1. United States
2. Calif.
3. Letter

Today I take pen in hand to write and urge you to Vote NO on the Securing Agriculture's Workforce Act. This bill would gut wages and job security for farm workers as well as seasonal workers in meatpacking, food processing, and grocery industries at the worst possible time — when families are already stretched thin by an affordability crisis. The bill, known as SAWA, expands the H-2A visa program into year-round, non-agricultural jobs, converting stable permanent positions into temporary ones. However, its wage provisions alone could cost farm and food workers between $4.4 billion and $5.4 billion annually. That's not a rounding error — that's a deliberate transfer of wealth away from working people in rural communities. H-2A workers already face limited protections against employer abuse, and this bill doubles down on that model rather than fixing it. What the author of this bill, a Republican, saw in his trips around the country is typical: A way to profit from a farm and worker shortage brought on by aggressive deportation actions. This bill might help farmers, but the cost is high for the workers. There are many better ways to stabilize the seasonal worker and legal status that don’t involve indentured servitude and wage slavery. Congress should be strengthening agricultural and food workers, not weakening them. Vote NO on SAWA. It’s a move to oppress, not free people in - largely immigrant - farm workers and seasonal worker jobs. Vote NO. Thank you.