(Copy) Migrant Worker's Rights

An American class that is overlooked and underpaid

What is a Migrant Worker?

A migrant worker is someone who travels outside of their living space or permanent residence for several weeks to several years before returing home (Groff, 2023). Migrant workers in the United States will travel from other states or sometimes internationally, especially from Mexico (Groff, 2023). Migrant Labor is mostly agricultural or industrial, requiring heavy physical labor in usually dangerous conditions (Groff, 2023).

Migrant workers are often associated with undocumented immigrants, or people who have migrated internationally and are not registered US citizens (Groff, 2023). While this can be true, as some do immigrate seasnonally, many migrant workers are registered citizens who move from state to state, depending on the labor they are required to do (Groff, 2023).

Who are the Employers?

After the great depression in 1920s, the "family farm" trope began to fade out as larger companies seeking big profits took over the agircultural scene in America (Groff, 2023). These larger companies, similar to how plantations in the Southern United states operated many years ago, required lots of labor in order to maintain their agricultural output. (Groff, 2023).

Migrant workers provide a similar benefit to companies that slaves brought to plantation owners: cheap labor that can't fight back (Groff, 2023). Slaves had no choice, they were required to work on the plantion and would be punished if they tried to leave (Groff, 2023). Migrant workers either have no other place to work, or face discrimination if they try to change their conditions. Workers get paid very little for their labor, similarly to how slaves were paid, if they got paid at all (Groff, 2023).

What is Being a Migrant Worker Like?

Migrant workers travel long distances to do labor, and normally have undesirable working conditions that include:

  • Unfair recruitment practices such as charging fees, promising bonds, or giving misleading and incorrect information about a promised job
  • Trafficking and being smuggled across a border
  • No access to any employment rights such as worker unions, social security, employment taxes, or legal proceedings
  • Very frequent workplace discrimination or racism, an unfortunately very common experience for immigrant workers (United Nations Global Compact, n.d.)

Many laws have been enacted to try and combat the siutation, but are not always enforced

Who is Fighting for Worker Rights?

Several movements - both past and present - have arisen in order to combat the discrimination migrant workers often face in the workplace. In the past, Ceaser Chavez, a Mexican-American, found himself experiencing discrimmination in California and decided to make a change (James, 2023). By organizing workers unions, Chavez successfully orchestrated strikers that assisted in the demand for more rights for agricultural laborers (James, 2023).

Farmworker Justice is a nonprofit organization today that works to empower migrant workers to improve their living and working conditions (Farmworker Justice, 2023). This organization, based out of Washington D.C., works with farmers and their organizations for the betterment of the migrant worker community as a whole (Farmworker Justice, 2023).


Workers Rights Over Time

1860s - 1930s

Farming becomes a much larger scale industry, with the need for labor rising as African Americans turn to search for other work oppertunities (National Farmworkers Ministry, n.d.).

1914 - 1918

As World War I commences, the European migration declines. The need for American labor to be internal increases, reruiting immigrants who had previosuly migrated and Central Americans (National Farmworkers Ministry, n.d.).

1930s

The Great Depression takes a huge toll on American Farmers, forcing many to sell their farms and become migrant workers themselves. Large corporations take over the farming industry and workers, both white and non-white are paid at starvation wages for their labor (National Farmworkers Ministry, n.d.).

1930s

The government passed a series of laws that were set in place in attempt to protect migrant workers - but these laws mainly served industrial workers and not agricultural ones. (National Farmworkers Ministry, n.d.). This is becuase these jobs were up to this point held by African Americans as well, who many whites and the government still discriminated against, espeically in the south. These laws specifically excluded agricultural laborers from overtime pay, workers compensation, and child labor.

1940 - 1960

Many programs opened up for seasonal migrant immigrant workers to come to the United States and work, an effort to combat undocumented workers while still providing jobs (National Farmworkers Ministry, n.d.).

1962

Delores Huerta and Ceasar Chavez found the National Farm Workers Association in California. This laid the groundwork for other organizations devoted to improving the conditions of migrant workers looking to rise up (National Farmworkers Ministry, n.d.).

1970s

Latin Americans start to become migrant workers, moving up from Mexico to seek out labor (National Farmworkers Ministry, n.d.).

