My H2B Story

This post is a little different…

I was asked to write a “My H2B Story” for use in our efforts to expand the H2B visa program. 

If you are inclined, please feel free to copy and pass this story on to your Congressperson, Senator or anyone else.  There is a lot of potential immigration activity in Washington over the next few weeks and H2B is at the top of my list.

I appreciate any efforts.

Thanks,    Jay

MY H2B STORY      

Landscape Art originated in 1978 as a small, residential landscape company. During the 1980’s Anita McCormick, the founder, grew the enterprise to a mostly commercial, full-service company with an emphasis on design work.

I, Jay Williams, came on board in 1994 to help manage the company. At that time, we had around 20 field workers and, like most landscapers in Texas, they were Hispanic. I reviewed the Social Security cards and a variety of Green Cards, Work Permits and Permanent Visas. They looked good to me and I assumed that each one was valid.

A few years later, we received a notice from the Social Security Administration that some of our workers had invalid Social Security numbers. By this time, I had developed personal relationships with the guys, so I began to investigate.

I was devastated to find that most of our workers were undocumented. This was a shock to me and an incredible blow to the company, but I was determined that we would become a legal company.

In 1997, we began the grueling process of applying for H2B Visas. We were a small company and the cost in time, effort and money was daunting, but we persevered. In the spring of 1998, we succeeded with one worker on an H2B visa. Twenty years later, Prudencio Molina returns to work each February.

We grew the company and in 2017 thirty-nine workers arrived from Mexico and El Salvador on our H2B Visas. They return each spring and most have been through the process for many years.

 

In December of 2017, we advertised 40 available positions to American workers in the Houston Chronicle and through the Texas Workforce Commission, as required every year.

Our process is simple. Any applicants are asked to a) come to our office to fill out an employment application, b) go take a drug test and c) return for an interview.

Anyone…and everyone…that accomplishes those three steps is hired. We have hired ex-convicts previously imprisoned for murder. We have hired folks with terrible work histories who seem to be incapable of keeping a job more than a month. We have hired people that appeared to only be interested in fulfilling their obligations to receive unemployment benefits. Of course, almost no one sticks.

Landscape Art offers a stellar Blue Cross / Blue Shield health policy with the company paying most of the premium. We provide a free Life Insurance policy for all workers. We offer employee-paid Dental Coverage and Vision. We even pay half of the premium of Disability Insurance.

The company provides work shirts and boots, personal safety equipment and continuing education opportunities. Our advertisement in December offered $12.94 per hour.

The results of our efforts to hire 40 people, were thus…

                    Seven people contacted us about the positions.

                    One person completed the three-step process.

                    We gave him the job, but he never showed up for work.

 

After twenty years of working within the legal system, we will not receive our H2B Visas because the semi-annual cap of 33,000 visas was met before our application was processed. This is result of the increasing popularity of a proven H2B program for securing legal workers.

H2B has allowed Landscape Art to become a solid company. We have 100 workers, with about 80 in the field and 20 support staff, half of whom do some field work. Without H2B visas in 2018, we will lose 39 workers with experience and a proven history of performance. We will have to cut our staff. Our equipment, trucks, trailers and benefits will have to be reduced.

Landscape Art competes in a relatively specialized market in the Houston area. We landscape commercial, developer and municipal projects. Our competition consists of about 20 companies. We are one of the few that utilize H2B. By in large, our competition employs undocumented workers or sham subcontractors.

Landscape Art has played by the rules. We have treated our workers, our customers and our society with respect and honesty.

Now, we are being punished for this commitment.

Please consider…

A permanent expansion of the H2B cap.

A limited version of the Returning Worker Exemption.

There are solutions. This can be done.