Debate over H-2B visa cap threatens serious shortage of seasonal workers: operators dependent on immigrant workers push for exemptions

Nation's Restaurant News, March 17, 2008 by Paul Frumkin

WASHINGTON -- Foodservice and hospitality operators who rely on seasonal employees to fill their ranks could be facing severe labor shortages this summer if congressional action remains stalled on a vote to extend an expired provision enabling employers to hire more temporary help.

Industry officials say political wrangling in Washington has sidelined several broadly supported bipartisan bills that would exempt returning immigrant workers from the national cap of 66,000 H-2B seasonal visas. Failure to renew the exemption, they maintain, could result in escalating labor costs, reduced service, sharply curtailed hours, abridged menus and, in some extreme cases, possible restaurant closures.

The impasse also could harm foodservice suppliers and other purveyors who rely on seasonal business increases at resorts and tourism-based areas across the country.

Several federal lawmakers have introduced legislation to renew the exemption, but industry officials say further action is being thwarted chiefly by the 24-member Congressional Hispanic Caucus, which insists that the exemption be part of a more comprehensive immigration reform solution.

And while many in the foodservice industry favor comprehensive immigration reform, CHC's all-or-nothing tactics have put otherwise sympathetic operators in the crosshairs. "It appears to be a political game," said Bill Catania, president of the Catania Hospitality Group in Hyannis, Mass., on Cape Cod. "A select group of legislators are holding us hostage to get through larger immigration reform. It's ironic."

"We know there are issues in this country that have to be addressed," said Patti Ann Moskwa, co-owner of the Yankee Rebel Tavern and Horn's Gaslight Bar and Restaurant on Mackinac Island, Mich. "But you can't do everything at once. If you think they can pass a comprehensive immigration program that quickly, you must be living on the moon."

Neither the offices of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus nor its chairman, Rep. Joe Baca, D-Calif., had responded to calls for a statement by press time.

The exemption provision was introduced in 2005 to provide relief to employers who rely on foreignborn workers who enter the country on H-2B visas and fill temporary seasonal jobs not taken by U.S. residents.

For many years operators and other small business owners had complained that the cap on the 66,000 available H-2B visas was reached too early in the year, preventing them from filing applications for foreign employees.

Over the past three years, however, returning H-2B workers had not been counted against the annual cap, which served to nearly double the number of immigrants holding temporary, seasonal jobs in the states, according to published reports.

When the exemption expired last September, industry officials assumed it would sail through the U.S. Congress, where it already enjoyed broad bipartisan support. Mike Shutley, director of legislative affairs for the National Restaurant Association, said a measure sponsored by Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., already had been passed in the Senate. However, the exemption was stripped out of the bill in conference when it was sent to the House.

In addition to resistance from the CHC, the H-2B temporary worker program historically has been opposed by labor, Shutley said.

"There had been a groundswell of support for the issue," he said. "Members of Congress realize it could put small businesses out of Work.

"But now it looks like it's become a political football."

Four bills, in fact, have been introduced in Congress in an effort to extend the exemption. In addition to Mikulski's Senate bill, S.988--which has 41 cosponsors--three House bills have been presented. Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., sponsored H.R. 1843, which would make the returning worker program permanent. The bill has 141 cosponsors.

Rep. Thelma Drake, R-Va., introduced H.R. 5233, which would extend the exemption for two years, while Rep. Jim Gerlach, R-Pa., just presented H.R. 5495, which would provide for a one-year extension.

"At this point [the NRA] would support any of the bills," Shutley said.

But many in the foodservice industry worry that time is running out. "If Congress doesn't pass this before it breaks for Easter recess, it may be too late for some operators," said Peter Christie, president and chief executive of the Massachusetts Restaurant Association.

Bill Zammer, owner of Cape Cod Restaurants Inc., in Falmouth, Mass., said his four restaurants employ 400 workers during the height of the season, more than 100 of whom are temporary workers from Jamaica. "This is putting us in a severe situation," said Zammer, who also serves as vice chairman of the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce.

In addition, he says, the workers he already employs are being wooed by landscapers--who also rely on H-2B workers and are willing to pay $20 an hour--and the large area casinos like Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun.

Zammer says he is attempting to recruit workers up and down the East Coast, but anticipates having to make some serious adjustments to his operations if Congress fails to act soon. He is considering offering several-thousand-dollar bonuses to workers who stay for five months as well as free housing "for the right people."