1 - Centro de los Derechos del Migrante, Inc.

Transcripción

CENTRO DE LOS DERECHOS
DEL MIGRANTE, INC.
A CDM outreach worker leads a Know
Your Rights workshop in a small town in
Veracruz, Mexico.
PHOTO: LILIÁN LÓPEZ GRACIÁN
CONTENTS
Letter from the Executive Director
1
How we work
3
A year of impact
Empowering migrant workers
5
Defending migrant rights
7
Amplifying migrant voices
9
Standing with women on the front lines
13
Exposing and addressing recruitment abuse
15
Thank you
17
Names accompanied by an (*) indicate a pseudonym.
CDM staff lead members of the Migrant
Defense Committee in a brainstorming
workshop about strategies to address
recruitment abuse.
LETTER FROM THE
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Dear Friends,
Five years ago, José de Lira, a founding leader of the Migrant
Defense Committee, called us. José was in New York, working on
an H-2B visa with Dreamland Amusements, a traveling carnival.
He needed advice. Dreamland was paying $300 a week—no
matter how many hours José and his coworkers worked. They
were setting up, tearing down, and operating rides seven days
a week. At night, they were sleeping in rundown trailers that
were infested with cockroaches. And Dreamland was forcing
the workers to stay on the jobsite: for days, they could not even
leave to buy food. José knew from his Committee trainings that
what Dreamland was doing was illegal. And he organized his
coworkers to speak out about and end the abuse. But doing so
came at a price. In Zacatecas, José had paid a steep recruitment
fee to get the carnival job—hundreds of dollars that would
have taken weeks of Dreamland wages to repay. In the end,
after he spoke with us, José decided to denounce Dreamland.
With CDM’s support, he participated in an investigation by the
New York Attorney General’s office, prompting an investigation
that would lead to a major settlement victory for José and his
coworkers.
But our work did not end with the Dreamland victory. Since
then, we have revealed and fought to end the systemic abuses
against H-2B workers laboring in the carnival and fair industry
in a four-year campaign called Fair Workers, Fair Wages.
I am especially moved by what we have achieved in the Fair
Workers, Fair Wages campaign in 2013. In February, the
American University Washington College of Law and CDM
published Taken for a Ride: Migrant Workers in the U.S. Fair
and Carnival Industry. The report documents the industry
abuses beginning in Mexico, where fair recruiters charge
workers fees just to get on their hiring lists, and then more fees
to get jobs in the United States. They continue in the United
States, where fairs pay flat weekly wages for 70-, 80-, and 90hour workweeks.
1
CDM IMPACT REPORT 2013
At the launch of the report, Don Leonardo Cortez, a Committee
leader, spoke powerfully about his experience in the fair—an
experience that is typical for H-2B workers in that industry.
He spoke of arriving in the United States with an unbearable
recruitment debt load and with an H-2B visa that bound him to
a single fair employer, worrying about his family members in
Zacatecas, who were waiting for him to send money home. But
he couldn’t. His employer forced him to hand over his visa and
his passport. After 17 days, the first paycheck came: $270 for 17
days of work. That day, Don Leonardo quit:
“It was really hard to come home to my family. I
was supposed to come back with money. I came
back with even more debt.”
A month later, Don Leonardo and I testified before the InterAmerican Commission on Human Rights. The Commissioners
frowned and listened attentively to Don Leonardo testify
about the human rights abuses he had endured as an H-2B
fair worker. After Don Leonardo finished his testimony, one
of the Commissioners sat forward, and turned to address the
United States government delegation. The Commissioner
spoke sharply, urging the United States government to
protect workers in the H-2 programs; the programs, she said,
encourage abuse because they leave workers who speak out
against rights violations vulnerable to retaliation.
On that count, CDM, the Legal Aid Society-Employment Law
Center in San Francisco, and two fair workers won a major
victory just a few weeks ago. A federal judge in the Northern
District of California ordered that the two workers could
proceed anonymously in Fair Labor Standards Act litigation
against Butler Amusements, the largest fair in the western
United States. In that case, we urged that the workers were
particularly vulnerable because of their status as H-2B fair
workers: that revealing their identities would expose them to
Migrant Defense Committee
member, Leonardo Cortéz,
speaks to reporters at the
National
Press
Club
in
Washington, DC. Leonardo spoke
on a panel about the abuses he
faced as an H-2B carnival worker.
PHOTO: SARAH FARR
severe threats to their safety and livelihoods. The order was
crucial for ensuring the workers’ safety as they pursue justice.
We are very grateful for your continued support. Thank you for
all that you do, and have a very happy and peaceful new year.
Through all of this, we have continued to refer Mexico-based
fair workers’ cases to private attorneys and to government
agencies, so that fair workers have access to justice. And
we have continued to advocate for H-2B fair workers’ rights
under the North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation
(NAALC), the labor side accord to the North American Free
Trade Agreement. More than two years ago, CDM, fair workers,
and our allies filed a petition through the NAALC complaint
mechanism, urging that the United States government has
failed to protect H-2B workers’ rights in the fair industry. A
year ago, the Mexican government sided with CDM and the
workers, calling on the United States to engage with it in
ministerial consultations—a formal process through which
the United States government must respond to our petition.
This year, we have met with high-level government officials in
the US Department of Labor and the Mexican Department of
Labor and Social Welfare and we have supported Committee
leaders, who submitted a formal letter urging that the two
governments engage in consultations. We expect to see the
results of the ministerial consultations in 2014.
In solidarity,
This report highlights some of the most impactful, moving
moments from our work in 2013. I hope you will read about
the courage and determination of the migrants who drive our
work. Please give generously: http://www.cdmigrante.org/
donate.
Rachel Micah-Jones
Executive Director
Centro de los Derechos del Migrante, Inc.
2
HOW WE WORK
In 2013, CDM’s work was driven by our mission to ensure
that the border is not a barrier to justice for migrants and
to improve the recruitment and employment conditions of
low-wage workers. CDM’s model for transnational justice is
unique and very effective: with a multilingual, binational,
and multicultural team in Mexico and the United States, CDM
stands with workers who are standing up for their rights along
the Mexico-United States migrant stream.
In the past eight years, we have established CDM as a
powerful, transnational agent of change through work in four
complementary program areas and in several groundbreaking
projects:
Adelina Vásquez Cedillo, CDM outreach
worker, distributes Know Your Rights
materials to a group of workers in Oaxaca,
Mexico.
