Area Businesses Scramble To Fill Summer Staff
Bart Stupak Seeks To Sway Congress for Changes to H-2B Visas Next Year

By Ryan Schlehuber

Area seasonal employers have little hope of retaining their foreign workforce this summer and are scrambling in search of foreign workers already working at winter resorts here, or recruiting workers in the U.S. territories or students in Europe to fill their summer staff.

Those are the options learned at a meeting with U.S. Congressman Bart Stupak in Petoskey on Thursday, January 27, which drew about 60 northern Michigan employers, including some from St. Ignace, Mackinaw City, and Mackinac Island. Congressman Stupak (D-Menominee) said there is little hope of resolving the shortage of foreign labor this year, however, progress is being made in Washington, D.C. to avoid a similar situation next year.

“The way I’m seeing it, we’re out of luck for this year,” said Congressman Stupak, responding to the question of whether employers in northern Michigan will receive any of their foreign visa workers this summer.

H-2B visas for foreign workers allow them to work for a U.S. employer for up to one year. These workers fill many different positions, such as janitors, cooks, dishwashers, waiters, and maids, which are not as easy to fill with American workers, say employers.

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, the administrator for H-2B foreign national work visa applications, began offering the visas at the beginning of this fiscal year, October 1, and by January 4, announced it already had reached its congressionally mandated cap of 66,000 visas, nationwide.

Summer resorts in Michigan and elsewhere were left with nothing. The law does not allow them to apply for H-2B visas more than 120 days before opening, and most were not planning to file applications until January.

Grand Hotel has kept more than 300 H-2B foreign nationals for this summer, but only because it decided to open March 1, two months earlier than usual, and, thus, was able to get its applications in early. Several other businesses on the Island, including the Village Inn, which is open all year, were able to keep their foreign national staff for this summer, too.

Last year’s H-2B visa cap wasn’t reached until March. The early cut-off this year is partly because logging and other forest industry employees were lumped into the H-2B application pool, snapping up much of the quota, said Robert Birach, a Detroit immigration lawyer who represents as many as 18 northern Michigan employers. Even minor league baseball players come into the country under the program, said Grand Hotel General Manager John Hulett. But the early cut-off can also be attributed to businesses who felt the pinch last summer and applied earlier this year.

On October 1, the first day of the H-2B visa application period for 2005, 10,400 of the 66,000 visas allocated were spoken for.

Without their foreign national workforce this year, employers say they may be forced to reduce services, reduce their business hours, open later in the season or close sooner, or not open at all.

Congressman Stupak said the only viable solution for this year is to seek seasonal employees from winter resort areas or start recruiting in U.S. territories, such as Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands. Workers from U.S. territories do not need visas to work in the United States, he said, although many people at the meeting agreed that traveling to the territories can be costly and time consuming.

H-2B visas can be extended beyond a year if the foreign worker agrees to work for another employer who is certified through the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, he said. Employers can also share H-2B workers, providing both employers are certified.

Many employers are now scrambling to winter resort areas in Michigan or to other resorts in states like Colorado and Florida to entice H-2B visa workers to work for them in the summertime.

Employers like St. Ignace Yacht Club co-owner George Yshinski worry they may lose their regular patrons if they cannot serve the same menu. Mr. Yshinski must replace his two Jamaican cooks.

“It’s only two cooks, but it’s two cooks I’ve had for three years,” he said. “They come in already trained. They make the menu, and because I can’t get them back, I have to find new cooks. We may have to serve a different type of a menu. At this point, we don’t know.”

Joe Durm, owner of Java Joe’s restaurant in St. Ignace, told Congressman Stupak that he may not be able to open his new business, Jabber Joe, an antique and dessert store scheduled to open in May.

He said later, however, that he probably will open with the help of high school and college employees.

The Sposito family in St. Ignace, who own Patrick Sinclair’s Irish Pub on Mackinac Island, Driftwood Restaurant and Motel, and Mackinac Grille in St. Ignace, will be missing 25 percent of their staff without their H-2B workers.

Mackinac Grille General Manager Dave Freed said the companies will increase their advertising of available jobs downstate and will rely on J-1 visa workers to fill the void.

J-1 visas allow European college students to come to the United States under a work and travel program. J-1 workers are not always the first choice for employers, however, they say, because many of them want to work only part of the summer and travel the rest.

