Department of Labor bill would impact pay of foreign backstretch workers

A federal Department of Labor Appropriations bill scheduled to be heard in committee on Thursday contains several provisions that would dramatically alter the requirements for employers using the H-2B visa program, potentially impacting the labor market for backstretch workers.

Among the changes, the bill contains a new requirement that would increase the baseline for wages for H-2B workers to “at least 150 percent of the federal or state minimum wage, whichever is higher.” Currently, the baseline for wages for H-2B workers is the lowest-paid domestic worker in a company’s operation.

Trainers rely heavily on the H-2B program to fill positions on the backside. Because of shifting policy positions on the program over the past five years, the racing industry has banded together with other industries that use H-2B workers, such as hospitality, landscaping, and fisheries, to lobby for policies that protect the “status quo” in the program.

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The National Thoroughbred Racing Association, which coordinates the Thoroughbred racing industry’s federal lobbying efforts, urged racing participants on Wednesday to contact their legislators prior to the bill being considered in the House Appropriations Committee on Thursday in support of some of the provisions being removed from the bill.

“This appropriations bill contains alarming language for any business or industry that relies on the H-2B visa program to operate,” said Alex Waldrop, the president of the NTRA.

H-2B visas are temporary work permits for foreign workers issued to non-agricultural industries. Under current guidelines, 66,000 total visas can be issued every six months to foreign workers, and the NTRA and its allies in the movement have consistently lobbied for increases to that number.

Trainers and horsemen’s groups insist that they cannot find enough U.S. workers to fill backside positions for relatively unskilled labor, such as grooming and hotwalking. Over the past two years, trainers in New York have been targeted by state and federal labor investigators, and a half-dozen trainers in the state have been issued fines and requirements for back pay due to violations, many involving workers with H-2B visas.

Critics of the visa program contend that U.S. workers would fill the positions if wages were higher. The push this year coincides with a post-pandemic effort by many progressive legislators and policy makers to improve conditions and protections for wage earners, bolstered somewhat by conservative efforts to protect domestic workers from the impacts of immigration or foreign-born workers on labor markets.