Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Letter of Solidarity
Read the following post and respond. Be sure to focus on key points, quoting text when appropriate. What does this say about the state of workers rights in this country for foreign workers? Immigration? Human rights? The agriculture business? Do you think this is an isolated incident? Or do you think it is more widespread? Can you cite specifics? etc.
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Workers rights in this country for foreign workers have different and lesser rights at work than US domestic workers, crooked and even honest employers will seek to lower their employee costs by relying on foreign workers rather than US domestic workers “On Valentine's Day, workers walked off the fields to reclaim their dignity.” They went to claim there dignity that was taken by the US employer that had hired them and gave them less than minimum wage. The cost of hiring a foreign worker versus hiring a US domestic worker is minimal and employers will not have an incentive to hire foreign workers unless there is a real labor shortage. The agriculture business is an assortment of businesses involved in food production including farming, seed supply, agrichemicals, farm machinery, wholesale and allotment, processing, marketing, and vends. I think it’s a very remote incident because not many people now about it. Mostly because the people don’t care they just buy the products without questioning were its coming from. And it’s not really wide spread unless you know some one or you are interested in workers rights.
nAnCy V.
First of all, to begin I think that after reading the post what it says about the state workers rights in this country for foreign workers is that they are not being respected and followed. According to this post the “federal laws that define slavery, peonage, human trafficking, and servitude in the United States” were being violated by Charles "Bimbo" Relan. This shows how even though there are laws that protect the rights of these foreign workers this rights are still being disrespected and violated by people that know these laws clearly. Just like Charles he knew he was doing wrong by taking his workers passports, paying them $2 dollars and hour, and even worse threatening them with deportation if they went to the bathroom or stretched. For immigration reasons just because a worker is an immigrant does it mean its right to taken advantage of them. In this country immigrants are not being treated like people they are being exploited and are made to work for cheap. Considering Human rights, these people’s rights are not being respected. These workers are getting paid less then the minimum wage, they have to work long hours without rest, they were not able to go to the bathroom. This is simply inhumane and it’s not respecting the human rights of these workers, these immigrants that are being exploited and disrespected. These agriculture businesses have been taking advantage of illegal immigrants for many years. These businesses find it easy to exploit workers coming from foreign places just for the simple reason that they are immigrants and they threaten them because of their illegal conditions.
This violation of human rights of these foreign workers is not only an isolated incident it is a widespread, its happening all over the world. Just like in Australia, there are over 46,000 illegals in Australia and many of them are being exploited and there rights get violated too. It is also happening in Saudi Arabia were migrant workers are forced to suffer in poor living conditions and are forced to hard labor that gets to the point of salve-like conditions. This is happening in Canada’s Golden Eagle farm were workers are also being mistreated and they are not given access to health care and face harsh treatment by their employees. This situation is not only an isolated incident this violation to the human rights of these immigrants, these foreign workers is happening everywhere.
Being a Mexican whose has family members who have gone through this situation I believe its unbelievably incredible how people, agriculture businessmen force immigrants and foreign workers to work in such harsh conditions, I truly wonder how exactly they think, or who they think this foreign workers are for them to think they have the right to mistreat and exploit immigrant and foreign workers. Not only that, but I start to think on all the work, hard work people have done in the past all those strikes and boycotts and how little they have worked for the reason that we are here till this day in this country and around the world exploiting, threatening, mistreating, and not respecting the human rights of each individual no matter what situation they are in; just because they are foreign and immigrants it does not make it right to treat them unequally. Since the past foreign workers have been fighting for their rights and it seems like in many places it hasn’t been working they are still living in inadequate conditions, and its pretty much interesting to not say it in a disrespectful manner how this men, this business men know that this people, this immigrants this foreign workers have rights too; that they have human rights and no matter if their immigrants does it make it appropriate to treat them in slave-like conditions. What makes even worse is that this people many of them don’t know their rights they spend their lives working in this situations trying to help their families back home and they get exploited and only get $2 dollars of pay, its incredible its pretty much hear breaking and many of this workers are good, respecting hard working people who come here for a better future a better living. They get fooled and at the end for many it is even worse than before when they lived back in their home land.