Today

Most agricultural laborers are migrant workers. 75% of these workers are estimated to be undocumented laborers from Latin America, though many Americans, such as blacks, poor whites, and asians continue to work the fields in hope of making money (National Farmworkers Ministry, n.d.).

The 1930s: Dawn of Migrant Labor

The 1930s saw the beginning of the Great depression in the United States, an economic sledgehammer that wrecked the jobs of many. The local farmer was very affected by this plauge, and was often forced to sell their property to become laborers themselves (Library of Congress, n.d.). Many families found themselves removed from their homes in search of labor, and began to migrate in search of jobs. This coined the term "migrant worker," bringing about the age of laborers who would be rquired to travel for work (Library of Congress, n.d.).

Even dating back to this day, the government has not completley ignored migrant workers (Library of Congress, n.d.). As workers took to the highways, they often found themselves seeking the aid and refuge of migrant work camps that had been etsablished by the US Farm Security Association (Library of Congress, n.d.).These camps served to provide housing, food, and medicine to workers who had no place to stay on their travels, and provided protection against the criminals that would often try to take advantage of vulnerable migrants (Library of Congress, n.d.).

These camps provided another benefit, being the communities that were unintentionally brought together as a result of living conditions (Library of Congress, n.d.). Laborers began to organize themselves and share similar ideas revolving around improving migrant labor (Library of Congress, n.d.). This helped pave the way in future years for more organized movements, such as strikes and boycotts, to occur (Library of Congress, n.d.). Migrant work camps were some of the first steps taken to ensure that migrant workers had some sort of protections of rights against crime and discrimination (Library of Congress, n.d.).

Workers were not only agricultural, but also industrial (Library of Congress, n.d.). Railroad laborers were often needed to operate and construct the railroads (Library of Congress, n.d.). Railroads found laborers not only a source of employment, but also a source of transportation. On these roads, travel from one work destination to another became much easier and many migrant workers found themselves looking for more Urban industrial work as the ability to travel from the rural South to the North became much easier (Library of Congress, n.d.).

1940: World War II

In the 1940s, World War II was responsible for absorbing many workers, both migrant and non-migrant, into the draft force (Library of Congress, n.d.). This caused a massive shortage of labor for farmers at the time, who became in desparate need for labor to work the fields (Library of Congress, n.d.). In response, the United States and Mexico came to an agreement for Mexico to send workers, called "braceros," to the Southern US to work (Library of Congress, n.d.). Hundereds of Thousands stayed after this migration, resulting in farmers getting some of their labor back (Library of Congress, n.d.).

Workers, however, were treated terribly by employers, often facing tough working conditions and being paid almost nothing (Library of Congress, n.d.). The US government, seeing how the labor issue was temporarily solved by migrant labor, refused to acknowledge the situation and just let it keep happening (Library of Congress, n.d.). As a result, the Mexican government would refuse to send workers to areas where working conditions were abysmally poor, and would not continue until changes were made (Library of Congress, n.d.).

1960s and 70s: Standing Up

Workers over time began to realize that employers and the government were never going to just roll over and magically make lives better; something needed to change. After years of exploitation by employers and the government seeming to care less and less about the conditions of migrant labor, some individuals decided to take action (James, 2023). Workers began to organize and strike in attempt to make negitiations with employers for better working conditions (James, 2023).

A Strike is the organized an intentional stoppage of labor by employees, in hopes of making the employer comply with the demands of the employees (Cornell Law School, 2023). Strikes often happen to see higher pay, better working conditions, and less discrimination (Cornell Law School, 2023).

A Boycott is a concerted refusal to deal with a seller or purchaser, usually on the basis that they are acting disfavorably (Cornell Law School, 2023). A boycott is different from a strike in that strikes are refusals to work, and boycotts are refusals to make deals with or work with a seller or employer (Cornell Law School, 2023).

Workers during this time appeared in both strikes and boycotts, finding employees nationally to organize and leave their jobs in hopes of tanking business revenue for employers. Boycotts were also used to not only spread awareness of the situations to other migrant workers, but to regular civilians nationwide in hopes of having people also refuse to buy or work with sellers (James, 2023). By doing this, migrant workers ensured their right as American citizens to fight for better working conditions if they needed to (James, 2023).

