Page 17 - Tree Line - North Carolina Forestry Association - Second Quarter 2022
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1-800-797-7276 • www.powerscreenmidatl.com • Kernersville, NC
HORIZONTAL GRINDER
• Produces more than 200 tons an hour
• CAT C27; 1050hp or optional CAT C32 1200hp engines
• Hog box raises for fast and easy screen and tip changes
• 40” diameter by 60” wide forged, high-strength rotor core
• Large capacity feed hopper easily handles full-length trees
• Metal Detection System protects machine from tramp metal
ECOTEC PHOENIX 2100 TROMMEL SCREEN
• Unrivaled high volume compost production
• Mulch coloring package across applications • 180° radial fines conveyor controlled by remote
North Carolina • South Carolina Virginia • West Virginia
Expanding the pool of seasonal employers who are required to pay
H-2B wages, without also imposing cap limitations on those employers, likely means the seasonal labor supply will flow to the less restrictive points of entry for employment, i.e., to agriculture.
The May 2020 OEWS for Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers [SOC 53- 3032] engaged in Sector 11 – Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting Support Activities for Crop Production [115100] included 5,430 wage surveys – so the transportation concern in the forestry space is significant. By comparison, in
a Driver Shortage Update published on October 25, 2021, the American Trucking Association pointed to historically high truck driver shortages of over 80,000 drivers. Various sectors within the trucking industry already are not able to identify sufficient truck drivers, and the forestry industry is no exception.
Although Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers only represent 0.2% of positions certified in the H-2A program, those occupations will receive expanded employment opportunity if the proposed final rule is enforced as planned in mid- 2022. Finalizing the proposed rule would result in a scenario where truck drivers could be hired under both the H-2A and H-2B programs, which likely would result in labor competition among employers.
The bottom line is that the DOL’s proposal would cause a very limited number of H-2A occupations to be paid wages akin to those that H-2B workers earn while performing broadly similar duties — and non-agricultural employers like forestry might shoulder the labor burden in a scenario where labor supply is already unbearably tight.
U.S. employers are already managing the Great Resignation that followed the onset and aftermath of COVID-19 in 2020. In addition, employers who rely
on the H-2B guest labor program are facing a labor shortage that will only be compounded if H-2B wages are expanded to certain agricultural occupations. Forestry industry stakeholders should remain alert and take action to secure their labor supply in the event the proposed final rule takes effect.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Brandon Davis is a partner based in the New Orleans office of Phelps Dunbar. He focuses his practices on labor and employment issues facing businesses specializing in employment- based and family-based immigration.
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