April 21, 2007
As a result of the positive feedback from the Ministry of Labor training described in the April 10 entry, the Ministry of Foreign Relations (MFR) requested Global Workers to repeat the training on the USA guest worker program for its senior staff. The Ministry plays a complementary and additional role in the protection of Guatemalan migrants. Due to diplomatic protocol, the Ministry of Labor must work through the Ministry of Foreign Relations in order to address any problems with a foreign state (e.g. asking the US consulate to cooperate to reduce problems with the guest worker program). Additionally, the MFR is in charge of ensuring the safety of Guatemalan citizens abroad. Therefore, the MFR is needed to not only address the abuses of the Guatemalan workers in the USA, but the foreign temporary labor programs in Guatemala as well. Needless to say, its plate is full.
As discussed during the training, a regional strategy may be the most effective. The guest worker abuses are the same in at least Mexico, Guatemala, and El Salvador. Although Global Workers does not have first hand knowledge, it can make an educated guess that the abuses (i.e. recruiters charging obscene amounts of money to go to the USA as a guest worker) occurs in every country in which the program operates. The Guatemalan government will likely have more success negotiating with the USA State Department about consulate cooperation if multiple countries act together. This week is the Regional Conference on Migration (Global Workers attended the meeting last year in El Salvador see May 5, 2006 entry) where Minister of Foreign Relations from North and Central American come together to discuss migration policies. Hopefully, this year the discussion will move beyond managed migration and into substantive migrant rights. Global Workers will continue to work closely with the Guatemalan government to support its effort to improve the lives of its migrants.
April 17, 2007
Global Workers traveled to the northwest state of Huehuetenango, the biggest migrant-sending state, to strengthen contacts with lawyers willing to collaborate with the program and identify some new ones. The goal is to have two advocates from three Guatemalan states selected for the initial training, which will likely occur in September. With the newly empowered advocate network trained and in place, Global Workers will be able to facilitate a heavy case load of labor cases for Guatemalan migrants.
A likely ally will be the Catholic Church’s Human Mobility Pastoral Service. The network, especially in Huehuetenango, is impressive. They have an educational, empowerment training program for pastoral lay agents. The program, which already includes information on migrant rights, commits the lay agents to conduct workshops in their parishes in order to pass on or multiply the new knowledge. With representatives in 30 of the 32 counties in Huehuetenango, the potential to reach out to migrants about their rights, is astonishing. The church also has a legal department to provide free legal services. Discussions are under way about the church’s formal collaboration with Global Workers in Huehuetenango.
While in Huehuetenango, Global Workers met with the Ministry of Labor’s local office to discuss the guest worker recruiter abuses. Although the local supervisor expressed keen interest in the issue, the lack of resources (the office does not even have a telephone) will likely limit their ability to investigate and halt the illegal recruitment practices.
April 13, 2007
Global Workers recently learned of the brutal murder of a US union organizer in Mexico on April 9. After wining an historic contract with the North Carolina Growers Association (NCGA), the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC) opened an office in Monterrey, Mexico to administer the contract for the Mexican guest workers hired by the NCGA. On Monday, organizer Santiago Rafael Cruz was beaten to death in FLOC’s office. Apparently, FLOC staff had previously received death threats. More details can be found on www.floc.com .
Global Workers is shocked, outraged, and saddened by this event. The US guest worker program is operating lawlessly, fostering an environment where the murder of a person defending the rights of guest workers can occur. The program must be brought under the rule of law, both abroad and at home. The US government must cooperate in a more transparent manner with the foreign governments. Both Mexico and the US must thoroughly investigate and bring to justice Santiago’s murders. Lastly, citizens of Mexico and the US must demand that the guest worker program change so that something like this will never occur again.
April 11, 2007
Further reflections on the Ministry of Labor training.
During the work shop, Global Workers learned that the Canadian guest worker program, administered as a pilot project by the International Organization on Migration also flagrantly violates Guatemalan law by failing to register the contracts and the recruiters. Although the Ministry has raised the issue with IOM, apparently IOM has refused to comply. If this is in fact true, it is wholly inexcusable. Under the structure of the US program, the US government is not a recruiter, it simply approves the private petitions and supplies the visas. The US companies are the ones that are in violation of Guatemala law. But the Canadian program is run differently. The Canadian government contracts IOM to be the recruiting entity and therefore it has the corresponding obligations to comply with Guatemalan law.
On another note, an additional plan by the Guatemalan government to reduce recruiter abuses in the US guest worker program is to become a recruiter itself. To that end, representatives from the Ministry of Labor traveled to the USA to identify potential employers. Although this could potentially reduce the exploitative process, history has shown that often when governments become directly involved it loses its perspective to objectively protect the workers
April 10, 2007
The Guatemalan Ministry of Labor invited Global Workers to train its senior staff and regional directors on the USA guest worker program. Concerned about the abuses in the program, the Ministry of Labor needs to understand how the program works in order to combat the exploitative recruitment practices that occur on Guatemalan soil (many documented in previous blog entries) before the workers leave for the USA. The training focused on the logistics of the H-2 program, abuses both in the USA and Guatemala and the development of a plan of action.
The signing of false loan contracts and turning over property titles in order to force the workers to remain in their contracts in the USA regardless of conditions, are illegal practices under Guatemalan law. According to the national law, companies that recruit workers to labor abroad, must register the labor contracts with the Ministry and divulge the name of the local contractors, among other things. The same law exists in Mexico and El Salvador. The catch is that only the US employers and the US consulate has this information. Presently, they are not willing or able to share the information with the Guatemala government. The Ministry of Labor feels its hands are tied to combat it without knowing the identity of the contractors designated by the US employers so that they can then investigate the recruitment practices. Part of the plan of action was to strategize on how to work with the US consulate to get this critical information.
Previously there had been less initiative on behalf of the government to enforce its own laws. This movement toward the rule of law should be welcomed by the US government, not resisted. Especially with the interest in combating trafficking, efforts by the government to minimize the conditions that provoke trafficking should be encouraged, not discouraged.