Labor groups sue Trump administration to reverse H-2A wage cuts

The United Farm Workers of America (UFWA)and the United Farm Worker Foundation (UFWF) filed a lawsuit last week on behalf of 18 farm workers to reverse the Trump administration’s wage cut rule, according to a press release.

UFWF says the decision “dramatically undercuts the wages of U.S. workers in agriculture” and “risks drastically expanding the exploitative H-2A agricultural guest worker program.”

The H-2A guestworker program today has no annual visa cap and has grown 7x since 2005, with nearly 400,000 foreign farm workers in 2024 alone. The Trump wage cut rule, according to UFWF, represents one of the largest wealth transfers from workers to employers in U.S. agricultural history.

When did the administration issue farm worker wage cuts?

On October 2, the Department of Labor announced a new rule that cuts the wages of H-2A workers between $5 to $7 per hour, which directly transfers $2.46 billion dollars in wages from workers to employers annually, according to the administration’s own estimates. This rule will also immediately lower the wages of any U.S. citizen workers sharing job sites with H-2A workers, and make it financially easier to hire foreign H-2A guest workers over U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents.

UFWF claims the rule was released without giving the public an opportunity to provide feedback, as required by the Administrative Procedure Act. The first Trump administration attempted to implement a similar rule in 2020 but was stopped by a UFWA and UFWF lawsuit. A federal court found the 2020 rule adversely affected the wages and working conditions of American workers.

More lawsuit details

The worker lawsuit seeks to reverse President Trump’s wage cut rule and to protect American farm worker jobs and wages. It was filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California.

Plaintiffs are represented by Covington & Burling, Farmworker Justice, Martinez Aguilasocho Law, and the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation. Plaintiffs include U.S. farm workers from Michigan, Georgia, California, Washington, Texas, and Missouri. 

What farm workers and labor experts are saying

“I harvest strawberries while also going to school,” said Isabel Panfilo, a U.S. citizen and farm worker in Ventura County, California, in the press release. Panfilo is a plaintiff in the complaint. “Picking strawberries and packing them is extremely skilled work. You are expected to work hard and fast to fill a lot of boxes. The threat of guest workers is concerning because they will replace local workers with H-2A workers. Although I work very hard, it is difficult to cover everyday expenses. Recently, after the extreme rains, we are expected to show up to work to harvest berries in knee deep water while it’s extremely cold. The work that farm workers do is extremely difficult and deserves more respect.”

“President Trump’s wage cuts serve only one purpose: they make it easier for big agricultural corporations to exploit cheap foreign labor through the H-2A program and replace American farm workers, or avoid paying them a fair market wage,” said Teresa Romero, president, United Farm Workers, in the press release. “Farm workers deserve fair wages and job security, not a race to the bottom with an endless supply of cheap foreign labor. If this President will not fight for American farm workers, then we will.”

You can follow this link to view the latest news on ag labor reform. And be sure to check out this op-ed from National Council of Agriculture Employers (NCAE) president Michael Marsh in our November issue.