Today: What is Happening Now?

Today, the government has had more recognition of migrant workers and their efforts, and has made attempts to provide laws and policys that help bring about human rights. COVID-19 delt a serious blow to the employment rates of migrant workers, and left many searching for jobs. In response, the National Farmworker Jobs Program (NFJP) was established to provide supportive services for migrants and their families (U.S. Department of Labor, 2023). These services include some funding, skill training that helps find jobs, and supportive services to make working migrant jobs more manageable (U.S. Department of Labor, 2023).

Other laws and regulations have also been passed, such as Public Law 113-128 in 2014, a law which vowed to provide better education, training, and funding for the massive migrant labor force that supports the economy (U.S. Department of Labor, 2023). The US government realizes that America's economy heavily relies on the work of migrant laborers, and without this labor the agricultural industry would be greatly affected (U.S. Department of Labor, 2023). As a result, more laws and policies are being passed in order to help migrant workers be satisfied with their jobs.

Despite this, migrant workers still face low pay, sub-par jobs with poor working conditions. This is not becuase laws and policies are discriminating against migrant workers, but more the opposite. Laws are being passed, but they are few and far between and are not often upheld.

The article, which focuses on the violation of Child Labor Laws, showcases deliberate violations of laws, where migrant children are shipped off to work for employers nationwide (Dreier, 2023). These actions, despite being violations, went seemingly unpunished as children continued to be shipped (Dreier, 2023). One person who did try to take action was just ignored, and the whole issue continues (Dreier, 2023). The government, despite creating all of these laws and policies, does not always acknowledge when these laws are violated, and thus workplace discrimination is allowed to continue (Dreier, 2023).

Statistics

In this section, statistics regarding demographics and migration patterns will be displayed in the form of maps.

What can Employers do?

Much like the government, employers of migrant workers are able to discriminate workers by simply ignoring the policies that are set in place by the government. The government and law, which have proven to sometimes not do much about violations of rights, making it easy for employers to get away with hosting poor working conditions and bad pay (Dreier, 2023).

Employers have the ability to set conditions for their employees. They get to pick pay grades, working conditions, who is employed and who is not, as well as almost every other aspect of a migrant workers job, as their name would suggest. Employers are thus going to look to create conditions that are the most profitable for them, such as low wages for employees and minimal benefits. This desire for money is what creates the power dynamic between the two - one wants as much money as possible, and is willing to worsen the conditions of their employees in order to do so.

Employers are not only able to get away with keeping this power dynamic due to government ignorance, but also becuase of the already constructed social dynamic of migrant workers. Migrant workers are comprised of Mexican American migrants (who often are immigrants), and other poor working class individuals. These people often are uneducated, very poor, or are not native english speakers. As a result, migrant workers find themselves unable to find jobs that are not agricultural jobs.

Imagine your first job as a fast food employee. Low wages, high stress enviornments, and no real hope of moving up in the company. As you progress through your educational career, you realize that once you graduate, it would be best to quit your fast food job and find a better job that pays better, is less stressful, and provides real benefits. You do, and at your new job you find yourself much happier as you can now get paid more and not worry about losing work. When you quit your fast food job, there isn't anything the employer can do to stop you, so you just leave.

You may ask, why do migrant employees not do the same thing? The answer is again in the social status of workers. Workers are often uneducated, so finding a job that will hire you for skills is out of question. Many do not speak any english, and finding employers that will pay well who will hire non-english speakers is a very difficult task. Workers choose to stay in the positions they have becuase they simply have nowhere else to go. Workers need to put food on the table, and cannot afford to be unemployed if they choose to leave their jobs. This is how employers of migrant workers use the power dynamic between themselves and their employees to exploit cheap labor out of those who have no choice.

What Can Migrant Workers do?

By far, the most effective things that work for migrant workers to stand up are strikes and boycotts. With the government acting passively towards violations of worker rights and employers looking to make as much money as they can, workers are often left to themselves to find ways to ensure better working conditions.

