Summary

Every October, as many as 10,000 workers are brought from the Caribbean to harvest Florida's sugar cane crop; the workers are returned home after about 5 months of work. Farm worker advocates and Members of Congress have raised concerns about whether sugar cane growers are actually paying workers' transportation costs to and from the United States and whether workers are receiving all the earnings due them. Notably, they have questioned the management of two wage deductions for Caribbean workers--a 2-percent deduction for health and life insurance and a 23-percent deduction for a savings plan. GAO discovered that the Department of Labor has done little to enforce laws and regulations meant to protect the Caribbean workers, and the workers may not recover wages lost when their labor contract with the growers is violated. As of June 1992, the Department had not decided whether to try and recover excess transportation costs charged to some workers before the 1988-89 harvest season. In addition, Labor said that it would only seek to remedy violations involving the wage deductions beginning with the 1991-92 harvest season. Although it recognizes that some practical difficulties exist, GAO believes that Labor should try to deal with prior inequities against the workers.

GAO found that: (1) the Department of Labor has taken little action to enforce H-2A Program laws and regulations pertaining to migrant Caribbean workers' transportation costs, health insurance plans, and savings plans; (2) Labor will only attempt to recover H-2A program costs from Florida growers for the 1991-92 harvest season; (3) Labor is negotiating with Florida growers an $860,000 settlement for past transportation costs for Caribbean workers; (4) Labor decided that payroll savings deductions from Caribbean workers should be optional; (5) most Caribbean workers receive 20.5 percent of the 23-percent payroll deduction that is transferred into savings accounts in their home countries; and (6) 2.5 percent of their gross wages goes to fund the West Indies Central Labour Organization.