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Slaves, Sharecroppers, Now Immigrants |
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This is a cross post from the Firedoglake blog.
There are many reasons economic immigrants come to this nation—driven out of their home countries by bad trade deals that fail to consider the impact on workers or because they are fleeing unfettered corporate greed that seeks out impoverished nations to pay the lowest possible wages. Last week in this spot, I took a look at why border crossings start in the boardroom.
Once in the United States, immigrants are ripe for employer exploitation—and many U.S. employers don’t hesitate to do so.
In the past several years, nine farm workers died working the tobacco fields of North Carolina. Thousands more suffer work-related sicknesses from heat and chemicals from the tobacco, according to the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC). Last fall, hundreds of tobacco workers rallied at the headquarters of tobacco giant R.J. Reynolds to demand safer working conditions and fair treatment.
This week, a six-part series in the Charlotte (N.C.) Observer describes the horrifying conditions of poultry workers, most of whom are immigrants. Reporters spent 22 months investigating the House of Raeford chicken and turkey processing plant and found the workers must endure long hours, painful injuries and are denied medical care.
Day after day, poultry workers are cut by knives, burned by chemicals or hurt by repetitive work, according to dozens of injury logs compiled by plants across the South.
Because many workers are illegal immigrants and can’t afford private care, their health rests largely with company medical workers.
Those in-house attendants are supposed to help workers heal. Instead, some have prevented workers from receiving medical care that would cost the company money, an Observer investigation has found. And in some instances, the treatments they provide can do more harm than good.
A 2005 AFL-CIO report found that the share of fatal occupational injuries for foreign-born workers increased by 43 percent between 1996 and 2000, even though employment for that group increased by 22 percent. Less than one-third of the costs of occupational illnesses and injuries are paid for by employer-funded workers’ compensation—with taxpayers picking up nearly 20 percent of the tab through Medicaid and Medicare. Injured workers and their families pay the largest share, according to Immigrant Workers at Risk: The Urgent Need for Improved Workplace Safety and Health Policies and Programs.
Documented immigrants also are exploited. Each year, 160,000 guest workers are permitted to enter the United States, supposedly to fill in gaps in our labor force. More than 25,000 of them work in the fields of North Carolina, harvesting tobacco, sweet potatoes, cucumbers and Christmas trees, according to FLOC.
Last summer, FLOC President Baldemar Velasquez told the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee that until we can protect the basic rights of guest workers already in the United States, Congress should not consider expanding that program.
Velasquez said expanding the current program would increase the corruption that plagues it and cited the longstanding problem of brokers extorting large amounts of money from workers to obtain visas. To ensure guest workers receive fair treatment, Velasquez told the committee, it is important that all workers’ rights, including farm workers’ rights, are protected, including the freedom to join a union.
Rather than improve the situation for guest workers, the Bush administration last week proposed to make it even worse. He wants to take away rights from workers here under the H-2A agricultural guest worker program. H-2A and H-2B visa programs bring agricultural and other seasonal workers into this country to pick crops, build houses and process seafood, among other jobs.
The AFL-CIO and the civil rights movement opposes Bush’s move. AFL-CIO President John Sweeney says the proposal:
will hurt both immigrant and U.S.-born workers alike. The Bush administration has shown once again that it will go to any extreme to cater to the interest of corporations at the painful expense of workers, and that it is not serious about real fixes to our nation’s broken immigration system.
It would strip the H-2A agricultural guest worker program of necessary wage protections, undermine other essential worker protections, weaken efforts to recruit workers from this country and further erode government oversight, Sweeney says.
A study by the Southern Poverty Law Center, Close to Slavery: Guestworker Programs in the United States, says it’s not unusual for guest workers to pay more than $2,500 in fees to obtain a seasonal guest worker position, about a year’s worth of income in a country like Guatemala. Thai workers have been known to pay as much as $10,000 for the chance to harvest crops in the orchards of the Pacific Northwest. Interest rates on loans brokers charge to get them into the country are sometimes as high as 20 percent a month. Homes and vehicles are required as collateral.
The solution, says Sweeney, is comprehensive immigration reform
that provides relief to the growing number of undocumented workers in our country by offering them a path to citizenship. We do not need more policies that turn our nation back in the wrong direction.
