Posted on 03/21/2004 7:49:01 AM PST by fight_truth_decay
Ogunquit's Meadowmere Resort swells each summer with Vacationland visitors, tourists enjoying the coastal hotel's Roman bath, jacuzzi, spa, pools, pub and other luxuries.
For 21 weeks, guests pack the resort's 145 rooms, and the Meadowmere doubles the size of its staff. The resort needs at least 35 additional workers to bring extra towels poolside, serve gin and tonics at the pub, or run the room service cart up and down the halls.
The Meadowmere normally can fill half of those open seasonal positions with local help, and traditionally has turned to temporary foreign workers to augment its labor force.
This year, however, Meadowmere and other hospitality businesses around the state are unable to import the foreign help they need. A federal ceiling on the number of temporary, unskilled foreign workers allowed into the United States has been reached for the first time, presenting a threat to Maine's vital tourism industry as it approaches the summer.
"There are restaurants that I've spoken with that know this would be a business killer," said Allyson Cavaretta, director of marketing and sales at Meadowmere.
Maine's congressional delegation is working to address the problem, but no one is certain just how quickly a solution might be reached.
The Meadowmere and other resorts that rely on foreign workers might be forced to open fewer rooms to tourists during the season in which they make much of their revenue and profit. Statewide, the impact could be huge, since tourism is Maine's largest employment sector and an important part of overall economic activity.
Last year, more than 3,500 foreigners worked in Maine on H-2B visas, the permit needed to fill temporary, unskilled positions, according to Dann Lewis, director of the Maine Office of Tourism. About 2,500 of those visitors worked in tourism, while the other 1,000 worked in fields ranging from fish processing to planting trees.
Each year, tourism businesses that haven't been able to hire enough workers locally begin a several-step process to bring in foreign workers. They first seek approval from the U.S. Department of Labor, and with that they petition federal immigration officials for the needed visas.
Cavaretta, for example, got her approval letter from the labor department last week. But a week earlier - before she could petition for visas - the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced it had reached the congressionally mandated cap of 66,000 petitions and wouldn't accept any more. The agency was formerly Immigration and Naturalization Services, and is part of the newly created Department of Homeland Security.
According to Lewis, some companies such as Meadowmere know they've missed the chance to obtain visa workers, but others don't know if their petitions made the cutoff.
"Just trying to find out who got caught and what the extent is, it's not exactly a simple thing," Lewis said. "The industry itself doesn't know. Potentially, it is quite serious."
For that reason, Lewis said he was urging businesses that won't be getting workers to contact their trade organizations, so the problem can be quntified.
If coastal hotels face a labor shortage and have to limit reservations from out-of-state tourists, there would be a trickle-down effect. Area restaurants, shops, whale-watching operators, amusement parks and other businesses may not use foreign help, but those operations still would be hurt.
In 2002, Lewis said, the tourism industry put $550 million into the state's tax coffers - 20 percent of total tax revenue for Maine. Every 1 percent decline in the tourism industry potentially caused by the labor shortfall would have a potential $50 million impact on taxes to the state, he said.
"This is not a Maine-unique situation," Lewis said. "Every New England state is in the same boat. Every area that has a summer peak is looking at this particular problem. There are going to be a lot of states upset at this."
The problem is acute in the Northeast because of the timing involved in applying for H-2B visas and the seasonal employment needs of the region's tourist industry.
Employers have to show a labor need to be allowed to petition for the foreign workers. After running advertisements in local newspapers, businesses then ask the labor department for permission to ask immigration officials for the visas.
The process can only start, however, 120 days before the employers want the foreign workers to start.
If Maine businesses want employees here on April 1, to allow for training and preparation for the tourism season, the process begins, at the earliest, four months before.
Businesses in other regions of the country - those with an earlier start to their tourist seasons - can start bringing in workers earlier than April 1 and have already started the process. Those employers probably will get their H-2B visas - they're in under the cap.
Kathy Warren, owner of Labor Solutions LLC of Skowhegan, is already losing business because of the cap. She's a temporary-worker contracting agent who does the paperwork for employers who want to hire H-2B workers.
She's been contracted to bring more than 35 workers for 10 employers, mostly in the Bar Harbor area. Those clients have already spent about $600 in advertising and processing fees on each worker. If they're allowed to petition immigration officials for the workers, they'll pay another $1,130 in fees per worker.
At this point, though, said Warren, she hasn't even petitioned immigration officials, so those 35 workers aren't coming over, and she knows her clients are going to suffer.
"A lot of them are family run businesses and they really count on that extra worker," Warren said. "It's going to hurt them, some of them tremendously. Usually, it's just the one or two (extra) people that plug the holes.
"They're going to be in a really tight spot, if they don't have U.S. workers start stepping up to the plate to take the jobs."
Cavaretta of the Meadowmere said the resort will redouble attempts to hire local workers for the seasonal positions, but she is not holding out much hope. Even with layoffs and job cuts around the state, many Mainers aren't interested in the temporary employment, though the jobs come with benefits and decent pay.