Ben Bigelow----
I feel that is extremely unjust. These quest workers have at least the right to be given fair wages. “threatened them with deportation if they stretch or use the bathroom.” Restricting the bathroom, or stretching and threatening to deport the workers who do those things just seems ridiculous. I feel like this man, Charles doesn’t deserve the right to own a field if he doesn’t have the decency to keep healthy and treat fairly his workers.
I feel like this is just a call out to everyone that helps show the degrading conditions in which foreign workers is in. this also just gives an idea of the problems human rights activists have. I think that these examples of near slavery conditions should be more wide spread throughout America I feel that if stories like this got out more into the public than more people would be aware where their food comes from and the conditions the workers are in. this might spur other individuals to help in the fight for workers rights which would aid the problem further.
Samson Nguyen
The first paragraph mentions the guest worker program. I have heard about the guest worker program before last year, and I believe it is supposed to be a program where adults from neighboring countries can come to USA to fairly work for a temporary amount of time based on a renewable permit.
Unfortunately, the conditions are not always fair at all. The strawberry fields of Amite, Louisiana has Mexican guest workers working under slave-like condition, according to this letter.
From my knowledge, guest workers are supposed to work with the same priviledges and rights as any other worker in USA. This includes minimum wage with at most eight hours in a single work day, at least fourty minutes of break/meal time every day, and no discrimination based off of race or gender. Evidently, these rights are being violated heavily by the boss of these workers in Amite, as he has even seized their passports and has threatend them to deportation if they stretch or use the bathroom, also paying them sometimes as little as $2 an hour.
According to the letter, the workers walked off the fields and a delegation African Americans got their boss - Charles Relan - arrested. He even summoned up the power to illegally evict (legally eject, but in this case it was an illegal ejection) the workers.
These thirty dignified thirty men came to the strawberry fields being promised the American dream, but were greatly exploited and taken advantage of. Picking strawberries was back breaking work, and Relan would deprive them of water and not allow them to use the bathroom after hours of labor.
I myself, having immigrant parents who have had their own struggles, obviously believe that what Relan did was a terrible thing. However, I believe the guest worker program is not enough for immigrants who wish to accomplish their hopes and dreams with its roots set in this country.
Although it may be a good start (considering how harsh our government is on immigrants), it is not as simple as its name makes it sound. Even though their rights as workers here are whatever they may be, there will always be people exploiting them for what they have and want.
This is slightly similar to the whole issue with MySpace and its security. No matter what sort of security implimentation MySpace adds, there will always be online predators that will have ways to exploit their victims. No matter what 'programs' are available for citizens of neighboring countries, there will always be people exploiting these citizens who have their own needs and hopes.
So, the real question here for me is... are these citizens of neighboring countries better off working here casually yet illegally, or are they better off working here legally yet leboriously?
My answer to that, is I don't know. It is a really complex issue that cannot be resolved with a few actions. What our government does to help those people is not enough, and I believe that they know that quite well. The truth is, whatever is 'enough' to the immigrants is considered 'too much' by our government.
Unless someone in the office steps up and does something extroadinary to help citizens of neighboring countries, there will always be cases and incidents like this one.
Well, after reading this article I was shocked to hear that slave like work was still around. Many people’s daily lives consist of waking up, going to work, and sleeping. While some illegal Mexican workers, who have risked it all to be here, are threatened constantly by their “bosses”. This is ridiculous. They are treating them like trash and having them do all the dirty work. An example given here is the man by the name of Charles "Bimbo" Relan. This man right here thinks he is better than all the Mexican workers and has “violated federal laws that define slavery, peonage, human trafficking, and servitude in the United States”. For quite some time, the workers were letting this happen until they couldn’t take it enough. “Bimbo” had taken away their passports, paid them a minor 2 dollars an hour, and threatened them by saying that he will call the immigration offices to have them deported. This is taking away what makes us a human. He has taken away their freedom. “So on valentines day, workers walked off the field and reclaimed their dignity”. They were given their passports but sadly, they were taken back to México.
