WASHINGTON, D.C. — As new U.S. Labor Secretary Alex Acosta settles into his new job, high on the agenda is a review of the Department of Labor’s (DOL) H-2A visa program for immigrant farm workers, and cuts of more than $2.5 billion to DOL’s $9.2 billion budget, including the elimination of long-supported jobs programs for rural America.

 

Farmers across the country are waiting to see how the department reworks the

bureaucratic stumbling of the H-2A visa program.

 During the past five years, the number of H-2A visas granted annually has doubled as farmers seek workers for jobs that Americans have shunned. Farmers have complained the program is expensive and cumbersome, but essential to their operations’ success.

 

Acosta has not hinted at how he’ll handle the immigrant farm workers issue. Also high on the agenda is legislation affecting overtime rules that will also affect farm and agricultural workers.

 

One bill is a rule finalized by the DOL under former President Obama last year that would more than double the income threshold that determines which workers should be eligible for overtime pay.

 

Under the rule, anyone earning less than $47,500 a year would be paid timeand-a-half when they work more than 40 hours a week, up from the current threshold of $23,660 a year.

 

During his confirmation hearing, Acosta said he would be inclined to increase the income limit, but perhaps at a lower level. He has until June 30 to decide on a lawsuit challenging the rule.

 

In the second provision the House passed May 3 is a new overtime bill for employees that will allow hourly workers to swap overtime pay for “comp time,” a rule Republicans in Congress have been pushing for more than two decades. But the hurdle for employees is getting that time off approved.

 

Managers still have the final say, which critics say may in some instances force employees to take time off when they would otherwise desire not to.

 

The bill, House Resolution 1180 – the Working Families Flexibility Act of 2017 – faces stiff opposition in the Senate, where in order to pass and avoid a filibuster, it needs eight Democrats to support the measure.

 

“With working families across the country scraping to make ends meet, Congress should strengthen protections for workers – not gut them,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).

 

The measure has been heavily favored by President Trump and, if signed into law, will become another of the more than 180 federal laws Acosta must enforce.

 On the pending overhaul of the visa program, the National Farm Worker Ministry told Farm World Acosta should concentrate on new regulations for job protection for immigrant workers and institute a wide range of measures to prevent exploitation.

 

Acosta “can put into place avenues to protect the farm workers’ (and) guest workers’ rights in relation to speaking up about wage theft, harassment, poor living conditions” and other issues,” Executive Director Julie Taylor said, “without fear of retaliation or threats of deportation.” 

 

There was no response to a press inquiry for comment from the advocacy group Farmworker Justice, which in the past has represented immigrant farm groups pressing for changes to the visa program. Acosta, 48, the son of Cuban immigrants, was sworn in on April 28 by Vice President Mike Pence as the nation’s 27th labor secretary a day after he was confirmed on a Senate vote of 60-38. Most recently, he was dean of the Florida International University Law School in Miami.

 

During his first week on the job Acosta saw nationwide weekend marches on May l, May Day, and May 6 rallies by immigrants from across the country protesting Trump’s various immigration policies.

 

In Trump’s 2018 budget proposal, the White House is calling for a hefty $2.5 billion reduction to the DOL’s $9.6 billion funding, or 21 percent, including a dramatic cut of $434 million to eliminate the popular Senior Community Service Employment program that helps seniors 55 and older land new jobs across rural America.

 

Last summer, the National Farmers Union (NFU) applauded the DOL for its support of the program, which issued more than $338 million in 2017 grants to support job training and service programs, including the farming community. The NFU did not respond to a Farm World inquiry about this year’s pending budget cuts.

 

Acosta also has to decide whether to support another farm program Trump wants to cut, the National Farm Workers Job Program. The White House wants to chop $81.9 million in funding from the program, which helped to find employment for more than 20,600 farm workers in the past year.

 

As Trump’s only Latin cabinet secretary, Acosta oversees a sprawling agency that enforces more than 180 federal laws covering about 10 million employers and 125 million workers, including more than 3 million who work on the nation’s farms and millions more throughout agriculture.

 

Trump’s first choice for the job was former fast food CEO Andrew Puzder, who was forced to withdraw from consideration after he acknowledged having hired a housekeeper not authorized to work in the U.S., and later had to pay the worker’s related taxes. He also came under fire from Democrats for other issues related to his company and private life.

 

Acosta has been a U.S. prosecutor, a civil rights chief at the Justice Department and a member of the National Labor Board. His vote was the fourth time he has been confirmed by the Senate to fill a federal post.