Home | Contact | Donate

March 2010

The U.S. has an agricultural guestworker program called the H-2A program. This program allows employers who anticipate a shortage of domestic workers to apply for visas to bring nonimmigrant foreign workers (such as Mexicans, Guatemalans, Indians, etc.) to the U.S. for agricultural work or temporary or seasonal services. There is no limit to the number of visas granted annually under the H-2A. There are three different federal agencies that oversee the program, and the three agencies have different figures. See U.S. Country Data for more information.

Historically, this program has had both its successes and problems, depending on whom you ask. The employers claim that the program is absolutely necessary because they cannot find US workers to do the work in the fields, and so they need to bring in foreign workers; but the advocates for these workers talk about the abuses workers suffer at the hands of recruiters and/or employers. Under the Bush administration certain regulations were passed that worsened the conditions for workers, such as lowering the amounts that were paid to workers. But on February 12, 2010 the Department of Labor, under the Obama Administration, published a final rule amending the regulations governing the labor certification process for temporary agricultural employment under the H-2A program. These new rules are a big win for both advocates and workers because it includes more protections for the workers. For more information on the new regulations go to Farmworker Justice.

Archive

Dartmouth College honors Global Workers' Executive Director

Dartmouth College will honor Global Workers' Executive Director, Cathleen Caron, with the Martin Luther King Jr. Social Justice Award for Ongoing Commitment. The awards ceremony will be held on January 29, 2010 at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. The Martin Luther King Jr. Social Justice Awards honor members of the Dartmouth and Upper Valley (the area surrounding Dartmouth) community who have contributed significantly to social justice, peace, civil rights, education, public health, or environmental justice. In learning of the honor, Cathleen commented, "It is humbling to receive an honor from my alma mater, even more so in the name of Dr. King. It is wonderful that the College is honoring its alums who strive every day to make the world more just. We hope to use this opportunity to bring more awareness about the plight of today’s migrants and the need for portable justice in this ever-globalizing economy." To read more click here.

December 18 is International Migrant Day

This month celebrates International Migrants Day on December 18, commemorating the day in 1990 when the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families. The tradition began after Filipino and other Asian migrant communities began using the day to celebrate international solidarity with migrants. Building on this, other migrant rights groups began campaigning for an official day of recognition for the community, and in 2000 the UN officially proclaimed December 18 as International Migrants Day.

Since 2000, the day has been used to focus attention towards the issues faced by migrants all over the world. Every year, increasing numbers of organizations have commemorated this day with events and calls to action. One organization in particular is December 18, a migrant rights organization, which produces an annual radio program, bringing migrant voices from all over the world together into a day-long radio program. Last year, 175 radio stations from 48 countries participated in the program, which celebrated the contributions of migrants, as well as opinion pieces from international experts, and interviews with various UN representatives. To find a radio station in your area, hear clips from last year’s program, or stream the program online, visit the Radio 1812 website.

Currently there are more people living in countries other than that of their origin than ever before –a staggering 214 million. In his opening remarks at the Global Forum on Migration and Development this year, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon reminded all of us that, “As we look to these challenges, we recognize that in many ways, migration is not just a journey of people – it is a journey of policy… Our destination is a global system of mobility that allows people to move in legal, safe and orderly ways – with full respect for their dignity.” Global Workers will work hard in this new year to move us closer to the goal of global mobility set by the Secretary General. On December 18, please take a moment to remember migrants and their daily struggle for full dignity.

Retaliation Successfully Challenged in Guatemala

For four years in a row, Jose traveled from Guatemala to work on a farm in Quebec, Canada. Jose was one of thousands of farmworkers who are recruited each year to work the fields of Canada. For years Jose and his co-workers suffered verbal abuse while performing back-breaking work but never complained for fear of losing their jobs. But one day after witnessing the farmer beat one of their Mexican colleagues with a metal pole, Jose could be quiet no longer. Jose and fellow workers went to a local Canadian union to complain. Thinking he had done the right thing, Jose was shocked to learn that upon his return to Guatemala the recruiter wanted him to recant his statement. According to Jose, if he did not sign a document withdrawing his statement about the beating, he would not return to Canada. Three workers refused to sign the document. Those three workers were not allowed to return to Canada. As a result of a coordinated effort between Global Workers, its local Defender in Guatemala City, and the Canadian union, the recruiter just recently offered to send Jose to Canada again, this time with a better employer. This was the news Jose had been hoping for over the three years while he waited for justice and survived on subsistence farming in a remote region of Guatemala. Global Worker salutes Jose for his courage and tenacity!