This says a lot about the workers rights in this country for foreign workers in that just because they are not from this foreign country, they think they can treat them as their slaves. These innocent people come to this country to find a better place but are constantly being attacked.
I think this is a widespread problem. Many people are taking advantage of others that are looking for life anew. Others are deceiving the workers and telling them that they can help them a better work place. But like Javier Huerta stated, there was a catch. The workers had to pay almost one thousand dollars for recruitment fees. The sad part was that after they had paid, they were left stranded with no work they had promised.
You hear these stories and the truth is they are happening every day. Workers left their families to find a better life, but it ends up just getting worse.
30 men from San Luis Potosi, in Mexico came to Amite, Louisiana to work in the Bimbo Company. To come over here they had to pay almost a thousand dollar. The reasons why men form Mexico come over here to America is to give their families a better future. They don’t come over here just because they want to but they come here because they think America can open door for a better future. 30 men came to America with no knowledge of how some people in America can take advantage of their race or of where they come from. They were tricked and taken to work in the fields to pick up strawberries. Picking strawberry wasn’t easy for them because they could come up with back problems. “Relan confiscated their passports to hold them in his fields. He forced them to work for sometimes as little as $2 an hour”. That’s not the only bad thing that 30 men weren’t even allow to go to the bathroom or rest cause they would threaten them by saying that they were going to send back to Mexico. What I feel towards this notice note is that not everybody is living in the laws. There are a lot of people that are living illegally. Race, birth, and skin color doesn’t mean your don’t have equal rights like other human being. Once a person from another country/state steps into America grounds they have the same rights you, the citizens that live here and I have. It really hurts me when people treat others less. They treat them like dirt or trash because they aren’t like them. Especially when they know that they from another place and they don’t know how America is run and what rights they have here for them. They abuse of their knowledge, humbleness, and innocence. All the people that took advantaged of others forgot something….. Every bad action they take is to be found out one day or another.
~Daniel Kim~
The post that I just read about how foreign workers are getting taken advantage of really is unjust. The workers were promised regular wages and decent conditions but that was a trap for them. They wanted to make a living by moving to the United States. Immigrants can easily be taken advantage of because they are completely lost and unable to communicate with the people that live in the States. In addition to that, they have complete financial power over them because the farmer is the boss, the one who pays them. So he/she can make the workers work without taking any breaks at all, including bathroom and stretching breaks.
This is probably not the only agricultural farm that makes immigrants work for them practically for free. The fact that there is probably no video evidence or photo graphical evidence for anyone who works at a farm makes this kind of working business very sketchy. The farmer can do the exactly same thing as the one in the "Letter from African American Activists."
If the farmer doesn't play fair and give the immigrants a chance to survive here, then he should be arrested.
The artical i read and what that man is doing is completley unjust! These workers can not work under these terrible conditions. They cant use the restroom and always feel like hes watching over there shoulder and ready to send them back to mexico. These people have no choice they have to provide for them selves and if they have a family they have to provide for them also. immagrates are often and always been taken advantage over because they are so happy that there in america and willing to do anything for work under any conditions. So people seeing this take advantage which is completley unfair. these people pay them very little money and are in charge of what they give to them because they are illegal, or under the power of the u.s. citizen. this needs to be stopped and the officials need to be notified.