PHOTO: REBECA RODRIGUEZ FLORES
OUTREACH, EDUCATION, AND
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
CDM meets with migrants in their home communities
in Mexico, educating them about their recruitment and
US employment rights. We build and sustain worker
leadership along the migrant stream through the
Migrant Defense Committee—an independent worker
leadership initiative with 80 migrant leaders who
educate and organize their communities in Mexico and
coworkers in the United States. By educating workers
and building and supporting migrant community
leaders, CDM helps prevent rights abuses and also
ensures that workers know how to defend their rights.
DIRECT REPRESENTATION
AND LITIGATION SUPPORT
INTAKE, EVALUATION,
AND REFERRAL
Workers who meet CDM staff on outreach in their communities
often turn to CDM for advice when they experience problems with
their employment in the United States. CDM interviews migrants,
evaluates their legal claims, and refers their cases through the
national networks CDM has developed with legal and social service
providers, unions, workers centers, and government agencies.
3
CDM represents workers in strategic, high-impact
litigation campaigns and has won legal victories that
have established important precedents to protect H-2
workers. CDM also provides legal and investigative
services for US-based law firms, solo practitioners,
government agencies, and non-profit organizations
with clients in Mexico to ensure that migrants have
access to justice. CDM travels to communities across
Mexico to advise workers of their right to opt in to class
action cases. CDM also facilitates transnational discovery
by obtaining documents, conducting depositions in
Mexico, and ensures that injured migrants can pursue
workers’ compensation by helping to obtain immigration
waivers for workers to attend legal hearings and medical
evaluations in the United States.
Brenda Andazola Acosta, CDM
outreach worker, leads a Know Your
Rights workshop in Hidalgo, Mexico.
POLICY ADVOCACY
JUSTICE IN RECRUITMENT
CDM ensures that policies reflect the voices and experiences
of migrants. We have investigated and documented systemic
abuses in the guestworker programs; we have supported
workers who have testified at congressional briefings and
before international organizations; and we have built crosssector, cross-visa coalitions to reform international labor
recruitment. Our work has been cited in administrative policies
that protect migrants and is reflected in several immigration
reform bills.
The Justice in Recruitment project is a groundbreaking
initiative to end abuse in international labor recruitment.
For four years, CDM has documented how labor recruitment
works, particularly in the H-2 program, through extensive
worker surveys and public information research. We are
recognized internationally as experts on international labor
recruitment. In February, we published Recruitment Revealed:
Fundamental Flaws in the H-2 Temporary Worker Program and
Recommendations for Change, a report that recommends
concrete policy solutions to end recruitment abuse.
MIGRANT WOMEN’S
PROJECT (ProMuMi)
Migrant Defense Committee
leader and H-2B worker, Adarely
Ponce, relates her experience
as a victim of recruitment fraud
during the launch of Recruitment
Revealed.
PHOTO: ELIZABETH MAULDIN
Through the binational Migrant Women’s
Project (ProMuMi), CDM engages with women,
educating them about their US workplace
rights, developing their leadership skills,
and facilitating opportunities for ProMuMi
leaders to shape US policy. Women in
ProMuMi have testified about fundamental
flaws in the labor recruitment system and
guestworker employment system, and have
successfully advocated for reforms. CDM is also
a founding member of the Alianza Nacional
de Campesinas, the first national farmworker
women’s organization. Alianza has been a force
for change in the 2013 immigration reform
debate, ensuring that the experiences of
women inform policy proposals.
4
OUTREACH, EDUCATION, AND LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
EMPOWERING MIGRANT WORKERS
PREVENTING FRAUD THROUGH
OUTREACH AND EDUCATION
RIGHTS EDUCATION
CDM conducts participatory educational workshops with
migrant workers in major migrant sending areas in Mexico.
Through Know-Your-Rights trainings, migrants are equipped
with vital information about how to defend their rights before
they depart for the United States in an environment in which
they feel comfortable speaking with advocates.
The story of Antonio* reveals the power of community-based
education and outreach. For years, Antonio migrated to the
United States to work in landscaping. Antonio learned about
CDM after he joined a class action case to defend his right
to the minimum wage. In July, Antonio called CDM's office.
A man had come to his community, offering H-2B visas for
work in a tobacco factory. The man claimed to be representing one of the largest tobacco companies in the world. He
told workers that they would earn $18 an hour. Although
the job sounded promising, Antonio was concerned. The recruiter told Antonio and his coworkers that they would have
to pay a substantial recruitment fee to get on the hiring list.
After Antonio shared this information with CDM, CDM staff
consulted public records and found nothing that corroborated the recruiters promises. But because public records are
not complete or timely, CDM knew that the tobacco company may be recruiting for H-2B jobs, even if the information
about those jobs was not publicly available. CDM called the
tobacco company. The tobacco company said that it was not
recruiting and had never worked with the recruiter. CDM, in
turn, called Antonio, who shared this information with his
community. Thanks to Antonio, 22 workers who had been
prepared to pay the recruitment fee, knew that the recruiters'
promises were not real.
45 Know Your Rights workshops
36 communities
8 Mexican states
Women
317
Men
518
835
MIGRANTS
REACHED
San Luís Potosí
5
Zacatecas
2
5
1
Guanajuato
WORKSHOPS
BY STATE
Veracruz
1
4
Oaxaca
6
Tabasco
State of Mexico
5
Hidalgo
19
MIGRANT DEFENSE COMMITTEE
The Migrant Defense Committee, a group of migrants, exmigrants, and their family members, organizes and empowers
migrant workers to defend their rights and educate their
coworkers. Committee leaders train other migrants about
labor rights, building a culture of informed migrants who
protect workers’ rights all along the migrant stream.
MIGRANT DEFENSE
COMMITTEE MEMBERSHIP
The Migrant Defense Committee has played a fundamental
role in the advancement of migrant workers’ rights in their
communities. Committee leaders have positioned themselves
as points of reference in their communities, providing
information about labor rights and recruitment to fellow
community members and connecting workers to CDM.
Committee leaders have helped to prevent recruitment abuses
by informing workers about potential recruitment fraud
schemes and advising workers about their rights.
