The federal H-2B guest worker program, which provides employers with access to seasonal, foreign employees, is one avenue some golf course superintendents or managers pursue to add to their labor force. Efforts are under way to keep that avenue wide open so it can keep up with the increasing demand of its users.
The Golf Course Superintendents Association of America is working to find out the exact number of golf courses that use the program, but there are many, says Carrie Riordan, the association’s director of information and public policy.
“Many courses utilize H-2B, both on the clubhouse side, with food service, and then on the actual golf course management side of things,” she says, adding she knows of a club in Michigan that hires 50 H-2B workers each season.
Besides golf courses, the program brings an increasing number of workers to the landscaping, hotel/resort and restaurant industries. Advocates say the H-2B program doesn’t allow for all employers to hire the workers they need, and they’re trying to remedy that.
Currently, the program has a cap of 66,000 workers per fiscal year. That number is divided in half to allow 33,000 for each half of the year. During the past couple of years, Congress passed amendments that have allowed for returning workers to be exempt from counting against the cap, allowing more workers to arrive. Each time, the amendment has had an expiration date. This time, the temporary fix expires Sept. 30, and advocates are trying to convince legislators to continue the exemption but do away with the expiration date.
An H-2B Fly-in is being planned for Feb. 13 at Capitol Hill, the same week Senators Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) and John Warner (R-Va.) are expected to introduce the H-2B bill in the Senate. This is a chance for H-2B users and advocates to garner support for the repeat worker cap extension.
The proposed legislation also contains a technical fix for a component of the program called the three year look-back. Currently, those who have participated in the program for three years can’t be counted as a returning worker the next season. This is in effect for one season. The following year, the worker is considered a returning member of the work force again. The legislation would eliminate this amendment.
The GCSAA won’t have any staff members at the Fly-in, but the association will directly lobby legislators on the issue, Riordan says, adding GCSAA chapters within driving distance of Washington, D.C. have been made aware of the event.
John Meredith, founder of the Meredith Advocacy Group and former co-chairman of the H-2B Workforce Coalition, is one of the proponents of making the cap extension permanent. The cap for the first part of the current fiscal year is already at 25,000, he says.
“The program cap is being hit earlier and earlier each year,” he says.
Because some of the H-2B participants who apply for a work visa won’t get one, the target number for applicants in a half of a year is close to 51,000.
The current system is good for employers who have returning workers who are loyal to them because workers can choose if they want to return to the same place each season.
But, Meredith points out, there’s no guarantee that employers will get the same workers. There are a few cases. For example, if a worker is counted under the three-year look back, he or she counts as a new worker, and might not be able to return if the cap is met. Additionally, there’s the possibility of other employers luring those workers away from the employers they worked for the previous season.
The process has an additional kink this year. Some potential workers are scrambling to find a way into the program after the U.S. consulate’s office in Monterrey, Mexico, one of the main entry points for the program, announced its H-2B service temporarily isn’t taking any more appointments because it’s booked.
As the program’s participants look for ways to get in before the cap is met, Meredith is looking to gain support for the cap extension. He credits Mikulski and Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.) for their support of the program during the past few years and hopes to get more legislators on board.
Meredith hopes that eventually the cap can be increased or eliminated altogether. But for now, he’s focusing his efforts on making sure the returning worker cap extension is a permanent part of the H-2B program, which he estimates stands a 70-percent chance.
“We need a tidal wave of support to make (the cap extension) permanent,” he says. “Frankly, it will be an uphill, but H-2B has a wonderful record of success, and hopefully lawmakers will see that and make it permanent.”