Farmworkers sue Trump, say new rule will cut pay

The United Farm Workers, along with more than a dozen additional farmworkers, are suing the Trump administration in California over a new Labor Department rule they argue will “undercut and adversely affect” wages paid to U.S. workers.

- BY BRITTNY MEJIA

WORKERS harvest lettuce in King City, Calif. A union calls the rule unlawful.

GENARO MOLINA Los Angeles Times

Eighteen farmworkers across the nation, along with the United Farm Workers of America and the UFW Foundation, recently filed the lawsuit to reverse the rule, which makes it cheaper for farmers to hire foreign workers through the H-2A program by lowering wages.

The union argued in the lawsuit that the rule which cuts wages of H-2A workers between $5 to $7 per hour—is “unlawful” and will “put downward pressure on the wages of U.S. workers” who are in similar jobs, often on the same contracts as those with visas.