By Clint Thompson
Georgia producers and industry leaders should mark their calendars for this year’s labor relations forum, scheduled for Aug. 25-26 at the University of Georgia Tifton Campus Conference Center in Tifton, Georgia.
Chris Butts, executive director of the Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association (GFVGA), talked about this year’s event which will feature talks pertinent to the ag labor industry.
“Registration is underway, and we’re really excited about the speakers and the experts that we’re going to be able to bring in. We’ll have another version of our super panel again, with all the attorneys. We’re trying to invite all the attorneys from across the country who are involved in the immigration piece,” Butts said. “I don’t think there’s another one of these that offers the opportunity to hear directly from the folks that are in this fight on a day-to-day basis. And then the rest of the time we’ll talk about how to remain in compliance and how to keep up with all the complicated rule changes.”
Program Complexity
The complexity of the H-2A program is a key reason the program covers two days every year. Growers need the extra time to ensure that they stay in compliance.
“It would be an interesting exercise to go back and see how many pages of rules, new rules, we average a year with the program that we’ve had over the years, but it’s a lot. It speaks to the fact that we have to have a two-day conference every year to go over the rule changes for the H2A program,” Butts said. “That tells you how overly complex it has become. But it’s what we’ve got and we’re going to make it work. And this seminar, series of seminars, is a great way to learn what’s going on in H-2A.”
The labor forum will be held from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Aug. 25 and 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Aug. 26.
Click here to register for the event.