I believe this is what's called "putting America first"

Businesses in Bar Harbor, Maine are turning to locals to make up for a shortage of foreign guest workers that normally fill summer jobs in the bustling seaside resort town.

Because the H-2B visa program has already reached its annual quota, Bar Harbor’s hotels, restaurants and shops can’t bring in any more foreign workers for the rest of the busy summer tourist season. Like hundreds of similar coastal resort towns, Bar Harbor has for many years depended on the H-2B visas for temporary workers. The program allows non-agricultural companies to bring in foreign labor if they are unable to find suitable employees domestically.

Now they are coming up with creative ways to attract local labor, reports the Bangor Daily News.

The Bar Harbor Chamber of Commerce will hold a job fair Saturday in an effort to recruit significant numbers of workers from the region. Just about every kind of business in the town is looking for help, says chamber executive director Martha Searchfield.

“All types of businesses — retail, restaurants, the tour boats, all the trips, everything. All types of workers are needed,” she told the Daily News.

The shortage is so acute that companies are sweetening incentives for local workers. Searchfield says some businesses are offering flexible schedules that might appeal to older workers who might be interested in working only a day or two each week. And other companies have gone so far as to offer higher wages to entice locals.

The annual limit for H-2B visas is set at 66,000, half for the winter season and half for the summer. In the past, workers who had previously come to the U.S. on H-2B visas were given a “returning worker” exemption and not counted against the cap. Congress did not include the returning worker provision in this year’s authorization, but instead gave Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly the power to raise the limit by as many as 70,000 extra visas for the summer.

Several lawmakers are pressuring the Trump administration to authorize more H-2B visas, and DHS is expected to announce a higher cap this month. Independent Maine Sen. Angus King has introduced legislation that would restore the returning worker rule.

In the meantime, Bar Harbor’s businesses are scrambling to find locals to pick up the slack.

“Because of the new situation that’s going on with these visaed workers, I think it’s going to create some holes for us,” said Bar Harbor Bicycle Shop owner Joe Minutolo.

http://dailycaller.com/2017/07...-hire-local-workers/

If the administration wants to MAGA, then they should not be expanding these visas. We have a big enough problem with an under utilized workforce. You're going to apply for government benefits? Have you taken this opportunity? Put them to work and reduce or remove them from the welfare roles.

I've both been an employer and worked in the northern New England hospitality industry for 35 years. This is not a new problem, only one that's grown. One problem is parents who give their kids everything, instill no work ethic and are too proud to have their precious darlings working when they could be having fun. No job applications from that crew for summer, weekend or after school jobs.

25-30 years ago my conservative guesstimate was that 5% of the so called workforce was chronically unemployable. Now it's at least double that. Many of the ones you do hire are too stupid to learn their job or simply too lazy. All they want money for is to pay for their newest tat and their cellphone plan.

Don't get me going on cellphone use during work hours. We've had people quit over having that use curtailed. There are enough employers who tolerate it that it's hard to enforce.

You have a hard time getting 8 hours work out of people who think they want to work. I can't imagine hiring someone off the welfare rolls -
who is now being coerced to work - being of any value to me as an employee.

Well said, Blackmore, but what is the answer?

Paying imported workers to do the job, and also paying taxes to support home-grown unemployables, is not a good option.

I do not have the wisdom of Solomon, so I don't know what to do about it.

I was extremely fortunate in finding a helper for my business who is extremely competent and who has moral and ethical standards that most mortals would not be able to live up to. He is one in a million and unfortunately for me, he wants to retire.

I can understand and sympathize with the owners of small businesses.

quote:

Originally posted by Blackmore:
You have a hard time getting 8 hours work out of people who think they want to work. I can't imagine hiring someone off the welfare rolls -
who is now being coerced to work - being of any value to me as an employee.

I think for the majority, maybe even all, of the members here, 8 hours seems like a short work day.

It's amazingly sad how far things that were very basic years ago seem to be rare now. Getting people to show up on time is a job itself.

quote:

Originally posted by Blackmore:
I've both been an employer and worked in the northern New England hospitality industry for 35 years. This is not a new problem, only one that's grown. One problem is parents who give their kids everything, instill no work ethic and are too proud to have their precious darlings working when they could be having fun. No job applications from that crew for summer, weekend or after school jobs.

25-30 years ago my conservative guesstimate was that 5% of the so called workforce was chronically unemployable. Now it's at least double that. Many of the ones you do hire are too stupid to learn their job or simply too lazy. All they want money for is to pay for their newest tat and their cellphone plan.

Don't get me going on cellphone use during work hours. We've had people quit over having that use curtailed. There are enough employers who tolerate it that it's hard to enforce.

You have a hard time getting 8 hours work out of people who think they want to work. I can't imagine hiring someone off the welfare rolls - .

Hunger is a great motivator.

Surprised they are not looking at J1 visa for their labor. Not the same as the H-2B but you can make it work.

Many years ago I was working for a large swimming pool management company in the DC area. We would provide all the services to open and operate community, apartments, and hotel pools. I got to the point we couldn't find enough local people to fill the jobs at lifeguard.

So we looked into the international programs. Both J1 and H-2B. J1 is more for students that want to come experience time in a foreign country. It's more a work and travel type visa. You work for a few months then travel a little before heading back to your home country.

I was kinda against this program when we first started it and there were certainly some growing pains. When I left that job I was all for using foreign workers. Sure there were some bad ones but overall they were much more reliable, worked harder and were nicer to deal with than the local labor pool.