38
9
5
3
5
7
2
5
STRENGTHENING AND SUSTAINING
MIGRANT LEADERSHIP TO ENSURE THAT POLICIES
REFLECT MIGRANTS’ VOICES AND EXPERIENCES
In 2013, CDM has strengthened and sustained
Migrant Defense Committee leaders’ capacity
to advocate for just recruitment, immigration,
and labor policies. Committee leaders have
spoken about the recruitment and employment
experiences, as well as flaws in the H-2
guestworker programs, in several major public
events, including congressional briefings, press
conferences, report launches, and hearings, as
well as strategic meetings with congressional
staffers and interviews with major media outlets.
To build the Migrant Defense Committee’s
political advocacy capacity, Committee leaders
who had participated in hearings, briefings,
and press conferences in 2013 shared their
experiences with the rest of the Committee at
the Committee’s National Meeting in the fall of
2013. The Committee also established a concrete
mechanism through which the Committee can
make collective decisions about how to advocate
for policy changes.
A Migrant Defense Committee leader listens to
CDM outreach worker, Adelina Vásquez Cedillo,
during a training session in Oaxaca.
PHOTO: REBECA RODRIGUEZ FLORES
6
INTAKE, EVALUATION, AND REFERRAL SERVICES
DEFENDING MIGRANT RIGHTS
ACCESS TO JUSTICE FOR WORKERS AND THEIR FAMILIES
In the late summer of 2010, Claudia Hernandez* received an
urgent call from her husband’s coworker. The coworker told
her that Hector*, Claudia’s husband, had been injured on the
job. A gas tank had exploded and Hector had been hit.
CDM’s years of advocacy resulted in a tremendous victory: a
settlement for Claudia that would ensure that Claudia and
Hector’s son could continue his education despite his father’s
tragic death.
The coworker didn’t know how badly Hector had been hurt. He
told Claudia the name of the hospital where Hector had been
sent in an ambulance. Claudia called the hospital. An attendant
said that Hector had been airlifted to another hospital several
hours away. Hector had been badly burned and had multiple
injuries.
Several states have workers compensation rules and practices
that require petitioners to appear in court or require a medical
evaluation by a physician licensed in the state. These “inpresence” requirements are an extraordinary barrier to justice
for migrants—many of whom do not have tourist visas that
would allow them to travel to the United States for hearings
and medical evaluations. Claudia’s case is typical: had she not
attended the hearing, her lawyers believe that she would not
have been able to pursue her claim. Over the past eight years,
CDM has developed humanitarian parole and immigration
waiver advocacy—engaging with governments on both sides
of the border to ensure that injured workers and their family
members have access to justice.
Claudia had not seen Hector for five years since he migrated to
work in the United States. She took a bus to a US border entry
point. She had no visa. But she told the border agent about
her husband—about how Hector had been working in the
United States, and sending money back to Claudia and their
son, and about how Hector had been burned at work and was
in a hospital—just a few hours away from the border. Claudia
asked for a visa so that she could see Hector. But the border
agent told her no.
Claudia was devastated. She returned to the family’s home.
Four days later, Hector’s sisters, who had arrived at the intensive
care unit the same day that Claudia was denied a visa, decided
to end life support. Claudia would later hear from them that
Hector’s brain injuries had been so traumatic that he could not
communicate in his last days.
Claudia called CDM. She shared Hector’s story and asked if
there was anything she could do for their son. CDM connected
Claudia with a law firm in the state where Hector had been
injured. The firm agreed to evaluate the case, but the attorney
said he would need CDM’s help. Claudia would need to send
several official documents and she would likely need to attend
a hearing in the United States. The firm eventually took the
case and sued Hector’s employer for his injuries and death.
CDM helped Claudia gather documents for the case and kept
her informed about the litigation. In 2012, when Claudia needed
to appear for a hearing in the United States, CDM advocated
with Mexican Foreign Ministry to help her. The Foreign Ministry
in turn requested that the United States government admit
Claudia to the United States under a special permission called
humanitarian parole. Humanitarian parole is rarely authorized.
It is discretionary and only allows a foreigner to enter the
United States temporarily for a compelling emergency. But
with CDM’s support, the government granted humanitarian
parole for Claudia to attend the hearings. In November 2013,
7
CLAIMS DEFENDED IN 2013: 265
DISCRIMINATION (1%)
BENEFITS (2%)
RETALIATION (2%)
HEALTH & SAFETY (3%)
BREACH OF CONTRACT (4%)
TAX (6%)
RECRUITMENT (9%)
WORKERS’ COMPENSATION (10%)
OTHER (11%)
IMMIGRATION (16%)
WAGE & HOUR (37%)
LITIGATION SUPPORT AND DIRECT REPRESENTATION
TRANSNATIONAL SETTLEMENT DISTRIBUTION
Even when migrants overcome the border as a barrier to justice
and win settlements, it is difficult and often expensive for their
attorneys in the United States to transfer their settlement
money to Mexico. In 2009, CDM negotiated a transnational
settlement distribution partnership with BANSEFI, a national
bank backed by the Mexican government that has branches in
rural areas of Mexico.
CDM’s BANSEFI partnership ensures that migrants in rural
areas, migrants without bank accounts, and their advocates in
the United States have a low-cost, efficient, and safe method
to distribute settlements. Since we negotiated the contract in
2009, CDM has facilitated the transfer of more than 17 million
Mexican pesos (approximately $1.365 million US dollars). By the
third quarter of 2013, CDM had facilitated the transfer of more
than 2.7 million pesos (about USD$219,000) from settlement
victories in the United States to workers across Mexico.
JAN-SEP 2013:
$210,725 USD
($2,733,110.74 MXN)
TOTAL SINCE 2009:
$1,315,625 USD
($17,063,759.73 MXN)
FAIR WORKERS, FAIR WAGES: INNOVATIVE ANTI-RETALIATION
STRATEGIES AND ALTERNATIVES TO LITIGATION
Every year, more than three thousand H-2B workers are
recruited from one city in Veracruz to work in the traveling
fair industry in the United States; abuses in the industry are
systemic and often go unchecked. H-2B fair workers who
defend their rights are particularly vulnerable to retaliation
and threats because their visas bind them to the employer
who sponsors them.