Reflecting on the findings of the Charlotte Observer series, editor Rick Thames succinctly sums up the nation’s relationship with immigrant workers:
…the neglect of these workers exposes an ugly dimension to a new subclass in our society. A disturbing subclass of compliant workers with few, if any, rights.
Same as slaves and sharecroppers, same as the cotton mill workers derisively termed “lintheads,” this subclass is now a scorned bunch.
And yet they help power our economy. We live in houses they built. We drive on highways they paved. We eat the chicken and turkey they prepared.
17 Comments
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I wish all of you were as interested in legal citizens rights as you seem to be in illegal aliens.I am sick to death of hearing about the plight of illegals.What about the thousand of legal citizens that don’t have a job because they are here.They don’t have health care either or a roof over their head,they don’t own a home and their children are not eating everyday.These people do have health care it’s better than mine all they need to do is walk into any hosptial and say I can’t pay they will be treated and the their bill will be tacked on to mine.I pay for their childern to go to school,I pay for the welfare they collect,I pay for the slums they create,I pay for the disease’s they bring with them,I pay for the crime that they bring,I pay for double the printing of everything in Spanish.I pay with lower wages paid to me I pay with fewer job opportunity’s.In short the legal U.S. citizen pays for it all and we’re to feel sorry for them I guess.My forefathers fought and died for this country and it’s freedoms and these parisites want all of that for sneaking across the border’s.They even have gall enough to march in the streets carrying the Mexican flag and demanding that we give them citizenship.Go try that in any other country in the world and see where you end up.If they don’t like the way they are treated here they can always go home.
Dr.
I’m sorry to read your response to this article. I come from McGrath’s, O’Keefe’s, Quinn’s, O’Brien’s and Finan’s. I was taught about the irrational hatred of my forefathers when they landed on our shores in floating coffins, fleeing the misery of the famine and structural injustice in their native Ireland. In Louisville, the no nothing party strung Irish immigrants up from the lampposts in a part of town called Portland, burning them out of their neighborhood as they raged. The reason for that rage was much like yours.
I have dedicated my professional life to working for working folk in our country but I respect history enough to realize that the best way to protect working families in this country is to prevent capitalists from creating any surplus labor shadow class of workers. When we stop the state machinery from driving economic refugees into the shadows we can then organize them to protect all of us. We can also use the respite to address the underlying causes for this new diaspora from south of the border. I pray that God grants you patience and understanding for our brothers and sisters fleeing their native lands for a better life. peace.
The U.S. Social Security Administration has estimated that three-quarters of unauthorized workers pay payroll taxes and that they contribute $6–7 billion annually in Social Security funds that they can’t claim.
Let’s see MW,12 to 20 million illegal aliens are contributing 6 to 7 BILLION into Social Security annually,wow that amounts to roughly 300 dollars each a year.My contributions are well over 200 dollars a month,do the math on that and see who’s keeping SS afloat.It sure isn’t illegal aliens.Kentuckydave I really don’t understand what the hell your talking about,the first person in my family to set foot in the the new world was an Irish Catholic in 1750.He and his son’s fought in the revolution to make this country what it is today.By the way just in case some of you have forgotten we had an illegal immigrant problem long before there was a NAFTA or problems in Guatamala
Dr.
Heres somthing for you to try. STEP ONE: Drive down to your local social service office, and tell the clerk you want to begin collecting welfare.STEP TWO: When the clerk ask you for your social security number tell her/him that you don’t have one. STEP THREE: Hold your breath untill your check arrives.
All I need to do is steal one or make one up nobody checks,how about I use yours Wobbly is that all right with you.
Dr’s Xenophobia is the usual response from people who think themselves superior, who think their personal lives are somehow more important because they have papers proving their citizenship.
Think about this Doc: Without the sometimes forced labor (virtual slavery of immigrants is occurring in Florida, where the YUM corp. exploits immigrant laborers in the fashion of indentured servitude) throughout the history of this imperialistic country, there’d be no America. Without profits from slavery, from exploiting the Chinese labors in the 19th century, or taking advantage of immigrant field workers, the economy of the US would have tanked long ago. Cheap,slave labor is the life blood of corporations. From J.D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie, to the honchos at Nike, taking advantage of starving people has been the norm. Wal-Mart is the current champ in this scenario, forcing American Corps. to build in China in order to pay workers their less than a a buck a day so people like the Doc can have cheap shoes and other trinkets and electronics.
