\t\t\t\t\tWhat’s at stake?<\/p>\n
The Economic Policy Institute estimates a new rule from the U.S. Department of Labor could result in an annual loss of between $4.4 and $5.4 billion in wages for the nation\u2019s farmworkers.<\/p>\n
More than 100 farmworkers and supporters rallied outside Fresno\u2019s federal courthouse on Wednesday, as an initial hearing in a national case challenging the Trump administration\u2019s cuts to farmworker wages unfolded seven stories above Tulare Street.<\/p>\n
In October 2025, the Department of Labor unveiled a temporary rule<\/a> announcing a new methodology for calculating the minimum wage for guest agricultural workers hired through the H-2A visa program<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n The rule also created a two-tiered wage rate based on skill level, and imposed an adjustment factor for H-2A workers who are provided housing by their employers at no cost.<\/p>\n The Department of Labor argued these swift changes were necessary in part because of \u201cacute labor shortages and instability\u201d in the agricultural sector brought on by the Trump administration\u2019s crackdown on illegal immigration \u2014 and the fact that the sector has \u201clong depended on a workforce with a high proportion of illegal aliens.\u201d<\/p>\n Farmworkers and advocates quickly sounded the alarm<\/a> that the changes would result in a drastic reduction to wages not just for H-2A workers, but also their domestic counterparts in the agricultural workforce.<\/p>\n Researchers from the Economic Policy Institute have since estimated<\/a> H-2A workers could see their wages cut by somewhere between 26% and 32% each year. With the \u201cdownward pressure\u201d those reduced wages for guest workers will place on domestic worker pay as well, U.S. farmworkers will likely see 9% reductions in pay. Combined, that\u2019s an estimated $4.4 to $5.4 billion in wage cuts across all farmworkers.\u00a0<\/p>\n In November, the United Farm Workers union \u2014 alongside the nonprofit UFW Foundation and 18 individual farmworkers \u2014 sued the Department of Labor over the changes.\u00a0<\/p>\n On Wednesday, attorneys representing the farmworkers asked Judge Kirk E. Sheriff to issue a preliminary injunction to stop the Department of Labor from implementing the new rule that they say would trigger a \u201cmassive and unprecedented transfer of wealth\u201d from farmworkers to their employers.<\/p>\n Sheriff heard arguments from attorneys Kuntal Cholera, who represented the farmworkers and their advocates, and Alexandra McTague Schulte, who represented the federal government.<\/p>\n Cholera questioned the Department of Labor\u2019s reasoning that the labor shortage would call for lower, rather than higher, wages to fill the gap.<\/p>\n \u201cTypical economic logic,\u201d he said, \u201cwould tell you otherwise.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Schulte argued the plaintiffs\u2019 case was largely \u201cspeculative,\u201d rather than providing ample evidence of wage cuts the farmworkers have experienced since October, when the rule took effect.<\/p>\n She also questioned why one of the plaintiffs who did experience a wage cut over the last five months didn\u2019t attempt to negotiate with her employer \u2014 an argument Sheriff pushed back on, asserting that farmworkers \u201caren\u2019t typically in a great position to bargain.\u201d<\/p>\n After about two hours of questions and arguments, Sheriff said he would plan to issue a written ruling.<\/p>\n The case carries massive implications for millions of farmworkers across the country, including more than 850,000 that work in California<\/a>.<\/p>\n Jose Luis Ramirez Leon, a Merced resident who\u2019s worked in the fields since 1993, participated in Wednesday\u2019s rally. He told Fresnoland he and his fellow farmworkers are worried about the cuts.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not fair because we do very tough work in the fields,\u201d he said in an interview in Spanish. \u201cSometimes, we travel very far to gain very little.\u201d<\/p>\n