In July, as a part of our ongoing Fair Workers, Fair Wages
campaign—aimed at holding fair employers and recruiters
accountable and improving conditions along the migrant
stream, CDM and the Legal Aid Society-Employment Law
Center (LAS-ELC) in San Francisco filed a complaint against
Butler Amusements, the largest fair employer in the western
United States. To prevent retaliation, CDM and the LAS-ELC
filed the complaint anonymously. The plaintiffs were paid
less than $400 for 70 or more hours of work each week. In the
fall, we filed a motion urging that the court should allow the
plaintiffs to proceed anonymously throughout the litigation.
CDM marshaled facts about past retaliation and the political
and economic power of the recruiters in the fair workers’
community to demonstrate the particular vulnerabilities the
plaintiffs face. In November, CDM and LAS-ELC celebrated an
important victory when Judge White of the Northern District
of California ordered that the fair workers could proceed
anonymously.
CDM has also used alternative strategies to traditional
litigation on behalf of fair workers. In 2011, CDM, former H-2B
fair workers, and our allies filed a petition under the North
American Agreement on Labor Cooperation (NAALC), the
labor side accord to the North American Free Trade Agreement.
This year, the United States government began engaging in
formal consultations with the Mexican government about
the unchecked abuses in the H-2 program—particularly
against fair workers. The consultations were triggered after
the Mexican government responded favorably to our petition
last December. Although there are no individual remedies for
the fair workers under the NAALC petition process, the process
enables the fair workers and CDM to hold the US government
accountable for its failure to guarantee the recruitment and
employment rights of H-2B workers.
8
POLICY ADVOCACY
AMPLIFYING MIGRANT VOICES
INTERNATIONAL LABOR RECRUITMENT WORKING GROUP:
ADVOCACY THAT CROSSES VISAS, SECTORS, AND BORDERS
CDM has built and sustained a broad and influential coalition of
unions, worker and anti-trafficking advocates, and researchers
in the International Labor Recruitment Working Group
(ILRWG). In 2013, after two years of strategic groundwork,
CDM and the ILRWG put recruitment on the immigration
reform agenda.
must guarantee the eight recruitment principles. All eight
principles are reflected in the Senate immigration bill and
several other legislative proposals. Under CDM’s leadership,
the ILRWG is generating political momentum for recruitment
reform to end abuse and protect migrant workers in
international labor recruitment.
In The American Dream Up for Sale: A Blueprint for Ending
International Labor Recruitment Abuse, CDM and the ILRWG
revealed that recruitment abuses are widespread and common
across visa categories and labor sectors. We proposed eight
core principles that should protect all internationally recruited
workers—basic principles including:
In February, in conjunction with the American Dream Up for
Sale launch, CDM and the ILRWG convened Current Abuses
of Internationally Recruited Workers and Recommendations for
Change, a congressional briefing, which was well attended by
staffers from both sides of the aisle. At the briefing, CDM staff,
Migrant Defense Committee Leader Martín Dávila, CDM Board
Secretary Ana Avendaño, and our allies spoke about how to
reform recruitment comprehensively to end abuse against
workers. In 2013, the work of the ILRWG was cited in major
newspapers, including The New York Times.
• freedom from discrimination and retaliation
• right to know the process and their rights
• freedom from economic coercion
• right to receive contract with fair terms and give
informed consent
• accountability of the employer
• freedom of movement while working in the U.S.
• freedom of association and collective bargaining with
labor unions and organizations
• access to justice
Throughout 2013, CDM and the ILRWG educated congressional
staffers about recruitment abuse, advocating that legislation
CDM has also expanded and deepened the work of the
ILRWG, engaging with workers and new allies from across
borders. In the spring, CDM convened the first meeting of
the Cross-Sector Workers’ Committee, bringing workers from
across industries and visa categories together to speak about
how workers can build power to end recruitment abuse. We
have also engaged with allies working across the globe on
international labor recruitment. As part of our delegation
to the United Nations High-Level Dialogue on International
Migration and Development in the fall, CDM engaged with civil
society organizations as a first step towards developing a set of
global principles and a global coalition on recruitment reform.
Rachel Micah-Jones, CDM Executive Director, and
Martín Dávila, Migrant Defense Committee leader,
speak on a panel about the conditions faced by
internationally recruited workers at a briefing
before Congress in Washington, D.C.
9
PHOTO: ELIZABETH MAULDIN
SHARING RECRUITMENT KNOWLEDGE WITH
GOVERNMENT AGENCIES TO IMPROVE
THE PROTECTION AND DEFENSE OF MIGRANTS
CDM has advocated extensively with the United States and
Mexican governments to make recruitment information
public and easily accessible. In 2013, the Mexican Secretary
of Labor and Public Welfare and the Mexican Foreign Ministry
approached CDM, seeking our expertise on recruitment as
the two agencies develop a recruitment fraud prevention
campaign. CDM worked with a small coalition of allies to
develop a set of recommendations for the campaign—one
of the principle points we advanced was that recruitment
information must be consistently collected and must be made
public. A
dditionally, CDM educated all of the protection staff from
the Mexican Foreign Ministry and staff from the Guatemalan
Secretary of Labor and Foreign Ministry, about H-2 workers’
rights in international labor recruitment and employment
in the H-2 programs. CDM will continue to collaborate with
both agencies in 2014, when we expect that the Mexican
government’s fraud prevention campaign will be launched.
CDM has also advocated with the US Department of Labor, the
US Department of Homeland Security, and the US Department
of State to make recruitment information public through
administrative discretion and policy changes.
In the fall, the US Government Accountability Office (GAO),
an independent, investigative arm of the US Congress,
contacted CDM about a GAO investigation on international
labor recruitment. As part of the investigation, which was
mandated by Congress in the spring 2013 Trafficking Victims
Protection Reauthorization Act, the GAO traveled to Mexico to
investigate recruitment for the H-2 programs. CDM organized
a roundtable discussion about conditions recruitment in
Mexico with GAO researchers and several Mexican NGOs,
including FUNDAR Centro de Análisis e Investigación, Proyecto
de Derechos Económicos, Sociales y Culturales, A.C. (ProDESC),
and El Proyecto Jornaleros SAFE. CDM also organized and
accompanied the GAO on a trip to Puebla, where GAO
investigators met with Comité leaders who are former H-2B fair
and carnival workers from Veracruz, and former H-2B forestry
workers from Puebla.