Ceasar Chavez and the Grape Boycotts

Perhaps one of the most prominent figures of the American labor movement is a man named Ceasar Chavez. This is his story:

Chavez was in the Navy during WWII. Upon his return to California in 1947, Chavez resumed life as a migrant agricultural worker (James, 2023). Eventually, he moved to San Jose, CA, and worked odd jobs while educating himself on labor history (James, 2023).

Chavez became involved with the Community Service Organization (CSO), an advocacy group for Mexican Americans (James, 2023). Chavez would eventually become national director of this organization and would use his resources to organize farm workers and Mexican Americans in local worker disputes (James, 2023).

After some disputes with the CSO over resources, Chavez left the organization and moved to Delano, CA (James, 2023). It is here that Chavez would found the National Farm Workers Association, or the NFWA (James, 2023). Only a few years after its inception, it would boast more than 1,000 members (James, 2023).

Chavez, alongside the newly founded NFWA would sucsessfully lead several strikes that would result in bargaining agreements and better pay for farm workers (James, 2023). These strikes and boycotts would soon gain local and national attention (James, 2023).

Chavez, alongisde another member of the NFWA Dolores Huerta merged the NFWA and several other groups into the nationally known United Farm Workers of America (UFW) (James, 2023). It is here that Chavez saw his greatest and most recognized victory.

Chavez, alongside the UFW, organized a grape boycott against the grape growers of California (James, 2023). This boycott took to national media and gained millions of supporters nationwide, including regular civilians (James, 2023). with this, people chose to not purchase grapes for nearly five years in a nonviolent protest against poor working conditions (James, 2023).

after a 343 mile march from Delano to Sacramento by Chavez, victory was finally seen as grape growers gave into pressure and agreed to end the dispute by signing new contracts with employees (James, 2023).

With the election of governor Jerry Brown in 1974, laws were enacted enabling farm workers with the legal right to boycott and strike (James, 2023). Farm workers were given rights to form Unions, scoring a major victory against the discrimination that had plauged farm workers for years (James, 2023).

Workers are able to create ways in which they can fight back against discrimination. Peaceful protesting and strikes were very effective ways in the past, and continue to be effective ways today. In order to ensure more rights and protections, migrant workers must stand up and fight for themselves.

What does it look like to be a migrant worker?

Migrant workers have some of the most labor-intensive jobs in the United States. This in combined with long working hours, six day work weeks, and low income creates for miserable working conditions many Americans can't imagine. And not only are the adults the ones that do this kind of labor, but children as well (Fannning, 2001).

300,000 children migrate to follow the crop harvests around the country (Fannning, 2001). They labor all day long in sweltering heat, risking their health so that their families can afford to put food on the table (Fannning, 2001). At least 75% of migrant laborer children do not have any kind of healthcare, a shockingly high number considering the dangers of the working conditions (Fannning, 2001). Children migrate throughout the entire year, often starting as far south as Flordia and moving up to Maine by the end of a year (Fannning, 2001). Many of these children continue to be foreign born, having either crossed the US-Mexican border themsleves or being descendants of those who did (Fannning, 2001).

Children start work before dawn, going out to the fields to pick weeds and fruit (Fannning, 2001). As soon as 10 AM comes around, the heat becomes nearly unbearable for most, especially in the Southern states (Fannning, 2001). When the harvest season for a particular crop is over, they are not finished, and instead tasked with moving (many times walking) several thousand miles just to earn $12 an hour for their labor (Fannning, 2001). Most money that children earn go directly to the parents so that the parents can put food on the table (Fannning, 2001). These children are often required to drop out of school so they can continue to work and make enough money to feed their own family, often removing all opportunities for higher education and moving up the economic ladder (Fannning, 2001).

Migrants often face medical injustice when it comes to their work as well. Migrant workers are one of the groups of people that are very susceptible to disease and infection due to the conditions they work in (Wang, et. al, 2023). Hot, sweaty, and cramped quarters lead to the rapid spread of infection amongst employees, as well as being constantly outside with disease-carrying bugs (Wang, et. al, 2023). The issue comes now in the inability of most migrant workers to afford any kind of healthcare, and the unwillingness of employers to provide it for them (Wang, et. al, 2023). Rates of infection for migrant workers are significantly higher than those of middle and upper-class whites, showing a clear image of how infection rates change when living conditions change (Wang, et. al, 2023).

