Wafla

06/15/2026

But ag leaders contend that jobs are still available. Gastelum said that at the time of the interview in late May, his members were still in positive recruitment, meaning they were still hiring domestically — and the program requires growers to hire them first.

"I’m not hearing from employers, 'Roll back my H-2A numbers, I have too many domestic workers,'" Gastelum said. “To say we have 30-some thousand U.S. workers walking around looking for a farmwork job just is not the case.”

https://www.yakimaherald.com/news/local/business/no-surge-in-h-2a-workers-yet-in-washington-following-trump-administration-changes/article_abb587cd-5435-4bd7-94d3-11005827096b.html

Across the Yakima Valley and the Pacific Northwest this summer, thousands of foreign guest workers will be working in orchards and fields in a visa program designed to stabilize the

06/03/2026

Pacific Coast Shellfish Growers Association. Now, this is how you eat a clam. 🤣 🦦👍

05/20/2026

An injunction would have been another blow to financially stressed farms, said Enrique Gastelum, CEO of the Worker and Farmer Labor Association, a Washington-based farm labor contractor. “That would have been a major upheaval,” he said.

https://capitalpress.com/2026/05/15/judge-rejects-ufws-bid-to-shelve-wage-scale-for-foreign-farmworkers/

H-2A wage scale changed by Trump administration A federal judge has rejected a motion by the United Farm Workers to suspend a new wage scale for seasonal foreign farmworkers that […]

05/20/2026

Enrique Gastelum, CEO at WAFLA, the Worker and Farmer Labor Association, says there are three big challenges that need addressed....

“We need a change to the methodology to get this cost under control. You know, when farmers are paying 70% of their costs of operations are just to labor and you have H-2A related to it, that’s kind of, I would say, the number one fix that we need to see.”

Recent progress from the administration, Gastelum says, gives him hope that change is coming.

https://www.aginfo.net/report/65440/Fruit-Grower-Report/H-2A-Reform

Ag-employers have been calling for changes to the H-2A foreign guestworker visa program for years, with few results.

05/08/2026

...Scott Dilley, communications director for the Worker and Farmer Labor Association, said the organization has heard increased interest for H-2A workers, and a key component with that is housing.

“We just don’t have enough U.S. workers. We haven’t for years and we still don’t, so people do need H-2A workers,” Dilley said.

“The other thing is immigration enforcement. You know, there are concerns about what that will mean for workers, and there is now renewed interest in H-2A, because growers are facing a reality where they need to have some security. They need to know that they’re going to have workers for the season,” he said...

A hotel in central Washington is being converted to a temporary home for farmworkers as a change in federal law makes it easier to pay them less.

03/28/2026

The Worker and Farmer Labor Association salutes the shellfish industry in the Pacific Northwest.

01/29/2026

Enrique Gastelum testified on behalf of the Worker and Farm Labor Association, which opposes SB 6045. He said the bill “adds significant risk at a time when agriculture cannot absorb more.”

“Washington agriculture has been financially strained for years,” he said. “Farm numbers are falling, labor costs have surged, and many operations are hanging on by a thread. When farms close, workers are the first to lose income and the economic impact ripples across the entire community. Any new labor policy must be crafted with this fragile reality in mind.”

Gastelum and other critics share the concern that, by allowing workers to strike, the bill risks the crops that during harvest season must be picked within a narrow timeframe.

In Washington, agricultural workers can unionize, but the bill’s advocates point out that the law does not have a mechanism to enforce that ability.

01/29/2026

Opponents of the bill, however, contend strikes could be financially devastating to farms.

According to Enrique Gastelum, chief executive officer of the Worker and Farmer Labor Association, the legislation could delay contract agreements ahead of harvest seasons, when labor demands are at their peak.

“Allowing strikes during immovable harvest windows can destroy an entire year's crop overnight, eliminating jobs, not protecting them,” Gastelum said.

OLYMPIA — The Washington Senate Labor and Commerce committee held a public hearing Tuesday, Jan. 20 for a bill that would allow agriculture workers to collectively bargain under the Public Employment Relations Commission.

01/22/2026

A slate of proposals up for debate in Olympia would roll out a new system of unionization and collective bargaining for farmworkers in Washington state. But Enrique Gastelum, of the Worker and Farmer Labor Association, and Jesse Rojas, formerly of Pick Justice, tell Dillon the devil is in the details, with aspects of the plan that would actually harm farmworkers, not help them.

A slate of proposals up for debate in Olympia would roll out a new system of unionization and collective bargaining for farmworkers in Washington state. But, farmworker advocates Enrique Gastelum, of the Worker and Farmer Labor Association, and Jesse Rojas, formerly of Pick Justice, tell Dillon the....

01/14/2026

The Worker and Farmer Labor Association (WAFLA) and the Washington Growers League (WGL) announced today that the two organizations are merging, uniting decades of agricultural expertise under the WAFLA name to better serve labor-intensive farms across Washington and the Pacific Northwest.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 14, 2026 Lacey, Wash. – The Worker and Farmer Labor Association (WAFLA) and the Washington Growers League (WGL) announced today that the two organizations are merging, uniting decades of agricultural expertise under the WAFLA name to better serve labor-intensiv...