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« Previous Story | The Industry Report Home Page | Next Story » H-2B Visa Worker Saga Rolls On; Forces Join To Delay ActionBy Roger Leo 
Add in widespread desire for immigration reform but little prospect of action anytime soon, an unlikely coalition of right-wing Republicans, labor unions, and the Hispanic Caucus joining forces to likely delay any action on guest worker visas in favor of comprehensive reform. That's the big picture. Michael Berry, president of the National Ski Areas Association, recapped the issue. "The H-2B original cap was 66,000 a year. The year began in the fall, and obviously, the ski industry was the ultimate beneficiary of that timing. The people who got hosed were the mom and pop motel owner on Cape Cod, because the quota was met by the time it got around to their season," Berry told The Industry Report. "The first thing that happened, three years ago, was they changed the rule to allocate the workers seasonally, April and September, 33,000 in each group. That was still OK because we, the ski industry, were good at processing applications," he said. "The vast majority of important H-2B Visa holders were for ski and snowboard instructors. The vast majority of them were qualified as returning workers. If they had gotten visas the year before, they automatically got in for Year 2. "Then last year the exemption for returning workers expired, and Congress did not reauthorize it. That meant we stood in line with everybody else for 33,000 workers in the fall, with no exemption for returning workers. "It got us the worst in returning ski and snowboard instructors from South America, Australia, New Zealand, and Europe," Berry said. "The solution in the short term is to get the returning worker exemption re-established. In the long term, it's to get the annual quota increased from 66,000 to some greater number. There's a dearth of service workers in this country. A 17-year-old kid going to high school doesn't want to think too seriously about working back of the house anywhere - either at McDonald's or a ski area. "Legislative reform or restoring the returning worker exemption would require an act of Congress, and Congress hasn't done much with immigration reform," Berry explained. "The visa issue has been lumped into the greater category of immigration reform, and alliances of convenience have been established by people who don't want immigration reform, or want it in some restrictive fashion. "The Hispanic Caucus is opposed any kind of short-term solution that would derail the issue of broad-based reform of immigration and various guest worker programs. The whole issue is being held hostage by an unlikely coalition of the Right Wing of the Republican Party and labor unions and some conservative members of the Hispanic Caucus," Berry said. "With a new Congress and a new White House, Washington is going to address the issue of H-2B Visas and the returning worker exemption. We're going to see immigration reform become a really serious issue. Whether we can do anything in the short term to resolve our H-2B Visa issue remains to be seen," Berry said. He said the ski industry employed about 5,000 H-2B workers at the peak of the program, with 2,000 to 2,500 of those working as ski and snowboard instructors. Steve Kircher, president of Boyne Resorts' Eastern Operations, told the IR, "H-2Bs are less important now because unemployment rates are so much higher. It's much easier to get staff today versus six months or a year ago. Of course, different markets are different. Montana is tighter than a drum. New Hampshire is still tough. "It's also a question of talent. Who's a good instructor? We have a 40-to-50 year legacy of bringing Austrians in to work in our ski schools. It's a little difficult to fill those positions. It's even difficult bringing in head of ski schools in Michigan, where we've had Austrian heads since 1956. That whole thing just got shut down. "We had some Jamaican housekeeping help to fill summer needs. They take great pride in their work, and that really helps because housekeeping is difficult. Americans are still above that level of work. It's still a challenge filling those positions, but easier than it was," Kircher said. Kircher said there are resorts that totally depend on H-2Bs and "we're still empathetic and supportive for breaking the logjam, but this hasn't been a catastrophic issue for us." He estimated Boyne's 7,000-person work force today includes a few hundred H-2B Visa holders while, at the height of the program, it may have been four times that number. Comparisons are difficult because the number of Boyne resorts has grown steadily. Boyne, like many American resorts, also uses J1 Visa holders, primarily college students. "J1s are smart kids, but not great workers. They're comparable to college students in America," Kircher said. " 'You want me to stand out in the cold?' " Boyne's J1 Visa holders are generally from South America - Argentina and Brazil. They used to be from Eastern Europe as well before the euro got strong. "Americans are sensitive to losing jobs to foreign workers," Kircher added. "I, too, would like to keep the money in America and pay Americans wages, and keep money coming into the local community. We've been trying to hire Americans all along, but when we couldn't, we'd hire H-2Bs." Kelly Ladyga, vice president of corporate communications for Vail Resorts said, "The good news is that we're fully staffed at all five resorts and that includes instructors. We've had a new, comprehensive recruiting program in place this past year and have been able to fill all of the positions we need for the season. We were able to secure hundreds of H2 extensions for H-2Bs already in the U.S. working over the summer and have begun a new Q Visa program (cultural ambassadors) through our ski school. "We're committed to working on a resolution to the H-2B Visa cap program as well as developing the Q Visa program," Ladyga said. Vail Resorts has brought in many long-time ski instructors under the Q Visa program as cultural ambassadors to teach skiing and also to greet resort guests in their native language and share cultural insights from abroad, she told the IR. Ladyga said H-2B Visa holders already in the country were able to get their visas extended, without falling under the provision of the law that required an exemption from the H-2B Visa cap to return to jobs in the United States. In addition, she said, Vail Resorts committed to hundreds of J1 Visas, but found increased interest from American workers for jobs formerly held by foreign workers. "With unemployment being higher this year than in past years, and a very comprehensive, aggressive recruiting program, we were able to increase our domestic workers and we're fully staffed," Ladyga said. What It Means: Congress needs to act on comprehensive immigration law reform, but don't hold your breath that this will happen anytime soon. It's a complex issue, with strong positions held on all sides, and will likely take a back seat to more urgent matters such as the economy and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. « Previous Story | The Industry Report Home Page | Next Story » |
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