Episcopal Farmworker Ministry, a ministry in the Diocese of East Carolina based in Dunn, is calling for aid to help serve H-2A farmworkers after the federal government reduced their wages this year.
The average hourly wages for farmworkers who are in the United States seasonally under the H-2A visa program have been reduced by between $1 and $7 depending on the state. In North Carolina, the hourly wage rate dropped from $16.16 to $12.78.
The wage reduction has made it so farmworkers cannot support themselves, let alone send money to their families, according to the Rev. Fred Clarkson, executive convener of Episcopal Farmworker Ministry and priest-in-charge of the Iglesia de la Sagrada Familia (Episcopal Church of the Holy Family), which operates the ministry. To read more, click here
