Save Small Business targets lame-duck congress for H2B relief
5 Nov, 2008 LM Direct!With the election results just hours old, small and seasonal businesses all over Maryland are mobilizing to demand that Congress pass the "Save Our Small and Seasonal Businesses Act" when it returns to Washington for a Lame Duck session. The bill would restore a seasonal worker visa provision that will keep full-time US workers employed year-round.
Congress' failure to pass this Bill has put American workers at great risk. Without seasonal workers, businesses have been forced to downsize and even close, resulting in loss of American jobs, said a release from Save Small Business, a national grassroots organization of seasonal businesses.
Theodore Anderson, a U.S. citizen and worker employed by JM Clayton Seafood, an H-2B employer, said, "How do we survive if I lose my job? I have a wife at home, and a mortgage and other bills that are already hard to pay."
Jack Brooks, owner of JM Clayton Seafood, said that Maryland depends on the H-2B seasonal workers because not enough Americans want temporary, outdoor and seasonal jobs. "Congress needs to pass this bill, otherwise we won't have the workers we need to open next year. We try to recruit every American we can find for these temporary jobs, but there just are not enough workers who want seasonal work," he said.
Hank Lavery, a mid-Atlantic employer who heads Save Small Business, said Maryland's situation is identical to that faced by American workers across the nation. "There are only two words to describe this dire situation -- American jobs. American workers at companies with unmet seasonal worker needs are desperate. If their employers go out of business, they and their families will be out on the street.
The Save Small Business Act restores the H-2B returning worker exemption, a successfull provision that sunset on September 30, 2007. Congress' failure to renew this successful program now threatens to force thousands of businesses across the United States to close, and thousands of Americans to lose their jobs. H-2B visas are needed at seasonal businesses across the US, including the seafood, resort, hospitality, landscape, ski and quarry industries, among others. 15,000 companies participated in the H-2B program in 2007.
The Save Our Small and Seasonal Businesses Act ( H.R.1843/S.988)
Maryland's American Workers and their Employers Demand Action
Background
Congress has put in peril thousands of American jobs and the future of small and seasonal businesses across Maryland. These Americans are employed at companies that require the services of seasonal workers, in temporary jobs that, after every effort was made to recruit American workers , still have significant openings .
Unfortunately, despite the economic downturn, there still are not enough Americans who want to give up the possibility of a full-time, year-round job for the opportunity to work in a temporary seasonal position. Employers have had no choice but to turn to H-2B workers, using a process that is the most cumbersome of its kind. No US employer would go through the great expense and time commitment involved in the H-2B visa process if there were US workers available to meet seasonal hiring needs.
Congress' failure to renew the exemption has meant that American workers (and the businesses that employ them) face disaster. This will hurt key industries and regions in our State.
Talking Points
- Cosponsor support: Senator Mikulski (D), Senator Cardin (D), Rep Gilchrist (R-1 st ),
Rep Ruppersberger (D-2 nd ), Rep Sarbanes (D-3 rd ), Rep Wynn (D-4 th ), Rep Hoyer (D-5 th ),
Rep Bartlett (R-6 th ), Rep Cummings (D-7 th ), and Rep Van Hollen, Jr. (D-8 th ). A clean sweep of support.
- In 2007, Maryland businesses, employing hundreds of Americans, filed 733 H-2B petitions. These businesses included Hospitality, Seafood, Aquatics, Recreation, and Landscapers.
- The "Save Our Small and Seasonal Businesses Act" ( H.R.1843 and S.988 ) extends the H-2B Returning Worker Exemption through FY2012 (the House Bill removes the artificial sunset provision completely).
- The Save Small Business Bill also prescribes harsh penalties for employers who try to cheat the system. This bipartisan solution is fair, right and effective, and supported by Republicans and Democrats alike.
- It is ironic that the very same workers (American and H-2B) and small and seasonal businesses across Maryland who follow the laware the ones suffering the most. These workers and businesses have chosen to stand arm-in-arm with Congress to obey the law. By not acting yet, Congress has turned its back on the very people it should suppor
- Not only are high-wage American jobs at these companies threatened by Congress' failure to act. High-paying jobs at Ford, GM and Dodge truck assembly plants and at equuipment manufacture and supplies companies across the U.S.A are also threatened. Small and seasonal businesses have had to cancel or delay orders for vehicles, equipment and supplies. America cannot afford this drain on our economy .
- Congress should support American workers and pass this bill now.
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