Lewis, of the tourism office, said the unemployment rate in the southern coastal area is about 2 percent.
"The people just aren't there. The jobs are there," said Lewis.
According to the Maine Department of Labor, demand for H-2B visas rose after 2001. In 2000-2001, 236 employers requested 1,824 H-2B workers. In 2001-2002, 242 employers request 3,713 workers, and in 2002-2003, 239 employers requested 3,528 workers.
Many of the resorts hire the same foreign workers every year. For example, Cavaretta said the Meadowmere has been bringing over the same H-2B workers for five years, and they exchange Christmas cards and even get pictures of grandchildren from their foreign friends.
"They're very much a part of the family," Cavaretta said. "There's a definite face to the people involved."
That's the same situation at Lafayette's Oceanfront Resort at Wells Beach, said general manager Katy Kelly. The Lafayette chain has 22 hotels in Maine and New Hampshire. The chain brings in more than 50 H-2B workers each summer, Kelly said, and it looks like they're blocked this year.
Some of these foreign workers buy their food and clothing for the year here in the U.S., she said, shipping the supplies home.
"The money is made and spent here," Kelly said.
Most of their workers come from Jamaica, she said, and their yearly hires are slowly realizing there may be a problem this year.
"We're starting to get calls. They're concerned they will no longer have a job," Kelly said. "They're supporting themselves with this job; they buy homes, they're putting children through college."
The problem has come to the attention of the state's congressional delegation. The entire New England delegation was briefed by the administration on Wednesday.
Cavaretta said from what she's been told, even if Congress decides to act and raise the cap to allow more foreign workers, it will be a slow process.
"It's a dark gray picture at this point, which is unfortunate to hear," she said.
U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, is working with other New England senators to try to address the problem. According to her office, she's been in contact with U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., whose state includes the tourist mecca of Cape Cod.
"The recently enforced 66,000 federal cap on H-2B visa applications poses a serious, urgent problem for Maine employers," Snowe said. "This past Monday, I sat down with members of the Maine Restaurant Association who explained that unless a solution is implemented quickly, the hospitality industry may face a paralyzing seasonal labor shortage.
"The urgency of this potential crisis for our state's tourism cannot be overstated," she said. "With the summer fast approaching, the hospitality industry needs help and they need it now."
Nearly 80,000 jobs are tied to the success of Maine's tourism industry, she said. The three other members of Maine's delegation also said they have been sending letters or meeting with administration officials to address the issue.
Chris Bentley, spokesman for the immigration agency, said he hasn't heard anything about the possibility of raising the H-2B cap.
"Obviously, we will respond to anything Congress dictates we do. If they decide to raise the cap, we'll go back to work administering that decision," Bentley said.
Make welfare regulations mandatory that said recipient must choose, perhaps with some placement guidance,an available job within a reasonable travel area. Then the welfare payment or some "get back to work" benefit (travel, childcare assistance etc) is coupled with the wages earned through a given time frame. This would cut the cost of one welfare payment to each recipient from the presumedly deep pockets of the American taxpayer. The prescribed place of employment of the recipient would pick up the remainder of the total monthly welfare check should it be needed.
But then some Maine business owners say, shitty attitudes" come into play; and finding obedient help from places like Bulgaria, Lithuania, Russia, and Poland is nearly as easy as turning on your computer."
Yeah, you might just have to pay enough so that local Americans will take the jobs, instead of using foreign labor to expand the supply and hold down wages.
That's 1,000 a week. And you have 21 working weeks, which means you would make 21,000 for the season. You need to pay more if that's what a local will earn to get them through the entire year.
Or, look for single unemployed people throughout the country. Many singles would jump at the opportunity to spend the summer at a resort. Travel to Maine for the summer and get $4000 per month.
I suspect that the real issue is that the foreign workers are more "compliant" and that the recruiting agencies take the easy way out & only look in one place where there are lots of workers instead of finding individual Americans.
47,422.... 10 - 14
28,420.... 15-17
17,403.... 18-19
7,831.... 20
7,449.... 21
19,654.... 22-24
35,381... 25-29
Number of individuals that would fall into this work related group.
Maine has a high school graduation rate that is slightly higher than the national average but it lags behind in college graduates. (Source: Census 2000)
Since 2002, the number of children on welfare rose by 30 percent. (Sunday, Dec. 14, 2003)
Maine remains one of the highest taxed states in the country. (CQ’s StateFact Finder 2003).
6th nationally in state and local taxeson high income families as a percent-age of income (FY 2001).
2nd nationally in property tax as a per-centage of personal income (FY 2000).
Guess where most of that money goes..social services.
The work is there; but frankly, it appears much easier to Bush Bash then to get out and get a job..2 jobs..3 jobs. People have be held accountable for their own inactions. You will notice young adults travel to this country to work..not vise versa.
We have built an Easy Chair mentality for many capable workers whether in Maine or elsewhere across this country. I also feel too many parents "cushion" their responsibility on providing good work ethics.
Regards,
fight_truth_decay
Where has anyone bashed Bush in this thread (or in the original article, for that matter)?
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