In 2013, Centro de los Derechos del Migrante, Inc. published three high-impact policy reports:
• Recruitment Revealed: Fundamental Flaws in the H-2 Temporary Worker Program and Recommendations for Change,a
report by CDM.
• The American Dream Up for Sale: A Blueprint for Ending International Labor Recruitment Abuse, a report by CDM and the
International Labor Recruitment Working Group, revealing the pervasive labor and human rights abuses against internationally recruited workers across visa categories.
• Taken for a Ride: Migrant Workers in the U.S. Fair and Carnival Industry, co-authored with the American University Washington College of Law Immigrant Justice Clinic, sheds light on the widespread violations that take place within the fair and
carnival industry.
10
POLICY ADVOCACY
INTER-AMERICAN COMMISSION
ON HUMAN RIGHTS: ENDING
IMPUNITY IN THE H-2 PROGRAMS
UN HIGH-LEVEL DIALOGUE ON
INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION
AND DEVELOPMENT
In March, CDM Executive Director Rachel Micah-Jones and
Migrant Defense Committee Leader Leonardo Cortéz testified
before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights with
law students from the University of Pennsylvania’s Transnational
Legal Clinic, Sarah Paoletti, CDM’s Board President, and Ana
Avendaño, CDM’s Board Secretary. Don Cortéz and described the
human rights violations that he suffered in international labor
recruitment and US employment in the traveling fair industry.
Rachel Micah-Jones and the other panelists testified that the
structure of the H-2 guestworker programs is deeply flawed and
that H-2 policies prevent workers from accessing justice and
bind workers to a single US employer, which exposes workers
to severe retaliation for speaking out about abuses on the job.
They also urged that the US government has failed to enforce
the policies and laws that do protect H-2 workers, including
policies that make recruitment fees illegal and antidiscrimination
laws. The Commissioners were very concerned about how the
H-2 programs’ structural flaws and the lack of enforcement. The
IACHR will publish an official report about its findings.
In October, CDM attended the migrants’ labor rights and
recruitment roundtables of the UN High-Level Dialogue on
International Migration and Development. CDM’s Executive
Director Rachel Micah-Jones was slated to speak at the
recruitment roundtable, but was not given floor time due to
time constraints. Micah-Jones submitted her prepared remarks
to the United Nations, which will be included in the official
record of the High-Level Dialogue. At the shadow People’s
Global Action on Migration, Development, and Human Rights,
CDM led educational workshops and built relationships
with organizations that are working on recruitment in other
regions of the world. CDM and those organizations launched
the Global Committee of the International Labor Recruitment
Working Group. Additionally, CDM met with the United States
and Mexican Permanent Missions to the United Nations,
and spoke about the importance of addressing recruitment
abuses as a transnationally and comprehensively.
H-2B LITIGATION TIMELINE
Since 2009, CDM and allies have represented workers and
worker organizations in the case Comité de Apoyo a los
Trabajadores Agrícolas (CATA), et al. v. Solis, et al., (now Comité
de Apoyo a los Trabajadores Agrícolas, et al. v. Perez, et. al.), a
federal lawsuit against the Department of Labor challenging
H-2B visa program regulations that were issued by the
Bush Administration at the end of his administration. The
MARCH 21, 2013
Congress passes a continuing resolution
that includes the continued defunding
of the 2011 prevailing wage rule.
MARCH 21, 2013
The CATA court invalidates DOL’s
continued use of the illegal wage
methodology. The CATA court
gives DOL 30 days to promulgate
a new rule.
2013
11
regulations included a wage calculation that reduced wages
for H-2B workers below market rates. One of the plaintiffs in
this case, Salvador Martinez Barrera, is a community leader and
Migrant Defense Committee leader. His brave decision to speak
out against the unfair and unjust wage regulations has made
a significant difference in the lives of thousands of migrant
workers with H-2B visas and their families. In the spring, CDM
APRIL 1, 2013
4.1.2013 The Eleventh Circuit affirms the federal district
court in Florida and upholds the nationwide preliminary
injunction of the comprehensive rule. The case is sent back
to the district court for a hearing on the merits.
APRIL 24, 2013
DOL issues an interim final rule that creates a new
wage structure for the H-2B program. As DOL issues
notices of the new wage to employers, employers
begin to appeal the new wage determinations.
Many employers do not pay the higher wages.
MAY 31, 2013
Oral argument takes
place in the Third
Circuit in the Louisiana
Forestry case.
ADVOCACY WITH THE US DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
TO ENGAGE IN CONSTRUCTIVE CONSULTATIONS WITH
THE MEXICAN GOVERNMENT UNDER THE NAALC
CDM and the Migrant Defense Committee have continued to advocate with the US Department of Labor to ensure that the Mexican and United States governments engage in constructive consultations in
response to the petition CDM, Committee Leaders, and our allies filed under the North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation, the labor side accord to the North American Free Trade Agreement. The
Migrant Defense Committee submitted a formal letter to the US Department of Labor in the fall. CDM
and allies then met with Gregory Schoepfle, the Director of the Department of Labor’s Office of Trade
and Labor Affairs. At that meeting, we urged Mr. Schoepfle address the serious complaints about migrant worker abuse in the H-2 program. This is just one part of the fight for Justice Across Borders—using
newer tools, like labor side accords, creatively, to enforce workers’ rights.
PHOTO: BRENDA ANDAZOLA ACOSTA
celebrated a major victory when a federal court ordered the Department of Labor
to issue a new rule that would not reduce H-2B workers’ wages below market rates.
In December, CDM and our allies filed ed a class action lawsuit in federal court
in Pennsylvania today against the Department of Labor to ensure that migrant
workers receive fair payment of wages. This past spring, DOL began to notify
employers that they were required to pay market rate wages to workers with H-2B
visas. DOL recently reversed its policy and decided that employers are allowed
to pay migrant workers with H-2B visas wages below the market value for work
performed in 2013. The lawsuit challenges this abrupt change in policy which
affects more than 50,000 workers who came to the U.S. on H-2B visas to be
employed in jobs in landscaping, construction, and other industries.
SUMMER 2013
Employers continue to appeal
after receiving notifications to
pay higher wages. While the
appeals are pending, the DOL
quits requiring employers to pay
higher wages.
