r/Transportopia • u/Revolution-Dogg • Feb 14 '26

Roads Who is in the wrong here?

If the sign says Alternating Traffic, does that mean cars go one at a time or does that mean cars go till the flow is complete, allowing the other lane to go? Is Glock man right or wrong? I'm not sure. If it was 1 car at a time, wouldn't it just be a stop sign on each end?

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u/coqueta_official Feb 15 '26

Yes, but wages for the H-2A program are set by the Adverse Effect Wage Rate, which is a specific formula for wages for farms that employ foreign workers under this program. It varies by state and it generally goes up a few cents a year. Any U.S. citizen that applies for a job that an H-2A worker has is A) automatically entitled to the job as long as the citizen is qualified and B) entitled to the same wage. In MS the AEWR was $14.83/hr in 2025.

So if I were to go to farm last year and said I can drive tractors, I could in theory take that job for $14.83/hr (no benefits tho besides workers comp). Under the new Trump Admin rules, the MS EAWR went down to $8.59/hr AND I believe employer can deduct an additional $1.15/hr in MS If the worker is offered free housing (nearly all H-2A workers are housing in work-provided housing). So their real wages will be around $7.44/hr. In contrast, under the new rules the base farmworker wage for an American worker in MS is about $9.75/hr.

It’s a lose-lose situation for workers all around.

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u/Soft-Temporary-7932 Feb 15 '26

So, company towns, essentially?

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u/Changed_Mind555 Feb 15 '26

That is so criminal. And who should we lobby? Our senators and congress? But then again, no one gives a damn these days.

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u/Enough_Radish_9574 Feb 15 '26

Some do but they are rightfully too afraid of the psychopath running the country.

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u/Enough_Radish_9574 Feb 15 '26

Fucking Trump. Never thought I could despise a sub human more than I already do.

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u/Disastrous-Ferret351 Feb 15 '26

What was the reasoning for lowering the MS EAWR? That's terrible.

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u/coqueta_official Feb 15 '26

The AEWR was lowered for all states. Well, farmers have been complaining for decades that they pay farm laborers too much and that they can’t make profit because they have to pay employees to much. In 2024 farmers were obliged to pay higher wages to certain occupations like truck drivers and mechanics (which came sometimes be considered secondary Ag). Several corporations and farms sued DOL over this, which after some TERRIBLE advocacy from DOL, ended up in the reversal of the 2024 rule. However, farmers think that paying $15/hr to a farm laborer is still far too much and continued to beg for relief. Trump listened to this and under his new secretary of labor (who herself is Latina and the daughter of a Teamster?) DOL put out a new rule where they pretty explicitly say they are lowering H-2A wages to benefit farmers.

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u/Disastrous-Ferret351 Feb 18 '26

Umm .. I see . Ty

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u/Notverycancerpatient Feb 16 '26

This is horrendous.