TY - JOUR
T1 - The TN Visa
T2 - The Future of Foreign Workers in Livestock Production
AU - Ramos, Athena K.
AU - Reynaga, Danny
N1 - Funding Information:
Dr. Ramos’ time was partially supported by funding from the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) grant number U54 OH010162 as part of the Central States Center for Agricultural Safety and Health.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - Agricultural employers have faced extreme challenges in recruiting and retaining an adequate workforce. Various societal changes have made hiring local workers into agricultural jobs difficult. Therefore, there is a growing reliance on foreign workers and visa programs to meet labor demands. One such program, the TN visa, can be an effective and useful tool for recruiting professional labor for livestock operations, and many agricultural employers have already seen its value. It is likely that the use of the TN program will continue to grow in the future. However, there is opportunity for misuse and abuse of the TN program because there are few administrative rules and limited oversight. We offer recommendations to improve the TN program and the well-being of TN professionals including additional oversight of the program, transparency in recruiting and contracting workers, educating TN workers about U.S. labor rights, ensuring fair pay, and allowing a path to work authorization for TN workers’ spouses and children who accompany them in the U.S. Clearly, sustainable solutions to the farm labor shortage are needed. As a field, we need to better understand workforce recruitment and retention concerns as well as mechanisms being used to address such concerns and their impact on workers’ health, safety, and well-being.
AB - Agricultural employers have faced extreme challenges in recruiting and retaining an adequate workforce. Various societal changes have made hiring local workers into agricultural jobs difficult. Therefore, there is a growing reliance on foreign workers and visa programs to meet labor demands. One such program, the TN visa, can be an effective and useful tool for recruiting professional labor for livestock operations, and many agricultural employers have already seen its value. It is likely that the use of the TN program will continue to grow in the future. However, there is opportunity for misuse and abuse of the TN program because there are few administrative rules and limited oversight. We offer recommendations to improve the TN program and the well-being of TN professionals including additional oversight of the program, transparency in recruiting and contracting workers, educating TN workers about U.S. labor rights, ensuring fair pay, and allowing a path to work authorization for TN workers’ spouses and children who accompany them in the U.S. Clearly, sustainable solutions to the farm labor shortage are needed. As a field, we need to better understand workforce recruitment and retention concerns as well as mechanisms being used to address such concerns and their impact on workers’ health, safety, and well-being.
KW - Immigration
KW - TN visa
KW - farm labor
KW - farmworkers
KW - guest workers
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U2 - 10.1080/1059924X.2022.2140734
DO - 10.1080/1059924X.2022.2140734
M3 - Article
C2 - 36284467
AN - SCOPUS:85141155706
SN - 1059-924X
VL - 28
SP - 81
EP - 85
JO - Journal of Agromedicine
JF - Journal of Agromedicine
IS - 1
ER -