AUGUST 23, 2013
CDM and allies file a motion
in CATA to prevent the DOL
from suspending employers’
requirements to pay a higher
wage after the interim final rule
was issued.
OCTOBER 16, 2013
Congress passes a continuing
resolution to fund the government until
January 15, 2014. The CR continues to
defund the 2011 prevailing wage rule.
SEPTEMBER 9, 2013
Employers in Bayou II file a motion for
summary judgment in the Florida district
court, claiming that the case is decided
as a matter of law and the court should
decide in the employers’ favor. DOL
opposes the motion.
12
MIGRANT WOMEN’S PROJECT (PROMUMI)
STANDING WITH WOMEN
ON THE FRONT LINES
In October, Adarely Ponce, a Migrant Defense Committee
and Migrant Women’s Project (ProMuMi) leader, went to
Capital Hill. Adarely, who is in her early thirties, has migrated
nine times in the past nine years. She has packed chocolate
and picked crabmeat. In October, Adarely traveled from her
mountainous hometown in central Hidalgo for a guestworker
women’s delegation that CDM organized in Washington. She
joined CDM staff, allies, and women from the Philippines and
Ecuador.
As Adarely spoke with Congressional staff members and
journalists about the broken H-2 guestworker program, she
urged that policymakers address the particular abuses that
women confront in the program:
“Migrant women are commonly excluded and
made invisible in debates about immigration.
Even if women represent a minority, we also
migrate to work.”
Adarely spoke of the labor recruiter who came to her town,
where jobs are few, promising solid wages for a season of
apple picking in New York. She paid a recruitment fee to get
on his hiring list, and then another fee to stay on it. Weeks later,
she heard that there were no jobs. And the money Adarely
had paid to get on the list—about three months’ wages in
Hidalgo—was gone. Adarely spoke of the recruitment debt,
of low wages, and of working long hours in isolation on the
lonely coast of Louisiana.
From recruitment in Mexico to workplaces in the United States,
women migrants confront severe forms of discrimination.
Labor recruiters hire women to fill jobs at the bottom of
the labor market and at lower rates of pay than their male
coworkers. Women are pushed into work sectors where they
are isolated from medical, social, and legal services, and in the
case of careworkers, isolated from other workers. Women are
sexual harassed, raped, and assaulted on the job. Many remain
silent, fearing that their employer or recruiter will retaliate and
that they will lose their job and their immigration status for
speaking out.
For temporary guestworkers, the threat is serious: their visa
ties them to a single employer and if they are fired, they lose
their right to remain in the United States.
Walking with Elisa Tovar, another ProMuMi and Workers’
13
Adarely Ponce, a member of the Migrant Defense
Committee, speaks with reporters in Washington,
D.C. while participating in the guestworker
women’s delegation.
PHOTO: SARAH REMPEL
Committee leader, in her hometown in San Luis Potosi, one
sees the transformative power of ProMuMi. Over a season of
cyclical migration, Elisa will gather people together for knowyour-rights workshops; testify about the broken guestworker
system before US policymakers; keep tabs on the local
recruiter and speak out against illegal recruitment fees; share
information about employment discrimination with women
who will be migrating that season; join other women leaders
for development workshops; and refer injured, harassed, and
ALIANZA NACIONAL DE CAMPESINAS/
THE NATIONAL FARMWORKER WOMEN’S ALLIANCE
CDM is a founding member of Alianza/The National Farmworker Women’s Alliance, the first coalition
of farmworker women and farmworkers’ family members dedicated to promoting farmworker
women’s leadership in a bi-national movement. On February 14, as an Alianza member, CDM
participated in One Billion Rising, an international campaign aimed at ending violence against
women. As part of the campaign, several women leaders of the Migrant Defense Committee and
ProMuMi designed posters and bandanas to bring attention to violence against women.
In 2013, CDM met with representatives of the U.S. federal government, including White House staff,
the U.S. DOL, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and other agencies to share migrant
and immigrant women’s concerns. In April 2013, CDM and Migrant Defense Committee leaders
joined a coalition of more than sixty farmworker women leaders and advocates for an Alianza
delegation to educate members of Congress about family separation, discrimination against
internationally recruited women workers, and anti-immigrant sentiment in the United States.
PHOTO: MIGRANT DEFENSE COMMITTEE
abused workers to CDM to get access to US legal services.
On the weekends, she talks with family members who are
working in the crab industry on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, and
refers a woman with a tax issue to CDM for advice. This vibrant,
courageous community leader and organizer was the woman
who once kept her head down, determined to keep her job.
new labor and immigrant rights movement—a movement
that is driven by young people, by women, and by immigrant
and migrant workers. And CDM is standing with women on
the frontlines through ProMuMi, building and sustaining a
binational network of women leaders who are exposing and
ending abuse and discrimination against women along the
Mexico-United States migrant stream.
Workers like Adarely and Elisa are on the frontlines of the
14
JUSTICE IN RECRUITMENT
EXPOSING AND ADDRESSING
RECRUITMENT ABUSE
MAKING LABOR RECRUITMENT TRANSPARENT,
HOLDING GOVERNMENTS ACCOUNTABLE
For several years, in an effort to understand how international
labor recruitment works, to make recruitment more
transparent, and to hold governments accountable for their
failure to protect the rights of migrants in international labor
recruitment, CDM has requested recruitment data and facts
under the public information laws in Mexico and the United
States.
In Mexico, CDM collaborates with Fundar, Center for Research
and Analysis, a Mexican non-governmental organization
that focuses on transparency and on public participation
in decision-making and democracy, to request recruitment
information through the Federal Institute for Access to Public
Information (IFAI). In the United States, CDM collaborates
with clinical students in the Immigrant Justice Clinic at the
American University Washington College of Law to request
similar information under the Freedom of Information
Act (FOIA). Our transparency campaign has revealed that
although governments collect substantial information about
international labor recruiters, they reveal very little information
to the public. But neither the US or Mexican government has
a comprehensive, publicly available, and easily accessible
database on international labor recruiters. Instead, to obtain
this information, advocates must use the lengthy—and, at
times, very expensive—IFAI and FOIA processes to obtain basic
information about who is recruiting, where they recruit, and
for which industries. Often, these processes are not a good
option—especially when migrants are relying on advocates
to obtain the information quickly so that they can make an
informed recruitment decision.
