Every year for the past decade, Jose Abel has traveled more than 2,000 miles from the region of Durango in Mexico to tend to the grapes of Northern Michigan’s famed vineyards. The money the 30-year old earns during the nine months that he spends in Michigan allows him—and thousands of other Mexican workers in our state—to have dreams back home. Now, however, the U.S. federal government has lowered the minimum wage—by as much as $4.50 an hour, or 25 percent, in Michigan—for the exploding number of workers who are here on H-2A visas, like Abel. The decision comes after a couple of years of outcry from some farmers that the cost of labor, transportation, and housing for H-2A workers had become untenable, and that, without locals willing to do the job, small farms would not be able to afford the cost of the harvest season.
