437, last December. The House bill, however, does not contain any program for guest or undocumented workers, focusing exclusively on border security and immigration enforcement.
Normally, the House and Senate would attempt to hammer out differences between the bills in conference. Many House Republicans, however, have voiced strong opposition to the Senate bill, claiming the country should secure its boarder and fix the employment verification system prior to expanding immigration opportunities or creating guest worker programs. In response to this opposition, House leadership announced that it would hold hearings throughout the summer to examine possible problems with the Senate bill. The hearings will delay any actions on the legislation until end of the summer.
Finally, rumors continue that the Senate may make a second attempt at moving legislation that allows small businesses to pool together and offer health insurance across state lines (known as small business or association health plans). In May, Senate leadership was five votes short of the 60 needed to close debate on the bill. The House has already passed similar legislation.
For the last several months, TCIA has been meeting with policy makers urging creation of a separate OSHA standard for arboriculture based on the ANSI Z133. Our efforts have included multiple meetings with OSHA representatives, including Assistant Secretary for OSHA Ed Foulke, Deputy Secretary Jonathan Snare and head of OSHA enforcement Richard Fairfax. During those meetings, we discussed not only the need for a separate standard, but potential problems with proposed logging standard enforcement directives OSHA has been considering. We are hopeful that this dialogue with OSHA will promote greater understanding of the issues facing our industry.
Nonetheless, we felt the need to pursue a more comprehensive strategy to advance our interests, also meeting with staff from the House and Senate committees with OSHA oversight and representatives of the Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy. In May, we formally petitioned OSHA for a rule and presented at the SBA’s OSHA Roundtable the case for a separate standard. We also continued to work with other business groups to advocate for an adequate and legal source of labor for our industry through changes that would increase the number of seasonal worker visas (H-2Bs) and other strategies to supplement the domestic workforce through immigrant and temporary guest worker programs.
As we move forward, our key focus remains securing a separate standard and avoiding an enforcement directive that would expand the logging standard to tree care work. We are also working to secure a Susan Harwood grant to bring TCIA’s Electrical Hazards Awareness Program to thousands of arborists working near energized lines.
Elected representatives listen to messages from voters back in their states. The ultimate objective is to get our industry organized in a way that will allow fast response to local and national issues.
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