Mr. Hulett of Grand Hotel said his company is also recruiting J-1 visa workers in Europe this year.

“We’re getting our foot in the door,” he said, “because the H-2B problem certainly isn’t fixed for next year.”

He said his J-1 workers are allowed 30 days to tour the country after their employment ends in October.

Brian Bailey, general manager of Chippewa Hotel Waterfront and Lilac Tree Hotel on Mackinac Island, is trying every avenue to find employees for the summer. He needs to fill 60 vacant positions between the two hotels.

“It scares me to death because I have to find 60 people; that’s half of my staff,” said Mr. Bailey, who will be traveling to Colorado ski resorts in hopes of enticing H-2B workers there to work on Mackinac Island in the summer. “The American worker no longer wants to clean hotel rooms,” he said. “That’s what kind of trend we are facing today. A lot of employers rely on foreign labor to do what American labor won’t.”

He said Lilac Tree and Chippewa hotels are working with Florida East Coast Travel, an agency that finds help in foreign countries, such as Puerto Rico and Jamaica, for U.S. employers.

“I have no idea what to expect when I go out to Colorado to recruit,” Mr. Bailey said. “One thing’s for sure, though, something has to be done to make it a more equal playing field for summer tourism employers.”

Mr. Birach advised employers at the meeting to file a Freedom of Information Act with the U.S. Department of Labor to find businesses throughout the country who are using H-2B visa workers during the winter, and recruit them for the summer.

He also suggested a similar plan to one used in Massachusetts, in which employers and chambers of commerce create a database of foreign workers in the area, so employers can share the labor force.

Mr. Stupak said he has not receive much support on Capitol Hill to raise the H-2B visa workers cap, because immigration is still a sensitive issue.

One of his ideas, to stagger the number of available workers throughout the year, was turned down. That proposal would have made 22,000 workers available the first four months and 44,000 workers available the next eight months. This, he said, would give summer seasonal employers a more fair chance to secure H-2B workers.

The biggest hurdle, he said, is that any change to the application process has to go through Congress, not through immigration departments, as it used to be before the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

“Immigration is a hot potato in Washington right now,” said Congressman Stupak. “Politicians don’t want to touch it because departments like the former Immigration and Naturalization Services Department took a lot of heat for the 9/11 incident. They have no political will to do anything. That’s why we need to stress it as a business concern, not an immigration concern.

“There are a lot of people who think we have too many foreign workers here now,” he continued. “It’s a lot of misconception. Many people don’t realize that there is not enough American or local labor to fill all the staffing needs for northern Michigan employers.”

He said northern Michigan employers might gain more political support by arguing that they use the same workers each season.

Mr. Birach told the employers, gathered in the commissioners room of the Emmet County Building, that they should band together to convince Congress that it is not an immigration issue, but a business issue, just as Congressman Stupak said.

“We have to show them that, the reality is, we can’t get American workers to fill seasonal jobs,” said Mr. Birach.

One of his clients recently ran 130 advertisements for 331 job openings. Only 14 people responded, he said, and one responded to five of the 331 jobs.

Shortly after Congressman Stupak’s meeting in Petoskey, the U.S. Department of Labor and Department of Homeland Security announced changes to streamline the H-2B application process. They include that employers no longer have to file separate certification papers with the Labor Department. Employers can also apply on-line, making the process much quicker and less expensive, but they must not apply more than 60 days prior to the employee’s starting date, rather than the 120 days that is now imposed.

The changes, however, do not address employers’ needs for this year and do not increase the number of H-2B visa workers allowed into the country.

“I am glad to see the Bush Administration recognizes the need for change in the current process as well,” said Mr. Stupak, “however, this proposal fails to alleviate the immediate problems northern Michigan businesses will face during the summer tourist season. They will still be unable to obtain the number of H-2B visas necessary to meet their needs.

“The Administration’s proposal does not go far enough to help northern Michigan businesses and protect our workers,” he continued. “It is my hope that they will get behind bipartisan legislation that will address these concerns, once it’s been introduced.”

The proposed application filing change from 120 days to 60 days, said Congressman Stupak, also weakens requirements on employers to search for American workers first.

“This not only makes it more difficult for tourism businesses relying on summer workers, but it also hurts opportunities for Michigan workers seeking these jobs,” he said.