Global Workers Gets a New Website, September 2009

After several years, Global Workers has given itself a facelift with the launch of a brand new website highlighting how far our organization has come in the last few years. In "Our Work" you can view some of our past successes with summaries of cases Global Workers has facilitated. To better get to know the people who make our work possible, we invite you to read about our Defender Network, under "For Advocates." These pages are complete with pictures of our Defenders and an interactive map to see where each of our Defenders are located. From there, you can also see photos from our inaugural Defender Training in Chiapas, Mexico in March, 2008. Another exciting addition, also under "Our Work," is the Legal Directory, an interactive United States map which lists Legal Services organizations who directly handle civil labor violations cases, for low or no-fee service. Lastly, be sure to check the homepage every week for News updates and our new Monthly Feature, which will highlight an important event for Global Workers or labor migration in general. Also, don’t forget to check our blog, which is updated periodically and provides the most insight into our day to day work defending portable justice for global migrants.

We would like to give a special thank you to Mia Carlvik, who volunteered her time to create and maintain our original website. We cannot thank her enough for her hard work and creativity.

Global Workers was a finalist in the Ashoka/Changemakers global anti-trafficking competition, Ending Global Slavery: Everyday Heroes Leading the Way, August 2009

Anti-Trafficking Honors.

In recognition of its unique work, Global Workers was invited to enter the Ashoka/Changemakers global anti-trafficking competition, Ending Global Slavery: Everyday Heroes Leading the Way. The competition featured innovative projects from around the world that combat human trafficking in creative and profound ways. We were one of 12 finalists out of the 435 organizational entries. In honoring us, the international panel of judges noted that Global Workers

"is an impressive program because it helps transnational migrant workers retain rights in their destination country, even after they have returned home. By using existing instruments, expanding them to new areas, and applying them to new initiatives, this organization has the potential for long-term success."

It is an honor and a privilege to make justice more accessible to migrant workers everyday. What a thrill it was to be valued for this work. Read more about the competition as well as the Global Workers entry.

Global Workers Justice Alliance is proud to partner with the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) to raise awareness of the sexual exploitation of farmworker women in the U.S. through the “Bandana Project." April is National Sexual Awareness Month, so the Bandana Project and its partners will spotlight the plight of farmworker women and their vulnerability to sexual harassment at work with an international campaign. As part of this campaign, more than 100 community groups, universities and other organizations have adopted the bandana as a symbol because farmworker women often use them on the job to cover their faces and bodies in an attempt to ward off unwanted sexual attention that often leads to rape. For more information and exhibits of hand decorated bandanas, visit www.bandanaproject.org or download the Bandana Project flier.

Executive Director Cathleen Caron spoke at the Freedom Network's 2009 Human Trafficking Conference, Modern Day Slavery: Conference on Human Trafficking – Increasing awareness, assisting victims, prosecuting the perpetrators, serving the survivors on the panel, Understanding the Intersection of Migration and Exploitation: Ways to Prevent Human Trafficking and Slavery. The panel also included Mary DeLorey of the Strategic Issues Advisor for Catholic Relief Services, the Relief and Development Agency of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).

The Labor and Employment Law Program of Cornell University's ILR School, the International Commission for Labor Rights, and the Global Worker Justice Alliance joined together to develop a five-session webinar series that explored cutting-edge legal principles and strategies in workers' rights. The webinar format allowed lawyers all over the country to participate in seminars and was led by 15 leaders in the field of international labor law. The web series, held from September 17 to November 7, began with a primer entitled, "Workers' Rights as Human Rights" and then expanded into current problems, international mechanisms, and transnational justice for migrant workers.

For more information about the event, please see our blog.

Workers' Rights and the Changing Global Economy: A Conversation Featuring Bill Gould, September 22, 2008

Global Workers, in partnership with Cornell University’s Industrial & Labor Relations and the International Commission for Labor Rights, presented a Continuing Legal Education event featuring Bill Gould, former chairman of the NLRB followed by a wine and cheese reception and fundraiser. Professor Gould spoke on the privatization of labor law in a globalized context, and implications for future reform, discussing for the first time some of his work on recent NLRB cases.
A prolific scholar of labor and discrimination law, Professor Gould has been an influential voice on worker-management relations for over forty years and recently served as chairman of the National Labor Relations Board. Professor Gould has been a member of the National Academy of Arbitrators since 1970 and has arbitrated and mediated more than 200 labor disputes, including the salary disputes between the Major League Baseball Players Association and the Major League Baseball Player Relations Committee. He currently serves as independent Monitor for FirstGroup America, addressing freedom of association complaints.

For more information on the event, please see our blog.

Inaugural Global Workers Defender Training, Tapachula, Chiapas, Mexico April, 2008

Names of persons in photo

More Photos

Declaration from the event (in Spanish) (in English)

For more information on the event, please see our blog for April 27, April 28, April 29, and April 30.

Global Workers Justice Alliance. 789 Washington Ave. Brooklyn, NY 11238