Resolution Adopted by the CCAR
Farm Workers, Braceros and the H-2 Program
Adopted by the CCAR at the 90th Annual Convention of
the Central Conference of American Rabbis
Phoenix, Arizona, March 26-29, 1979
Whereas
the Central Conference of American Rabbis has for many years supported legislative
protections for farm workers with a particular emphasis on the right of farm workers
to organize for self-determination and justice; and
Whereas
agricultural employers have used many methods to frustrate collective bargaining
in their own industry. including the use of easily exploited foreign workers; and
Whereas
, the United States Immigration and Nationality Act (PL 414) has an H-2 section which
allows for the temporary importation of foreign nationals to work in the US; and
Whereas
, agricultural employers in Florida, the East Coast, Texas, Oregon, Arizona and Colorado
have intensified pressure on our government to expand the number of H-2 workers employed
in US agriculture; and
Whereas
, foreign contract workers have historically been mistreated in this country and have
also been used to lower wages and working conditions and to defeat the organizing
efforts of domestic workers; and
Whereas,
H-2 workers ( like the PL 78 braceros before them) do not have the freedom of opportunity
to organize for their own protection;
Therefore. be it resolved
that the Central Conference of American Rabbis, in 90th Annual Convention assembled
in Phoenix, Arizona, this 27th day of March, 1979. calls upon its membership to study
whether there is any longer a need for an H-2 program in the Immigration Laws of
the United States of America.