A new bill proposed by Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona “could revolutionize the way clubs fill their employment needs,” the National Club Association reports, through a 10-year pilot program that would create a new guest-worker visa for lower-skills jobs. The bill could be passed and signed into law in 2017, the NCA says, regardless of the results of this November’s elections.
Sen. Jeff Flake (R–Ariz.), has proposed a bill that could revolutionize the way clubs fill their employment needs, the National Club Association (NCA) reports. The legislation, the Willing Workers and Willing Employers Act, would take a market-based approach by creating a 10-year pilot program that would create a new guest-worker visa for lower-skilled jobs, the NCA says.
If passed, the NCA reports, the new law would:
- Allow workers with less than a bachelor’s degree to enter the country for year-round, non-farm work.
- Provide a sliding cap of visas to meet the actual economic need, with the number of visas being between 65,000 and 85,000.
- Require each employer who wished to use a worker under this visa to show there were no Americans willing to take the job.
- Allow workers to change jobs and go to another employer who qualified to participate in the program.
- Not hold employers responsible for workers’ travel or housing or for providing a fixed number of hours worked.
In its current form, the bill would only apply to counties and metropolitan areas where the unemployment rate is less than five percent, the NCA reports. Currently, 42 percent of U.S. counties and 52 percent of metropolitan areas would qualify, according to a report from Immigration Works USA, a national organization that seeks to advance immigration reform.
What makes this bill unique from other immigration reform efforts, the NCA reports, is that it would create a market-based foreign worker program that would ensure no displacement of American workers while providing clubs with a new place to go for seasonal help. The program strategically targets the foreign employment gap between seasonal workers and highly skilled H-1B workers as well, the NCA says.
The pilot program would also include a study to ensure that these new visa holders did not adversely impact wages, employment, economic growth and government service benefits, the NCA notes. Additionally, all employers who wanted these workers would be required to use the government’s E-Verify Program. The bill also would provide much-needed flexibility for employers, because if an employee left a position, the employer would be able to hire a replacement immediately without going through the government once again.
Immigration has been a highly contested issue in the U.S., the NCA notes, often polarizing the two major political parties as well as Americans nationwide. For years, NCA has aligned with the Essential Worker Immigration Coalition and H-2B Workforce Coalition to work to help enact smart legislation that would offer clubs a responsible solution to filling their staffing needs.
Both of these coalitions have focused on broadening the pool for potential foreign workers who can enter the country legally to take on these jobs when no Americans can be found, the NCA notes. But the contentious political climate has caused even the most serious attempts to reform immigration have been stonewalled.
Consequently, there is little chance that Flake’s legislation would be enacted in an election year, the NCA admits. Still, the organization feels that the bill could help to bring about a breakthrough in the immigration worker debate, by offering common ground that could satisfy both Republican and Democratic viewpoints on the issue.
Thus far, the NCA reports, Sen. Flake has found positive responses from his colleagues on both sides of the aisle for his bill, because it is a pilot program with a specific study commissioned to see how these visa holders would impact American workers—if at all. Therefore, the organization believes, it is possible that the bill will be passed and signed into law in 2017, regardless of the results of this November’s elections.
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