Prensa Libre
August 6, 2006
Uncontrolled temporary work.
Offers to work abroad, attractive options.
By: Claudia Munaiz, Leslie Pérez
The temporary work program for Guatemalans in Canada is the only one for which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is responsible. (Photo Prensa Libre). Guatemalans hired on a temporary basis to work overseas deal with failures to pay the minimum wage and benefits.
____________ Offers to work abroad have become an attractive option, given the lack of employment opportunities at home; but not everything in these situations that glitters is gold.
The experience of Benjamín Ramírez*, a native of San Juan Ermita, Chiquimula, is a good example.
Ramírez worked for a month for The Brickman Group in Pennsylvania, in the United States, without receiving minimum wage or payment for overtime. His wife in Guatemala, who preferred to remain anonymous, says that this was why he had to leave the job and therefore lost his American work permit.
In poor conditions
Ramírez is one of the hundreds of Guatemalans who have signed a temporary work contract abroad that does not insure payment of the legal minimum wage or payment for overtime, in addition to the fact that they must also pay for the visa process and transportation costs.
Mauro Verzeletti, adjunct secretary of Human Mobility Pastoral, part of the Guatemalan Episcopal Conference (“CEG”), says that it is hard to say just how many people are being hired. He explained that the problem is that any company can come to the country to hire people. “The state has no control over the process, which is why it is hard to follow them”, he added.
Marila Rojas de Prinz, from the Ministry of Labor’s Migrant Worker division, says that many of these contracts are not in compliance with Article 35 of the Labor Code. The norm prohibits the hiring of Guatemalans to render services outside of the country without the permission of this Ministry.
The contracts
So far this year, the U.S. Embassy has issued work visas to 4,000 people; last year it granted them 3,600.
Another 1,200 Guatemalans work in Canada on a temporary work program through an agreement between the Foreign Affairs Department and the International Organization for Migration.
In both cases, the jobs offered include field work, gardening, construction, cleaning and restaurant services.
Lawsuits
The offices of the Human Mobility Pastoral are in possession of documents concerning the civil suit against The Brickman Group for failure to pay minimum wage and to cover visa and airfare expenses for 150 Guatemalan workers.
The case has the legal support from Global Workers Justice Alliance, headquartered in New York, according to Kathleen Caron.
Caron stated that she has also taken another case involving 15 Guatemalans that involves the failure to pay minimum wage, although she did not specify the name of the company.
Likewise, she supports some 500 forest workers from Huehuetenango and San Marcos, for failure to pay minimum wage.
Benjamín Monterroso, a labor leader in the United States, says that he has been providing legal aid, since there are companies that seek unskilled labor in order to avoid labor benefits. “These are attitudes that would be unacceptable if the employees were American”, he emphasized.
Action
According to Rojas, action is being taken to protect migrant workers. He says that a meeting was recently held with representatives from the U.S. Consulate to coordinate migrant work by preparing a standard contract detailing working conditions, salary, schedules, breaks, the places where the workers will be, and the employer’s identification.
The Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Juan José Cabrera, states that he is unaware of the problems raised.
Cabrera argues that the Guatemalan Consulate in New York has established agreements with the New York Labor Department to ensure that companies respect the labor rights of migrant workers. (*) Fictitious name give at the request of the interviewee.
The work
Contracts vary from three months to a year.
Field work, gardening, construction, cleaning and restaurant services are a few of the jobs that Guatemalans are performing abroad.
They are transported to the southern states of Texas, Georgia, Louisiana, Miami and California.
Workers that are part of the program run by the International Organization for Migration earn a monthly income of US$ 1,400.
People hired through this program work in Quebec and Alberta, Canada. There are currently 1,200 workers.
The federal minimum wage in the United States is US$ 5.15 an hour.
The work permit granted in the United States is an H2, and this year it has been given to 4,000 Guatemalans.
Most migrant workers come from the high plains of the country.
Article 35 of the Labor Code prohibits the hiring of Guatemalans without the authorization of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security.
Warnings of fraud
In the state capital of Chimaltenango, there is an association called Acnacri, SOS Inmigration, which recruits Guatemalans interested in migrating to work in the United States.
The Human Mobility Pastoral and the Ministry of Labor have warned that this office is not authorized to hire people.
According to an investigation by this ministry, this office has asked those interested to shell out over Q$ 8,000 for payment of enrollment fees, meetings and transportation, among other items.
Additionally, they found that part of the funds were to be used as a donation to the Cabecitas de Algodón Foundation in Antigua Guatemala.
Bureaucracy, out of their own pockets
Cathleen Caron, of Global Workers Justice Alliance headquartered in New York, questions the fact that in temporary work programs, if are legal, Guatemalans have to pay for their visas in some cases, transportation, food and housing while they remain in the United States.
Caron says that these expenses should be cancelled by employers in an appropriate manner.
