It must have been a dream because there can’t be involuntary servitude in Branson. Yet it seemed so real, this conversation the Ole Seagull had with a man who stopped him on the street and asked, “What are you going to do to stop indentured servitude labor in Branson?”
In surprise the Ole Seagull responded, “What indentured servitude labor?” The man replied, “The kind where foreign workers are brought over under temporary Visas and forced to work under indentured servitude like conditions.”
The man explained the labor shortage in Branson has caused a lot of Branson’s businesses, particularly seasonal businesses like motels, hotels, and restaurants to seek foreign workers on a temporary basis. Generally, the foreign workers come into the country for a specific period of time with a legally issued passport simply to work. They are not seeking to immigrate to this country and leave at the end of the prescribed time.
Citing the H-2B Temporary Worker Program as an example, the Ole Seagull said, “That’s nothing new and it has been going on for years.” The man replied, “Exactly, that’s the problem.” Confused, the Ole Seagull asked, “What problem? The program has been in place for years and seems to work well.”
Under the program businesses, after following a procedure showing local labor is not available to fill certain positions, go through the state and Home Land Security to try to get the jobs filled out of the 66,000 cap on the visas that are granted each year for the program. It’s like a lottery, a business can do everything right and still not get any workers because the cap has been reached.
The Ole Seagull went on to explain, “Once a business does get an H-2B worker however, they can return under the H-2R Temporary Return Worker Program that permits workers who had previously come into the country under the H-2B to return in subsequent years. He also pointed out the workers were brought into the country under the sponsorship of individual businesses who, although they received remuneration for room and transportation, were individually responsible for the treatment of their H-2B workers. He also stressed this was the first he had heard the words “involuntary servitude” mentioned in connection with the program.
The man shook his head sadly and said, “That was then, this is now.” He went on to explain that congress has let the H-2R Temporary Return Worker Program expire last fall. Local employers do not have access to any return workers under the program and can only get H-2 workers under the H-2B program and from the 66,000 positions authorized annually.
He went on to say the failure to renew the H-2R program has generated intense competition for the 66,000 H-2B visas with most local employers losing out to huge agencies who bring the workers in under their sponsorship and “sublease” them to the local employers. Unlike in the past where the specific local employer sponsored their workers and was responsible for them, the specific employers must obtain the worker through an agency who actually has the control over the housing and other conditions of employment. There according to the man is the potential for involuntary servitude.
The H-2B workers are contracted out to the local employers for say $11.00 per hour but paid by the agency. Although they are supposed to get a certain wage mandated by federal law for the position, according to the man, a lot of them are actually getting less than that rate because of housing and other charges they must pay. He went on to say the housing situation is disgraceful in some cases with the workers being charged more than the housing is worth and, in total, the whole situation amounts to involuntary servitude.
The Ole Seagull asked, “Can I talk to one of the workers?” He said, “They are afraid to talk because of the fear they will lose their job with the agency.” Even as he was thinking, “Well then conditions can’t be that bad,” the door slammed upstairs and woke the Ole Seagull up from his nap. Wow, thank the Lord it was but a dream and nothing like that can happen in Branson.
