FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 18, 2025

Contact: Chelsea Connor | cconnor@rwdsu.org | 347-866-6259

STATEMENT ON NEW EPI REPORT ON H-2B VISA PROGRAMS & POTENTIAL EXPANSION IN POULTRY PROCESSING & MEATPACKING

(WASHINGTON, DC) – Today, the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) issued a new report on how “the H-2B visa program has ballooned without being fixed.” Suggesting that “expanding it to year-round jobs like meatpacking would lower wages and revenue.” Stuart Appelbaum, President of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), which represents over 15,000 poultry workers at facilities across the southern United States, as well as meatpacking and processing workers in other parts of the country issued the following statement:

“The RWDSU strongly opposes expansion of the H-2B visa program into poultry processing and meatpacking. As the recent EPI report makes clear, this program fuels wage suppression and exploitation, putting workers in precarious, insecure jobs.

“Temporary work under the H-2B program is harmful by design and in practice. It forces workers to live in constant uncertainty, often in unstable and unsafe housing, and leaves workers vulnerable to abuse, setting up a situation where speaking up can mean losing their job or being sent out of the country. It traps workers in cycles of poverty, debt, and fear, instead of offering real opportunity.

“Expanding the flawed H-2B program would worsen these harms, undercut wages, and drain millions if not billions from workers through rampant wage theft. The solution is not more temporary visas, instead the real solution is a real employment strategy that provides permanent green cards, a pathway to citizenship for immigrant workers and ensures fair pay and protections for all.

“RWDSU will continue to fight for permanent, safe, and fairly compensated jobs for every worker – we need workplaces that treat workers with dignity and respect, not temporary labor schemes that exploit people for profit.”

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The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) represents 100,000 members throughout the United States. The RWDSU is affiliated with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW). For more information, please visit our website at www.rwdsu.org, Facebook:/RWDSU.UFCW, Twitter:@RWDSU, Instagram: @rwdsustrong.