What Role does Ethnicity Play?

There is no doubt that Immigrant migrant workers struggle the most in migrant worker settings. Over 60% of all migrant workers in the US are also immigrants, making them a group that is in the majority (Gleeson, 2023). While this article is not exclusivley about immigrant workers, they play such a huge role in the discrimination of migrant workers that they are impossible to ignore (Gleeson, 2023). Immigrant migrant workers are simply migrant workers that did not originate from the US, and instead immigrated from another nation (Gleeson, 2023).

One of the main reasons that immigrants face discrimmination is the language barrier (Gleeson, 2023). Most immigrant workers are immigrants from Latin American countries, who all speak spanish. With many employers who only speak primarily English, there is often a barrier in communication between employee and employer, or employer and supervisor (Gleeson, 2023). Complaints or attempts to organize are quickly squandered when employees realize that few can understand them, resulting in nothing being done (Gleeson, 2023).

Another reason for discrimination is undocumented workers (Gleeson, 2023). Undocumented workers are people who have immigrated illegally, or crossed into the US without registering properly. Undocumented workers are often smuggled across the border, whether as child, an adult, or a second generation immigrant (Gleeson, 2023). These workers are not recognized US citizens, and can face the possibility of deportation if they are caught (Gleeson, 2023). This makes it very dificult for workers to find their voices and stand up against injustice, as they cannot attract too much attention for fear of being caught by the government and sent back to their country of origin (Gleeson, 2023).

Becuase of ethnicity, employers are easily able to exploit their employees. The language barrier, as well as illegal resident status results in the same situation from before: these employees have nowhere else to go. They are stuck working their agricultural jobs, and if they choose to leave, they have great potential to face even worse conditions. Unlike migrant workers, most cannot stand for themselves or find a voice, forcing them to accept low pay jobs with harsh conditions.

The Result: Where do Migrant Workers Stand Economically?

Migrant workers are amongst the poorest of US society (U.S. Department of Agriculture, 2023). The average salary for hired farmwork is less than $15 an hour, compared to the average non-farm worker, who clocked in at $25 per hour (U.S. Department of Agriculture, 2023). These workers, who make up over 5% of the entire US workforce, are being paid well below the average american for their hard efforts (Groff, 2023). These workers are often found to be being paid less than federal minimum wage on multiple occasions. Employers, continue to cut employees wages in efforts to raise their own profits.

Workers are also subject to significantly poorer living conditions than the average american (Wang, et. al, 2023). Entire families live in houses that are either too small for them to fit into or live in close and crowded quarters with other migrant workers (Wang, et. al, 2023). Disease runs rampant, and with little access to healthcare, many find themselves infected very often (Wang, et. al, 2023). Employers, and many other Americans who have the luxury of a permanent address, are able to live in a house and stay put. They have the ability to make improvements or sell a property if they so choose. However, due to the migrational lifestyle of migrant workers, this is never an option.

Migrant Workers on the Poverty Line

Who Is Working for Migrant Rights Today?

Several Groups today have dedicated themselves to ensuring the rights and protections of Migrant workers nationwide. These groups work similarly to the United Farmworkers of America, seeking to organize farmworkers and create groups that workers can join to better imporve their conditions.

One of these organizations, the Farmworker Justice Organization, is a Washington D.C. based organization that seeks to empower migrant and seasonal farmworkers to improve their quality of life (Farmworker Justice, 2023). They aim to equip farmworkers with the tools to end discrimination in the workplace and bring about effective change, promote higher wages and better working conditions, and access health and job safety information (Farmworker Justice, 2023). This organization does not seek to do all of the work for these workers, but instead help empower them with the ability to stand up for themselves and demand better job conditions (Farmworker Justice, 2023).

Migrant Workers Alliance is another organization dedicated to the help of migrants (Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, 2023). This organization also helps migrant farmers, but puts emphasis on other areas as well, such as industrial migrants, migrant students, and care workers (Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, 2023). Like other organizations, it is member led and charged with the task of empowering migrants to find their voices and bring about better working conditions and pay (Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, 2023). This organization seeks to represent all migrant workers, regarldess of race, in both the US and Canada (Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, 2023).

Who is working against migrant rights?

Take Away