In the article *Letter from African American activists** in solidarity with Mexican "guest workers" by Javier Huerta there is disputes on the mistreatment of the foreign workers. Hispanic workers working at Bimbo's Best Produce are being treated like slaves. Their boss, Charles Relan confiscated their passports, something that is illegal and being persecuted for the crime results in ten years in prison. When working in the strawberry field’s workers often need to stretch or use the restroom, if they tried to do so Mr. Relan would threaten them to be fired or deported. The Hispanic workers that came along with the Alliance of Guest Workers for Dignity a program that lets them work legally in America. This program has some conditions, proper housing and the guarantee of being paid 8.01$ an hour. Instead the workers are being paid as little as 2$ an hour. With conditions such as these it is close the slavery and it violates many federal laws applying to servitude, slavery, human trafficking and subjugation in the United States. These people are on a program and are promised fair wages, treatment and housing. They are being mistreated and taken advantage of, they should be treated as paid workers not as slaved. Taking away their passports and threatening them with deportation is in humane. These workers legally immigrated and are being exploited. This shows that immigration is not as trustworthy as it should be, because the legal laws of immigration aren’t being applied in this case. They are being underpaid and legally abused. I think that this article says a lot about the agriculture business and how it is untrustworthy and unpredictable, and in some cases dangerous. These people are being completely disrespected and they are in the hands of the owners of agriculture businesses. I don’t think it’s an isolated incident, I just think that this situation was made slightly more public than the other situations. Making more people aware, but even so I wouldn’t have known about this unless it wasn’t a homework assignment, so this situation really isn’t getting the publicity it should for the extremity of the situation. “Just before midnight on Valentine's Day, the workers went on strike, refusing to return to the degrading treatment in his fields.” These people really stood up for themselves, they didn’t just let those terrible things happen to them, and they took action. The workers went on strike, but they were fired and illegally evicted from their housing. This is an ongoing problem in the U.S. and the more news coverage it gets the better, to continue the awareness and get people to really care about a vital issue in their country.
It really depends on whether or not foreign workers should have all the rights as a resident worker. A foreign worker with a legal status means that they have a passport, a visa and documentation stating that they came to work at a specific job that an employer has approved of, and a recruiter has sent them to work there. This means that they have valid contracts that state all the specifics that the job will require. If they have met all the requirements to become a foreign worker, then of course they deserve the same rights as a resident worker. A foreign worker with an illegal status means that they came here without proper documentation, but this also means that they can be hired. Once they are hired, that means that they have to abide by the rules that their employer expects out of them if they want to keep their job. They deserve some rights, but not all the rights as a resident worker.
In this case, the men came to work here with a passport and H-2A Visa. An H2-A Visa or temporary agricultural visa is "a nonimmigrant visa which allows foreign nationals to enter into the U.S. to perform agricultural labor or services of a temporary or seasonal nature." This means that the visa that they were approved of specifically states that they are working for agricultural labor. But the problem was that the recruiter did not provide a contract stating any details of the job, but merely persuading promises. In this case however, the men were part of the guest worker program. Guest workers come to the US to be matched with willing employers when no Americans can be found to fill the job. They have the same rights and the same privileges as any other US employee.
I feel that the actions of this man, Charles "Bimbo" Relan was completely unjust and unfair. I think that this goes completely against human rights because although the men were completely different in background, they are still human and being threatened, harassed and taken advantage of is inhumane.
The agriculture business is very strict and I think that allowing immigrants an opportunity to work in their fields is something that the immigrants should appreciate. But the company themselves have to keep their end up of the bargain. These foreign workers came to this employer in search of a good job, and a wage that could support them and possibly the families that they left behind. This employer also took away his employee's passports so they don't have any identification and they are threatened to get deported if they don't perform the duties of what the employer expects of them. I think this is just ridiculous, because if the employer wanted to keep these men working in his fields, he should have given them what they deserved.
I also think that one of the main causes of this incident was the recruitors. They were the ones that made promises about a steady job, decent wages and good conditions that they didn't even know if that those were the details of what they were sending the men to. But the men themselves, shouldn't just believe in promises, they should have looked at actual proof, or even documentation of what they were getting themselves into.
