Page 60 - Grapevine July-August 2019
P. 60
Around The Vineyard
need to finish work at close to the same time. The
Trim-N-Prun’ BTS-104HD total length of the contract needs to be at least six
weeks and not more than ten months long.
Each employer on the contract has to know how
many and which workers will be “his”. Employers
may pool the workers from time to time, but each
grower will have workers assigned to his vineyard
for most of the term of the contract. Bear in mind
that these will be highly motivated and productive
workers who will be looking to work lots of hours.
Employers are better off hiring fewer workers and
NEW Concept in giving them lots of hours than hiring too many
Vine Trimming & Pre-Pruning! workers and not being able to keep them busy.
When we as an agent help create a joint employer
• Universal Hydraulic Vine & Bush Trimming, Cutter Bars.
• Opens foliage for better dust and spray penetration. contract, we ask each employer to complete our
• Adapts to almost any trellising system or terrain. application form. We then combine those appli-
• Reduce Pruning cost over one third. cations into one filing with the US Department
• Cuts harvest labor by easier access to crop. of Labor (USDOL). Like all H-2A filings, housing
For More Information Contact...
Bechthold Tractor Service must be furnished, as well as transportation from
10755 E. Hwy. 12 • Lodi, CA 95240 the housing to the places where the work will be
Phone: 209-368-2031 accomplished. In addition, the employers will be
Website: www.bechtholdtractor.com collectively responsible for getting the workers to
somewhere where they can buy groceries, do their
banking, etc.
Speaking of banking; each employer is responsible
for paying wages for any hours done in their service
during a pay period. If work is done on more than
one employer’s farm during the week, the employ-
ee will get a paycheck from each employer.
Typically, the upfront costs for an H-2A contract
run $4000 or more. By filing jointly, employers can
reduce this significantly. Typically, there will be
one basic application fee of approximately $4000,
but each additional employer added to the contract
can be added for less than $1000. The participants
in the contract can determine between or among
them how to share the total cost. Some just divide
it equally. Sometimes they prorate the cost based
on the number of workers nominally assigned to
each grower. The visas and associated costs will be
the same as on a single employer contract, general-
ly about $440 per worker.
As mentioned earlier, H-2A employers must pro-
vide housing to H-2A workers at no cost to the
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