Our work has also shown that access to verifiable information
about international labor recruiters helps workers prevent
abuses along the migrant stream. Simply knowing that a
recruiter is not connected with a particular US employer helps
workers avoid recruitment fraud.
TECHNOLOGY FOR POPULAR EDUCATION AND MAPPING
INTERNATIONAL LABOR RECRUITMENT
In 2013, CDM began to build a second-generation recruitment
map, modeled on Trip Advisor. Like Trip Advisor, the workerfriendly map will use migrant user-generated reviews of
international labor recruiters and employers. It will enable
workers to compare and evaluate potential recruiters and
employers, making recruitment more transparent, and holding
employers and recruiters accountable. Migrants will use the
site to make informed decisions about job offers in the United
States. The site will also provide popular education tools and
legal referral services for workers to protect their rights. It will
transform recruitment by empowering workers to recognize
rights violations and prevent abuse.
To develop this tool, CDM JIR staff accompanied outreach staff
on several trips. CDM conducted focus group meetings with
15
Migrant Defense Committee leaders to understand how they
use internet-based technology and what information would
be most valuable for them to have access to. CDM used the
findings from the focus group meetings to develop the map
with information transparency and geography experts. CDM
expects that the second-generation map will launch in 2014.
Additionally, in November, CDM and two programmers won the
Mexico City Americas Datafest Hackathon after they designed
Pulso ONG (NGO Pulse), an SMS survey platform that could be
used to collect information on international labor recruitment
efficiently and effectively from a large base of migrant workers.
DOCUMENTING THE IMPACT
OF RECRUITMENT ON FAMILIES
In the fall, CDM launched the Family Impact Study, a surveybased research project that will document the impact of
international labor recruitment on families. CDM has already
surveyed several Migrant Defense Committee leaders using
the family impact questions and expects to survey a total of
100 migrants and migrant family members over the next
several months.
16
THANK YOU
A special thank you to the Allies for
Migrant Justice who sustain our work.
DONORS & ALLIES FOR MIGRANT JUSTICE
Cori Alfonso-Yoder & Henry Yoder
Mark Aaronson & Margie Gelb
Carolyn & Tom Albright
Liz Albright
Paul Almeida
Jameel Alsalam & Joanna Bloomfield
Fred & Muffie Alvarez
Hope Amezquita
William Audet & Irene Audet-Martínez
Jessica Austin
Ana Avendaño
Alan Badalamenti
David Balabanian
Ann Bastian
Mary Bauer
Sheila Bedi
Genna Beier
Carroll Ann Bennett
Iris Bennett
Jessica Bentley
Bernie Bergesen III
Caroline Bettinger-Lopez
Sarah Biehl
Matthew Blumin
David Borgen
Jacqueline Bouchard
Hon. Angela Bradstreet
Jeff & Kathy Bragg
Libby Brennan
Christine Bronson
Amy Brown
Rhonda Brownstein
Kelley Bruner
Charlotte Burchard & Bahman Sheikhol-Eslami
Veronica Bustabad
Amanda Butler
Alejandro Caffarelli
Robert Calhoun
Brigitte Call
Carol Cantwell
Ann Capps Webb
Wendy Carter
Lynn Chalfoun
Renee Chamley
Lin Chan
Joice Chang
Doris Cheng
Kalisha Chorba
Toby Chow
17
Eric Christiansen
Janie Chuang
Stan & Jan Claassen
Nanci Clarence
Elsa Clausen
Gwendolyn Clemens
Julia Coburn
Samuel Cogen
Iris Coloma-Gaines
Christina Corbaci
Jamie Crook
Gay Crosthwait Grunfeld
Jennifer Curran
Jason Danklefsen
Linda Dardarian
Micaela Davis
William Davis
Nancy Davis & Donna Hitchens
Uriel De La O
Ana DeFrates
Allison & Theo Denny
Scott Derome
Kristin Donovan
Carrie Driscoll
Angeline Echeverría
Dorothy Ehrlich
Sebastian Ellefson
April Elliott
Joshua Elmore
Sarah D’Ann Ermis
Amy Eskin
Anyu Fang
Barbara Fanning
Claire & Andrew Farr
Pete & Maureen Farr
Rebecca Farr
Adam Fleming
Darci Franquelli
Jessica Fry
Samantha Fuchs
Nicole Gamble
Ruby Garcia
Crisforo Garza
Tory Gavito
Meleah Geertsma
Shayna Gelender
Silvia Giagnoni
Matthew Ginsburg
Mel & Bonnie Goldman
Jesigine Gonzales
Evan Goodman
Jennifer Gordon
Goughs
Scott Graham
Kate Griffith
Scott Grimes
Julian Gross
Rikki & Norton Grubb
Carlos & Katie Guevara
Hiba Hafiz
Jesse Halvorsen
Jeremy Hammond
Joan Harrington
Carol Harris
Mathew Hayes
Jason & Mojdeh Heavner
Irma Herrera
Louis & Marguerite Hiken
Nancy Hoffman
Janice Hudson
Ibrahim Ibrahim
Uchenna Itam
Mark Jantzen
Joseph Jaramillo
Mark Jeanblanc & Sarah Heinrich
Josh Jeter
Crystal Johnson
Ingrid Johnson
Kevin Johnson
Rosalie Jones
Sara Jones
Katy June-Friesen & Tom Lemole
The Jurcevich Family
Ed Kallgren
Kelly Karcher
Noah & Malaya Karpovich
Bill & Susan Karpovich
Sarah Karpovich
Sadie Katz
Bergen Kay
John & Tina Keker
Keker & Van Nest, LLP
Mateya Kelley
Mindy Kelley
Elizabeth Kennedy & Nicholas Vitek
Elizabeth Keyes
Charlene Kiesselbach
Yoonjee Kim
Carol M. Kingsley
Alexandra The Kirkland Ellis Foundation
