Seafood processors say new guest worker rules put businesses in jeopardy

Gary Bauer, owner of Pontchartrain Blue Crab in Slidell, depends on guest workers and says his business can’t survive without them. That’s because, Bauer says, it’s hard to find locals who are willing to do the demanding work, such as standing for hours picking crabmeat or peeling shrimp. Many, if not most, of the seafood processors in Louisiana depend on foreign guest workers to help operate their businesses and meet demand for their products, reports Louisiana Seafood News. Louisiana’s crab fishery, oyster fishery, shrimp fishery—and even its alligator farms—rely on those who will travel to and work in the United States by way of an H-2B visa. Each visa is a one-time pass to fill a seasonal job vacancy that cannot be filled by an American worker. A variety of Louisiana industries brought in more than 3,000 H-2B workers in 2011. Though the program has worked well for years, there’s growing concern among Louisiana business owners about new regulations established by the U.S. Department of Labor since January 2011. The new rules, which are in various stages of delay, include hundreds of pages of complicated guidelines employers must follow to qualify, as well as a new method of calculating wages that sharply increases what employers will pay. “It’s unfair to employers who need seasonal workers to have a significantly higher wage increase imposed on them,” says Louisiana Agriculture and Forestry Commissioner Mike Strain. “What business could absorb a 32% wage increase at the stroke of a pen?” Read the full story here.