Doc’s abysmal knowledge of labor, worldwide, and the current dependency on virtual slaves is common these days. Doc expresses supremacy and righteousness rather than knowledge and logic-typical conservative BS.
Without the Bracero Program, begun during WWII, US farmers wouldn’t have been able to harvest their crops.
So instead of damning the immigrants, who don’t want to come here in the first place and who are forced to do so because of American corps. taking over the politics and economy of Mexico and Latin America, Doc should be in church praying to God for his lifestyle and good luck. Speaking of Christians, where’s Doc’s Christian charity and brotherhood and morality–or do those things exist only on Sunday and within the borders of the US?
And immigrants actually contribute over 13 billion to Soc. Sec., not 7 billion, per year. That doesn’t count the taxes they pay on other goods and gasoline. LA alone would sink into the sea without its day laborers and the taxes they pay.
So now we’re going to begrudge them a trip to the emergency ward or food stamps? How about the employers providing Health Insurance to all workers? That would solve the problem. But employers are notoriously cheap and inhumane, especially farmers and/or ranchers. They need the workers, but they’ll pay them practically nothing as they become millionaires signing up for gov’t. subsidies and disaster loans as they pollute the land, water, and air with fertilizers and cow crap and diesel fumes.
Let’s not forget that the economic problems are caused by corps. outsourcing jobs to other countries. Why? Because they can screw over workers there without government intervention.
So if you need a target Doc, look in the mirror, and then behind your back at the corps. who are ruining your privileged lifestyle.
It’s Dr and not Doc if your going to address me get it right.I hope when your children and grandchildren can’t own a home or find a job or go to college that you will be happy.The truth of the matter is these people have broken our laws and we owe them nothing.They do not have what it takes to stand up in their home countries for what they want us to give them here and as I have said before we had a problem long before you fellows had corporations to blame it on.The real problem lies in Mexico a country of wealth that does nothing for it’s citizens.Why is it that you are so eager to make these people citizens of this country instead of protesting how they are treated in their home country.Write some letters to the President and government of Mexico and protest the reason’s they come here in the first place.All that happens if you make them legal is more will come if there is no change south of the border.Perhaps you have never experienced not having a job and declining wages, because some Mexican will do it cheaper,or for cash,but I have, and even at 13 billion what they pay does not cover the amount taken out in health care cost,welfare,schooling,gang crime and a host of other things.What you are trying to tell me is that this country will simply cease to exist without illegal immigration.I doubt that.
Dr.
How the hell can you call yourself a union person? I’ll be 67 next month. I’ve been a union member for 42 years. I was raised in a union household. The crap you are spouting is devoid of working class consciousness. Read up on the heritage of labor.! Had the heroes and heroines of yore thought like you do, few of us would have a pot to _iss in today. Switch off Lou Dobbs, Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh. Start watching Democracy Now or Bill Moyers Journal. The people you are parroting are enemies of labor. They haven’t put in an honest day’s work in their lives.
“Know your class, and be loyal to it.”
And to kentuckydave, wobbly, JefetonX and mw, I say “Right On!”
Rich A. I guess we come from different backgrounds I’m a forty year union member and third generation building trades member.I do not know what union you belong to but if it was the building trades you would look at this thing differently.90% of my family belongs to some union and they have for a very long time and we nearly all think the government and the AFL-CIO are on the wrong track.I do not hate these people I just believe there are plenty of people in the world that would like a chance to come to America and do it legally.I also know that plenty of hard working,honest U S citizens could use the jobs these people take and don’t give me that crap that they won’t take them.No amnesty is correct these people are not immigrants they are parasites on hard working American citizens.Also no one has answered my question as to why they will not fight to make change in their home land.Our forefathers fought wars,stood on picket lines and went to jail to get what we have,and many died,I don’t believe it was there intention to give what they fought for away to a bunch of unlawful aliens.If you think I haven’t seen hard times I have news for you and I am not willing to give this great country away.
Are we REALLY talking about immigrants here? Or are we talking about illegals? Because illegals are NOT immigrants. Illegals are nothing more than home invaders. The USA is MY home and any person who enters MY home ILLEGALLY is an ILLEGAL! Don’t disrespect the REAL immigrants in this country by lumping them in with those who have thumbed their noses at our laws by being in our country illegally.
