Thinking across agrarian class hierarchies in guest worker programs: Limitations to worker and farmer collective strategies

Abstract

Both farmers and workers utilize guest worker programs to gain access to the transnational food labor economy. Yet such programs reinforce both employees’ and farm owners’ relative lack of power in the global food system. This paper discusses the approaches farmers and workers utilizing the H-2A guest worker program in the United States employ to cope with such inequalities. We assess findings from qualitative interviews in New York state with current and former workers and farmers participating in the program. We find that farmers draw on regional agrarian communities with historically established networks to collectively manage labor acquisition, seasonality, and affordability. In contrast, the temporary nature of workers’ time in the United States limits their ability to establish deep social networks, and workers cope either by increasing their hours and commitment or by leaving the program to work in agriculture without work authorization. These temporal and spatial constraints further diminish worker power within the food system by limiting their ability to effectively organize for better conditions, with consequences for global food system equity.