After one last substantive session focused on the use of international law, the training shifted into action. The last day was dedicated to how the Global Workers Defender Network will function. These defenders were trained to accomplish three objectives. 1. Educate migrant workers about their rights in the US. 2. Identify cases of workers exploited in the US to refer to Global Workers. 3. Through Global Workers, partner with US organizations who are facing challenges in assisting their worker clients who have returned to their home countries.
After reviewing and discussing the organizational structure, the rules and ethics of assisting migrant workers (an area they are familiar with through their own work) but in a transjurisdictional context, each participant took away a contract to be reviewed and signed by their organizations. Each year, the group will reunite to renew the commitment and discuss the accomplishments and challenges they faced in executing the portable justice mission.
Although Global Workers has already provided critical assistance to US organizations struggling to combat human trafficking and other abuses faced by migrant workers, this training signifies the formalization of the network. Now with 13 organizations trained and committed to the Global Workers Defender Network, we enter into a new and unprecedented stage of justice for global workers.
Day two saw the completion of the US employment law segment, which covered Discrimination (with a special emphasis on sexual harassment, a serious and under addressed problem in the work place, especially for farmworker women), Unions (interestingly the focus of the most extensive questions), Health and Safety (mostly the rights of injured workers), Temporary Guestworkers, and Human Trafficking.
Working in groups, the advocates learned how to put the US law into practice as they analyzed a complicated case study of workers whose employment went awry in the US. Their astute analyses underscored the daily evaluations that they were keenly interested and capturing well the material.
The afternoon transitioned into a look into how the US guestworker program violates Mexican and Guatemalan laws. Led by a Mexican Global Workers board member and a Guatemalan human rights lawyer, the advocates, now on more familiar legal ground, delved energetically into the frequent abuses workers face during the recruitment process to go to the US. It was a fascinating conversation of discovery and analysis.
The fist day of the training was wonderful. Most of the advocates are lawyers and they soaked up the day’s intensive survey of US employment law. All of the US law topics were carefully chosen as most relevant to transnational migrant workers and based upon the manual meticulously elaborated over the past 1.5 years by consulting attorney Nan Schivone. Three experienced US lawyers (two Global Workers board members and the Executive Director) conducted interactive trainings on the US legal system (Latin American societies are based on the civil law system which contrasts with the US common law approach), US Civil Procedure (the US system is quite unique and needed to be carefully explained to the foreign lawyers who will be working hand in hand with US lawyers to make sure the workers can enforce their rights), Wage and Hour Laws (mostly concerning failure to pay a full days wage), Farmworkers, and Immigration law.
The long day wrapped up with a showing of “Farmingville” an excellent documentary about a New York community struggling for and against its newest immigrants, Latino day laborers. The documentary artfully explains all sides of the story and is an intimate glimpse in to the passions surrounding today’s immigration debate. Many advocates requested copies to use as educational tools in their own communities.
This is an historic moment for Global Workers. Tonight 23 advocates from 13 human rights organizations from southern Mexico and Guatemala are arriving in Tapachula, Mexico for a three-day Training on Defending Transnational Migrant Workers in the United States. After over two years of carefully laying the groundwork traveling through the region to identify potential partners (from priests running migrant shelters to seasoned human rights attorneys), this training will be the official launch of the Global Workers Defender Network.
The purpose of the network is to ensure portable justice for transnational migrant workers. By training trusted advocates in the sending communities of migrants in US employment-related law, they will serve as partners with US organizations defending migrant workers. To address the tremendous challenge of helping workers recover stolen wages or facing their human traffickers when they leave the United States, partners in the migrants’ home countries are essential. Without cross border collaboration workers too often must drop their cases or never learn how to challenge their abusers in the first place. The success of the next three days will determine if this vision is possible.