Immigration is tough because you have to abide by the rules and customs by the country than what you are use to in the country you were born in. Immigrants don't know anyone, they don't know where to go for help if they need it, and they have to live off their own skills and themselves with what they can do to support themselves.
I don't think this was the first time an incident like this could have occurred. I think there has been many more, just none that people are aware of. This incident is possibly widespread because foreign workers are sent to many parts of the country, not just in this produce field.
After reading this letter, I was very surprised to learn that there are still illegal acts of slavery that are being practiced here in the United States. Regardless of the fact that they may be immigrants and their employer might not have liked immigrants or thought that the idea of immigration is right, in America, everyone is treated equal, and to not follow the rules of the constitution is unjust. The fact that this employer promised decent wages and a fair job, only to strip all of that freedom from them is disgusting. By taking away their passports, and punishing them for stretching or going to the bathroom after long brutal hours bending over strawberry plants is one of the most unfair situations I have ever heard of. These people came over here to find a better life and to start new. They left their own country because of the promise that America is known for - freedom and opportunity. To have that taken away from you when you are in a country that promises such can only be called stealing. Stealing of new rights and opportunities that they most likely already had just escaped. I think that they thing that shocked me most is that there are still people in the agriculture and processing industries that think that they can treat their employees that way. They should be punished for what they are doing because it is just wrong.
The downside that I see to immigrants coming to America looking for promise and a fresh start, is that it won't necessarily get them far. Although many companies in specific industries will hire them simply because they need workers or because they know the employee will work hard is only just a start to a new life in America. There are lots of people who don't agree or think that immigration is right, and there will always be something in the way of ensuring that every immigrant will be able to have the life they dreamed of here.
Overall, I think that workers rights are unfair in some situations, and more attention needs to be paid to harsh and unjust industries that are mistreating their workers.
This article is about a group of immigrant workers who's "boss has seized their passports, is paying them sometimes as little as $2 an hour, and has threatened them with deportation if they stretch or use the bathroom". The article goes on to explain how the workers were mislead by recruiters to be brought to the United States with false hopes of the "American Dream", and then are forced to stay or return to "joblessness and poverty". It continues to say the workers have decided to organize against their former employer to regain their dignity, and rights. Bimbo gave them back their passports, but then fired them, and illegally evicted them. It concludes by asking the reader to help these workers in the fight.
I think that this situation illustrates the struggle that many immigrant workers in the United States deal with today. They are shown something called "the American Dream", which isn't an accurate portrayal of what they will face, which is discrimination, degrading conditions, and low wages. I also believe that this shows that these employers who do this are in violation of human rights, which apply to everyone equally, and simply because these workers are immigrants, and can be taken advantage of, they are. I don't think that this is an isolated incident, but is more widespread. The article stated, "Recruiters in Mexico promised them the American dream". This shows that if there are recruiters it is hard to believe that they only recruited only these workers, and other workers they recruited are most likely suffering the same fate. Also, in this country there are many many more than just 30 immigrant workers, and each of them has probably encountered this conflict in one way or another.
“…has threatened them with deportation if they stretch or use the bathroom”. I understand greed, I understand the “$2 an hour” wages, and I even understand that a seedy businessman would seek to exploit the social and economic whiplash from a natural disaster, threatening them for things so minor as using the restroom or stretching? It is absolutely disgusting.
“Recruiters in Mexico promised them the American dream, with one catch: they'd have to pay almost a thousand dollars in recruitment fees.” This quote suggests that this situation is not out of the ordinary, there is a business made off of this. While it is…heart-‘warming’ to see people ignore culture and language barriers and work together, to see it done through the exploitation of their respective neighbours is far less inspiring.
