Guest workers, in one form or another, have worked in agriculture for the past sixty years. These workers, brought into the US on a temporary visa, have been some of the most exploited, mistreated workers in the United States.
For years, the UFW, organized labor and our allies have fought to eliminate these programs due to their highly exploitative nature. However, these programs have continued and grown in use and the abuses have continued. The current H-2A program has grown from just over 15,000 workers in 1997 to close to 80,000 by Dec. 2007.
Workers employed through the guest worker program have not had the opportunity to have a union to represent and protect them. The UFW is 100% committed to continue its struggle to obtain immigration reform. However, we also recognize that if ever there were a group of workers who need union representation, it is guest workers. For this reason, the UFW created the Guest worker Program in 2006.
The UFW has staff working internationally to ensure the integrity of this program, realizing that it is not enough to simply wait for workers to arrive in the US to represent them. A variety of abuses can and do occur in the countries from which today’s guestworkers come. These abuses include exorbitant recruitment fees (sometimes exceeding $15,000), blacklisting, and intimidation.
The UFW has been working in Mexico and Thailand with local organizations, those governments and the US Embassies to weave together a just and legal recruitment system. In Mexico for example, the UFW signed an agreement with the Governor of Michoacan, one of the largest sending states of agricultural workers in Mexico, to work together to ensure the integrity of H-2A recruitment. In Thailand, we are working with the National Catholic Commission on Migration to do the same.
In the US, we have signed a collective bargaining agreement with a nationally licensed, farm labor contractor, Growers Labor Services (GLS). Our agreement includes: Seniority rights for workers; Binding Issue Resolution process; Wages above the federally required minimum; Minor medical coverage for non-work related injuries or illnesses and discharges only in the case of just cause. In addition, all rules and regulations related to the H-2A program are also included in our contract, so we have the ability to direct enforce these provisions without depending on State or Federal agencies.
Our goal is to create an international infrastructure to support a just guestworker program. We want to ensure that workers are identified in the sending countries who are capable of doing the job they will be asked to do, qualify for an H-2A visa, and do not pay recruitment fees. When these workers are Stateside, we want to ensure these workers’ rights are protected through a union contract. It is our fundamental belief that we can develop a just program that is both fair to workers and not only meets the needs of US farmers, but adds value to their operations.
The development of this model is only one aspect of our work. We are also engaged in advocacy at both the State and Federal level on H-2A.