FACTS
1. Not all illegal aliens are here to feed their families
2. Not all are of legal US working age
3. Some are actually convicted criminals in their own nation
4. There is a difference between “illegal alien” and “immigrant”
5. The Visa system is not a proper mechanism, it is often exploited by corporations who disqualify Americans who are qualified to do the job.
6. The welfare is not directly given to the “illegal aliens” as much as it is given to those who employ them.
7. Employers get a slap on the wrist if anything for hiring these people.
8. The use of “illegal aliens” destroys the US labor standards and laws in which they regard.
9. Immigrants entering illegally are encouraged to do so from their own governments in many cases.
10. The countries lax border patrolling and safeguarding against this influx is the #1 reason why the numbers who enter illegally are able to accomplish that.
11. The separatism between English speakers and non-English speakers creates a giant rift between the workers in this country, that bodes big business well, not to mention…
12. …the divide between citizens who hold an opinion on the matter.
Solution, actually a bit of idea from my general knowledge of what is actually happening to “us” and “them”, labor must make a stand to bring up the workers. The way we are doing it isn’t working, the politicians aren’t even talking about it anymore.
1. The labor federations should sue the Federal Government for allowing business to dictate the immigration policies, and for allowing the influx of “illegal aliens”, this is a clear cut win if they were to sue on the basis of unpaid tax burden and estimated employment loss by the American citizen worker. We all suffer when the unscrupulous employers pay their workers off the books.
2. We need to stop the influx before we can allow any “Amnesty” for those who are already here, I don’t feel that is a good word for it, it should be more like a…
3. …a path to citizenship for those who are deemed ready willing and able to work. That being said I feel that this path to citizenship should be well scrutinized, the person should be deemed mentally fit, not from a criminal background, and able to be educated in the laws and regulations of the United States, that includes labor education. Knowing of ones rights, and, unfortunately a estimated repayment of taxes and sustaining a taxable job for a certain number of years should be one of the regulations of staying here. And, yes ENGLISH should be mandatory within a set amount of time, lets say 2 years, if the “illegal aliens” were to work a 40 hour week they would have at least 30 more hours for education.
All that being said, I have come up with a better solution than any I have heard, but big money likes the slave class and all of you are helping them by focusing on the difference in opinions instead of finding a common goal and solution. I’m all ears to learn from others, but we have to listen to what our fellow brothers and sisters want and create those common goals. Once we do that we can change the world for the better, we can do that together.
Stop attacking one another, it just makes us more divided and the easier to attack. the best way to destroy a country is to let the population do it to each other. You guys are making it easy for our elected officials, they can do whatever they want now. There is no outrage, there is no solidarity, there is no unity.
As a matter of fact it seemed that up until recently the only way to get ICE to a place of employment was when the workers wanted to join a union.
I can back every fact at the top up if you like, but you could always check out my own blog and www.unionreview.com which has a recent story in which this topic is being discussed:
NY: Illegal alien construction worker guilty of murdering actress/filmmaker and the reprecussions of the Illegal alien work force
The point that folks like Dr and NoAmnesty are missing is that SERVITUDE is a Human Rights issue. They can not seem to separate Labor’s position on U.S immigration policies from Labor’s position on Human Rights. They keep wrapping it up into one package.
UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCE SHOULD THE CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES TOLERATE ANY FORM OF SLAVERY. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: To suggest that SLAVERY, in any form, should be tolerated utilizing the rationale that the “illegal” status of one’s citizenship justifies such a practice is irresponsible, uncompassionate, and immoral. We, as a movement, are better than that.
As stated in the article above:
DOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS also are exploited. EACH YEAR, 160,000 GUEST WORKERS ARE PERMITTED TO ENTER the United States, supposedly to fill in gaps in OUR LABOR FORCE. More than 25,000 of them work in the fields of North Carolina, harvesting tobacco, sweet potatoes, cucumbers and Christmas trees, according to FLOC.
One more time: DOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS consisting of 160,000 GUEST WORKERS ARE PERMITTED TO ENTER OUR LABOR FORCE, EACH YEAR!!! This is a matter of current U.S. immigration policy. It is the law of the land and it needs to be regulated more stringently.
Dr and NoAmnesty make some valid points with regard to the position Labor should consider taking relating to current U.S. immigration policy. I don’t agree with all of them, but some of them deserve consideration.