The real issue, however, is that the law is against this workers: “He forced them to work for sometimes as little as $2 an hour. Strawberries are back-breaking work - the men were bent down over bushes for hours. When they stopped to stretch, Bimbo yelled that he would deport them back to Mexico. They weren't given water, or allowed to use the bathroom. Under US law, these men can only work for Bimbo. Guest workers can only work for one employer. So they had a choice: work under slave-like conditions, or go back to Mexico to joblessness and poverty.”. While the idea of limiting the guest workers to only one employer is excellent for monitoring purposes, as well as helping to avoid situations such as this, it leaves people who get involved in these contracts in an unenviable situation. While I believe that people who immigrate to the United States illegally should not possess the right of a citizen beyond those of (hopefully obvious) humanitarian respects, these workers immigrated fully under the guidelines of U.S. law, and yet they still end up treated like garbage by their employers.
As I previously mentioned, I do not believe that those who immigrate illegally deserve the privileges of the laws of the U.S., perhaps it is a prejudice of mine. However, these conditions are violations of the most basic human rights, things that should transcend borders. Things like this are despicable regardless of the legality of your immigration to this country, the fact that this happened to people who have been documented in their entrance to the United States is particularly mortifying. I believe the issue comes down to the fact that immigration is something that is more or less ignored by local government: the idea of ‘turning a blind eye’ helps illegal immigrants (somewhat) in their endeavors, and helps business owners a great deal. However, the same principle leaves those that deserve the protection of the government high and dry. I think that the state of workers rights in this country isn’t indicated by this article, rather, I believe it shows how poorly workers rights are enforced.
--Joshua S.
So basically this article is saying that there were about 30 workers who came from a small place called San Luis Potosi, in Mexico. They all were working for a bread company called Bimbo's Best Produce, Inc. but now the U.S. trade agreement has forced all these workers to become cheap and work even harder than before. They were promised an American dream where they would work in better conditions and get paid well but that dream wasn't meant to last. They worked in strawberry fields and were intimidated by the boss and were told if they even took a 2 second stretch break he would yell at them and say he would send them back to Mexico. The workers had enough and filed a complaint about all this and now are trying to get FBI into this to stop these horrible actions.
I think this is out of apportion and unacceptable. Every men deserves to be treated equal no matter the color of your skin is. That should not be abused in anyway. This is why I think that the U.S. is so corrupted and way out of line. They think they own everything in the world and they think they can just take whatever they want even if it takes ruining other people's lives. It's really sad you don't even have to think about it. If you just read the post the man put up you would feel horrible already. They couldn't even go to the bathroom without being threaten by the boss. These are people who are probably trying to help their family in need and they are willing to do anything to help.
This letter is basically focusing on the unfair treatments that Mexican workers from San Louis Potosi, Mexico received from working on strawberry fields in Amite, Louisiana. All they wanted was to get a hardworking job in America that could help them escape from poverty in their hometown. Little did they know it was harder than they expected it to be. After being promised lies from recruiters in Mexico, and paying a whopping 1,000 dollars the workers soon realized that they have just been tricked and trafficked to Amite. Their boss took hold of their passports to keep them on his fields, and pay them little as two dollars an hour with no bathroom, no water, and other privileges. These men had no choice but to either work for him, or go back to being jobless back at home. They have now gone on strike, and are jobless hiding in New Orleans. African American activists have noticed the situation, and recognized the feeling of being treated unfairly. They now need your help, and donations would be helpful to the strike fund that will help the Mexican workers out of this mess.
After reading this blog I couldn’t believe that people could do such a thing. More and more immigrants are finding or at least trying to find ways to come to America in search for a better life for them and their families. All they want to do is get a steady job that could hopefully prevent them from suffering a bitter future. I would say that 99% of the time they are treated poorly. Owners in businesses find them more vulnerable and easy targets to pick on. I can’t really say I know what it’s like because after emigrating from the Philippines to America when I was very little, I was lucky enough to have my parents not go through all that. But still, it was hard for them to find work.
People view America to be such a great place, and automatically think that moving here your life is going to be instantly better. That’s not necessarily true and a lot of people misunderstand that. I agree that you need to work hard, earn your place, and it’s not always going to be easy but then again, they should still be respected and treated well.
- By: Hannah Amarila
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