High-wages and secure jobs for farmworkers can only come by discarding the old deportation/guestworker model, and instead supporting families with legalization, family-based visas, and unions and labor rights.
The choice confronting the Biden administration is whether to expand an immigration program prioritizing grower profits over workers’ and immigrants’ rights, or to reinforce an immigration system based on family reunification and community stability.
The program, which has received dozens of labor trafficking complaints, is utilized by McDonald’s, Dunkin' Donuts, and Stop & Shop.
Teresa Romero was just selected as the new president of the United Farm Workers -- the third person to hold that office following Cesar Chavez and Arturo Rodriguez. She is the first woman and first immigrant to serve in that position.
The Mexican workers reached a settlement that obligates their employer to address complaints.
Reader Comments - Obama and the TPP; Stop-and-Frisk; White Americans and Police Accountability; Vietnam and Anti-War History and the Ongoing Debate; Remembering Jackson State Murders; Greece, Organizing New York; Those Who Work in Customer Call Centers;
Announcements - Immigration, Work and Wages - Washington - May 21; Film Showing and Discussion - Blood Fruit - New York - May 22
By law, a company can’t hire H-2A guest workers if it is in a labor dispute with its US workforce. But that is exactly what this Washington State berry grower is trying to do.
As pseudo-stateless workers, guest workers face all of the obstacles confronting any U.S. workers who try to organize, and then some.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is pushing for 400,000 new visas for foreign workers, a demand that has been met with fierce resistance by labor unions and which could help derail an agreement between the two sides over an immigration reform bill being developed in Congress.
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