Dr and NoAmnesty are DEAD WRONG on the Human Rights issue by finding justification in allowing what is tantamount to the legalization of slavery utilizing the rationale that the “illegal” status of one’s citizenship validates such a practice. Surely you guys aren’t going to expect the Labor Movement to embrace the legalization of Slavery…are you? Asking Labor to turn a blind eye toward Corporate America’s obvious abuses of Human Rights does just that!
WAKE UP! Stop being willfully ignorant of these two separate but equally important issues. Stop trying to wrap them up into one subject matter.
Dr.
I disagree with you, but understand your sentiments. I think that your anger is misplaced towards the victims of an unjust global system. All working people are victims of this system - set up by the WTO, IMF and US Goverment. The masters of this system would rather have the working class fight amongst themselves so those on top can sleep easy at night.
You had asked the question “as to why they will not fight to make change in their home land”. Well, many of them do fight in their homeland. However the repression in their countries is immense. Many people die everyday fighting for what we take for granted here. In Colombia trade unionists are targeted for assassination by paramilitaries hired by US Corporations. In Mexico during a popular revolt in Oaxaca, a US reporter was shot and killed by Mexican government agents. In El Salvador, a US Teamster who went t organize truck drivers was assassinated. I know that you will say, “that isn’t our problem”, but it is.
The United States government helps train and provide weapons to these governments to repress their people - all under the guise of “aide”. Take a look at the School of the Americas. Take a look at the Free Trade Agreements. The history of the United States is riddled with our government intervening in the business of other countries at the request of US Corporations; over throwing democratically elected leaders for tyrants who will listen to the will of the US government and US corporations.
I know I probably won’t change your mind, but I would just ask that you take a step back, look at the bigger picture on a global scale. Capital and Corporations have gone global. Now the labor movement must go global and work with all working people, no matter what country they are from or what their citizenship is.
Hey Dr, I’m behind you 100% and so are most of the members in my local. I thought slavery was when you took people against their will and forced them to work. I don’t think that is happening here. If this government would have strict penalties against the corporations and enforce them the problem would fix itself and we can help the LEGAL immigrants
I seem to have stepped on some of my union brothers and sisters toe’s.I don’t seem to be union enough for them,I’ll tell you all something we are part of the problem.Here’s a little quiz so you can tell just how union you are.
1.Do you live in a home,apartment,condo that was union built?
2.When said home needs repairs do call a union carpenter,electrican,plumber etc?
3.Do you drive a Honda,Toyota,Nissan?
4.Do you shop at Wal-Mart,Lowes,Home Depot?
5.Do you eat at Cracker Barrell,Outback,Olive Garden?
6.Do your clothing labels say China,Pakistan,India?
7.Do you stay at union hotel,motels?
8.Do you take the family to union theme parks.
9.Does your Coor’s beer taste pretty good?
10.Where did your computer come from?
11.Do you attend union meetings regularly?
12.Do you volenteer your time to your union?
Ok how union are you really?You may blame corporations the government,and many other things but I believe we have brought a lot of this on ourselves.We are union when it suits us and not so union when it doesn’t.I for one will do everything that I can do to stop giving any more jobs away to anybody.
Hmm? I’d like to answer your questions.
1.Do you live in a home,apartment,condo that was union built?
I honestly don’t know, but probably non-union. - I rent.
2.When said home needs repairs do call a union carpenter,electrican,plumber etc?
I don’t own a house, so my landlord makes the calls for repairs.
3.Do you drive a Honda,Toyota,Nissan?
Saturn Ion. UAW made in Tennessee
4.Do you shop at Wal-Mart,Lowes,Home Depot?
No.
5.Do you eat at Cracker Barrell,Outback,Olive Garden?
No.
6.Do your clothing labels say China,Pakistan,India?
Unfortunately some do. However, I do have many union/USA made clothes - even down to the socks I am wearing right now! I’m trying to convert my wadrobe to ethical/non-sweat shop clothing. Its not an easy task.
7.Do you stay at union hotel,motels?
Yes, when they are available.
8.Do you take the family to union theme parks.
Don’t go to theme parks.
9.Does your Coor’s beer taste pretty good?
Budweiser - Made right here in Newark, NJ by Teamsters.
10.Where did your computer come from?
Not sure, but probably not union made.
11.Do you attend union meetings regularly?
Yep! I take the minutes.
12.Do you volenteer your time to your union?
I help recruit the volunteers, so I have to be there, and I like being there.
So, how did I score on your test? Am I union enough?