The Northwest Ohio congressional offices of Senators Portman and Brown as well as Representative Latta met recently with regional employers and advocates to discuss solutions to the acute labor shortages in the Northwest Ohio region.
The meeting was organized by La Conexión, the Northwest Ohio Immigrant Rights Network and Welcome BG.
Cayla Shreffler, the Northwest District Representative of Senator Rob Portman’s Office, Erica Krause, the Northwest Ohio Regional Representative of Senator Sherrod Brown’s Office, and David Wirt, the Northwest Ohio Regional Representative of Congressman Bob Latta’s Office, attended the meeting.
Human resource managers and supervisors from Rosenboom, Grammer, GKN, and the YMCA of Greater Toledo have exhausted a variety of methods to get the workers they need with no avail.
Tracy Miller, with GKN, indicated that normally, the company increases wages at a level of 2-3% per year. However, this year they already increased wages 11%. Dee Meyer, with Rosenboom, says they are offering a $2,600 bonus for people to sign in, higher wages, and other benefits; however, “It is difficult just to get people in the door, period.”
Brad Toft, Director of the Greater Toledo YMCA, the largest child-care provider in the NW Ohio region, says his organization can’t go back to pre-covid levels of service, because they can’t find workers.
Amanda Wilson, with Grammer, highlighted another problem. There are workers willing and able to provide the labor they need, but their immigration documentation shows they are out of status. Just recently, she says, “I had to turn five people away because of their status. They want to work, but we cannot hire them.”
Prospects are not looking good for the region. BGSU demographer and Distinguished Professor of Sociology, Dr. Wendy Manning, indicated that the Census 2020 data shows a decline in population in Northwest Ohio. Population trends in the region show decreasing fertility and increasing mortality. In addition, people are moving out of this region, people who are mostly of working age. As Dr. Manning indicated, “the major way the population of the region can grow is through increasing migration.”
Moja Kamala, Coordinator of Welcome BG, said that “we need to eliminate barriers to increasing the number of documented workers in the area, which is important as many employers find the challenge of navigating visas and sponsorships daunting. Putting undocumented immigrants, including Dreamers, TPS holders, essential workers, and farmworkers, on a pathway to citizenship can only result in big economic benefits for all. It will increase the US GDP to a tune of $1.5 trillion over 10 years, create 400,000 new jobs, and higher working wages. This is a federal issue and our goal is to urge the Ohio congressional delegation to work to enact immigration reform, keeping our communities safe and our economies vibrant.”
Participating congressional staffers all emphasized the abundance of testimonies about labor shortages and the high number of calls about this issue they get all of the time. However, they were not able to provide a timely solution for the region’s employers.
Cayla Schreffler, with Senator Portman’s office, indicated that the Senator’s key areas of focus, when it comes to immigration, are to expand technological training and long-term degree opportunities, fast track asylum processes, reduce immigration case backlogs, increase the efficiency of the immigration system, continue temporary visas and foreign student visas, and provide a permanent solution for Dreamers.
Erica Krause, from Senator Brown’s office, indicated the Senator supports increased technological training but also immigration reform, creating an easier path for workers that are already here, including essential workers and farm workers. She indicated that this is a multi prong problem, that the country must alleviate backlogs and create a quicker process by also allocating more funding and resources to USCIS.
David Wirt, from Rep. Latta’s office, touched on border security issues that need to be solved and highlighted the need to guarantee a clear process that people can follow. Ultimately, he said, everything comes down to immigration reform, but it needs to be a bipartisan agreement. He said this will not happen today or tomorrow, and so it will not be a solution to the labor shortages short term.
Christina Yaniga, faith based organizer for La Conexion and Coordinator of the NW Ohio Immigrant Rights Network, concluded by saying, “We are at a crucial moment. Efforts are underway to include immigration reform provisions as a part of reconciliation because of its economic impact. These efforts, if successful, have the potential to open up documentation channels for 8 million essential workers, Dreamers, TPS holders and farm workers. We encourage our congressional representatives to support the inclusion of these provisions.”
Beatriz Maya, Director of La Conexión, said after the meeting that, “There is a sense of frustration among both sectors, employers and immigrant workers. Some employers have indicated to us that they will perish unless they can find a solution to their labor shortages, and they simply don’t see the same urgency among members of Congress who have the power to solve this problem by opening up channels to increase the number of documented workers. Yes, we know that it will take some time, but we need to start somewhere and we need to start now.”
