HYANNIS – A spending bill passed through the House Wednesday could bring more H-2B visa workers to the Cape and Islands this summer.
Congress is working on a temporary fix for the rest of the fiscal year which would allow the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary of Labor, to increase the nationwide cap from 66,000 workers up to more than 129,000.
“That would allow employers who maybe have been log jammed in the process of applying for the H-2B temporary seasonal visa,” said Wendy Northcross, the CEO of the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce. “They could then get restarted.”
Even if the spending bill is signed into law this week and the Homeland Security and Labor Departments decide to increase the cap on the number of temporary workers allowed in the U.S., the process could take up to two months for needed help to arrive.
“Someone who already has paperwork filed it might be less, but if now someone knows they have that opportunity and want to file paperwork it could mean employers are receiving their temporary seasonal workforce in July,” Northcross said. “Now July is not optimum, but in some cases they could probably figure out keeping staffing levels sufficient through July when they would know they would have some relief.”
Congressman William Keating (D-Bourne) said the Departments of Homeland Security and Labor have been asked to fast track an increase through a bipartisan effort.
Keating said the current effort to secure more seasonal workers is a “new door.”
Since January, Keating and others have been working to get a “returning worker” exemption passed through budget appropriations.
The exemption would allow workers in the hospitality, landscaping and construction industries who previously worked in the U.S. in Fiscal Years 2014, 2015 and 2016 to return without counting towards the federal cap.
The “returning worker” exemption was used in four of the last 11 years, including last year.
“What they are doing, as a process, will be more cumbersome and could result in delays, which in our region for this season by the time anything was approved might become a moot point to our local hospitality industry,” Keating said.
Keating said the new resolution sounds complicated, but isn’t.
“The unknown is the factor here,” he said. “It would have been much better, greater certainty and greater effect to do it the way we had suggested.”
Northcross said employers in the region are already feeling the effects from the uncertainty of the availability of seasonal workers, and are having a tough time trying to find individuals to fill needed openings.
“A couple of employers that I spoke to this week said they have spent thousands and thousands of dollars on radio ads,” Northcross said. “In some cases they need people with driver’s licenses and so half of the applicants that maybe the ads have generated people don’t even have driver’s licenses.”
Northcross said the issue would probably not cause businesses to close if they can’t get enough employees but their bottom line costs will be affected.
“They’ll be paying more overtime or they won’t be able to sell as much product or service as many customers,” she said. “And over time that will have an effect of pulling back for that business.”
If the spending bill becomes law and the cap is increased the solution to providing seasonal help would only be another bandage.
“This is just for this year only,” Northcross said. “It is just a one-year fix on an issue that really needs a complete overhaul on the process.”
The Fiscal Year 2017 Omnibus Appropriations Act will be taken up by the Senate Thursday.
By BRIAN MERCHANT, CapeCod.com NewsCenter
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