Kolod
Karen Jo Koonan
Jon La Grace
Leslie Lai
Ellen Lake
Michelle Lapointe
Michael Laurence
Jenny Lee
Michael Lee
Emily Levenson
Marcia Levy
Ayala Lewis
Cynthia & Tim Lewis
Danielle Lipow
David Londono
Krystal Lopilato & Reid Mullen
Patty & Doug Love
Weston Love
Amy Lowe
Adilina Malave
Luis Marentes
Donald Marritz
Nicholas Marritz
Diane Martinez
Enrique Martinez
Elizabeth Mauldin
Jeri & Bill Mauldin
William & Abigail Mauldin
Steve Mayer
Mike McGuire
Kevin Meadowcroft
Sharon Meadows
Robert Mealey & Alexandra Rosenblatt
Brienne Miller
Miller Family
Rick Mines
Jacques Miniane
Roxana Mondragon
Celeste Monforton
Aaron Joseph Morgan
Allen & Hagit Morgan
Diane & Harold Morgan
Steve Morgan
Kathleen Morris
Hanes Motsinger
Nigah Mughal
Mark Muth
Mike & Jeanette Muth
SofIA Narvaez-Gete
Nathaniel Norton
Elizabeth O’Connor
Lucero Ortiz
Carson Osberg
Sarah Paoletti
Chandani Patel
Geoffrey Peng
Dan Perry
Philemond Family
Phillips Family
James Ramey & Daniela Michel
Dru Ramey & Marvin Stender
Luisa Ramírez
Mónica Ramírez
Swati Rawani
Kiersten Regelin
Jennifer Reisch & Javier Amaro Mujica
Amanda & Clarence Rempel
Liz Rempel
Sarah Rempel & Cassidy Claassen
Hon. Louise Renne
Brett Reynolds
Cynthia Rice
Sarah Rich
Kayla Rivera
Chloe Roddick
Sanford Rosen
Michael Rosenband
Fran Rossi Szpylczyn
Jessica Rubin-Wills
Susan Rutberg
Caitlin Ryland
Katie Sale
Sara & Jamie Sale
Rebecca Salsbury
Suzanne & Stuart Salsbury
Belen Sanchez
Anne Schaufele
Kay & John Schmidt
Jeff Schneider
Anna Scholin
Emily Schweninger
Craig Segall
Evan & Brenda Serpick
Marci Seville
Rosette Sewali
Sarah and Jerson Sexton
Zafar Shah & Zunera Gilani
Liuba Shapiro
Mark Shields
Christina Shih & Tom Bria
Amelia Showalter
Linda Singer
Nora Singley
Annie Smith
Phillip Smith
Holly Snow
Christy Sobolik
Chelsea Souter
Jill Sowards Kyle Sproul & David Nitzschke
Roberta Steele
Justin Steil
Donald Steinhice
Maureen Sweeney
Ed Takashima
Miriam Tauber & Zack Rubenstein
Allysa Terry
Amy Thompson
Jennifer Tian
Patricia Tighe
Michael C. Tobriner & Stephanie W.
Wildman
Jennifer Torres
John N. Tye
Charles Underwood
Mia Unger
Vandelay Industries
Andrea Vaughn
Virginia Villegas & Daniel Zurita
Joe & Michelle Vitiello
Greg Voth & Ellen Gilson Voth
Arthur Wachtel
Robin Waldroup
Amy Webb
Kathy & Jon Weber
Rebecca Weber & Arkaitz Ruiz
Cliff Weingus
Marley Weiss
Jesse Weisz
Jordan Wells
Katy Welter
James & Faith Wenger
Donald Williams
Adrienne Williams-Conover
Amanda Wilson
Nathan & Patrice Wilson
Barry Winograd
Sarah Wright & Seth Schreiberg
Noah Zatz
Kirsten Zerger
Megan Zlatos
18
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
ADVISORY BOARD
Ana Avendaño
Alejandro Caffarelli
Victoria Gavito
Richard Mines
Elizabeth O’Connor
Sarah Paoletti
Cynthia Rice
Linda Singer
Rodolfo Garcia Zamora
Elliott Milstein
Patricia Pittman
James Knoepp
Virginia Ruiz
Juan Antonio Maldonado Contreras
Lilia Garcia
Patricia Kupfer
STAFF
CONTRIBUTORS
Brenda Andazola Acosta
Adriana del Rocio
Gonzalez Serna
Sarah Farr
Sarah Karpovich
Mateya Kelley
Lilián López Gracián
Kristin Love
Elizabeth Mauldin
Juan Maya Sotomayor
Casey McKeel
Rachel Micah-Jones
Dolores Ramírez
Mónica Ramírez
Sarah Rempel
Renato R. Rocha
Rebeca Rodriguez Flores
Janet Sale
Jessica Stender
Adelina Vásquez Cedillo
Ara Adedugbe
Jeanette Acosta
Xavier E. Albán
Joe Anderson
Iris Bennett
Christopher Bavitz
Mathew Blumin
Angela Bouliakis
Sergio Broholm
Ann Capps Webb
Christian Javier Castro Martinez
Julia Coburn
Daniela Cornejo
Angela Cobian
Caroline DeCell
Moravia de la O
Christopher Doi
Katherine Fallow
Elizabeth Freed
Katy Green
Laura Gutierrez
Laura Gutierrez
Anna Hosain
Susan Kolb
Suniti Mehta
Carson Osberg
Michael Rosenband
Zack Rubenstein
Maria Saenz
Dana Sarvestani
Anne Schaufele
Karen Semone
Zafar Shah
Karen Tapia
Miriam Tauber
Kit Walsh
Ami Weinberg
Paul Wooten
INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORTERS
AFL-CIO
American Federation of Teachers
American University, Washington College of Law,
Immigrant Justice Clinic
Avina Americas
CAMMINA
Ford Foundation
General Service Foundation
John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
New World Foundation
Open Society Foundations
Oxfam America
Public Welfare Foundation
Solidarity Center
Southern Poverty Law Center
UNITE Here
University of Pennsylvania, Transnational Law Clinic
MEXICO CITY
Zamora 169-4
Colonia Condesa
Mexico, DF
06140
T: (55) 5211-9397
OAXACA
Calle Libertad 109
Colonia Centro
Juxtlahuaca, Oaxaca
69700
T: (953) 554-0517
BALTIMORE
519 N Charles St.
Suite 260
Baltimore, Maryland
21201
T: (410) 783-0236
TOLL FREE
From the US: 1-800-401-5901 | From Mexico: 01-800-590-1773
cdmigrante.org
@cdmigrante
Centro de los Derechos del Migrante, Inc.

1 - Centro de los Derechos del Migrante, Inc.

Transcripción

Documentos relacionados

Local realities of CDM projects A compilation of case studies

Application Form SDC