Employmentweb_low

EmploymEnT, woRk, and hEalTh inEqualiTiEs - a global perspective
the action plan for the eradication of Forced labour to control illegal extracting activities, and to educate and train
employers, workers, estate civil servants, ngos, scholars and peruvian citizens in general. but reforms must continually be
revised and implemented at a legislative and institutional level. several international associations against slavery and proindigenous
communities have recognised the work of the peruvian government, but they have also raised alerts about the
difficulty of implementing these antislavery measures, such as lack of financial support and human resources (anti-slavery
international, 2006). While regulation, inspection and criminalisation activities are necessary, rehabilitation is also required
for all people involved in forced labour. the amazon indigenous communities affected by forced labour suffer from not only
restriction of freedom and privacy, but also the destruction of their habitat, resources and life patterns, which are vital to the
daily subsistence of most indigenous communities.
references
anti-slavery international. (2006). Contemporary forms of slavery in Peru. retrieved February 27, 2009, from
http://www.antislavery.org/homepage/resources/pdF/contemporary%20Forms%20of%20slavery%20in%20peru.pdf
bedoya garland, e., & bedoya silvia-santiesteban, a. Trabajo forzoso en la extracción de la madera en la Amazonía Peruana.
retrieved February 25, 2009, from: http://www.oit.org.pe/WdMs/bib/publ/doctrab/dt_193.pdf
instituto nacional de estadística e informática. (1993). I Censo de comunidades indígenas de la Amazonía. Información
preliminar. lima: dirección nacional de estadísticas regionales y locales.
case study 93. close to slavery: guest worker program in the United States. - Mary bauer
in his 2007 state of the Union address, the president of the United states called for legislation creating a “legal
and orderly path for foreign workers to enter our country to work on a temporary basis.” doing so, the president said,
would mean “they won’t have to try to sneak in.” such a program has been central to bush’s past immigration reform
proposals. similarly, recent congressional proposals have included provisions that would bring potentially millions of
new “guest” workers to the United states. What george bush did not say was that the United states already has a
guest worker program for unskilled labourers—one that is largely hidden from view because the workers are typically
isolated both socially and geographically. before we expand this system in the name of immigration reform, we should
carefully examine how it operates. Under the current system called H-2, a program created in 1943, revised by
congress in 1986 and administered by the U.s. department of labour, employers brought about 121,000 guest
workers into the United states in 2005, approximately 32,000 for agricultural work and another 89,000 for jobs in
forestry, seafood processing, landscaping, construction and other non-agricultural industries. these workers are not
treated like “guests,” however. rather, interviews with thousands of workers and dozens of legal cases show that they
are systematically exploited and abused (the southern poverty law center, 2007). Unlike U.s. citizens, guest workers
do not enjoy the most fundamental protection of a competitive labour market: the ability to change jobs if they are
mistreated. instead, they are bound to the employers who “import” them. if guest workers complain about abuses,
they face deportation, blacklisting, or other retaliation. Federal law and U.s. department of labour regulations
provide some basic protections to H-2 guestworkers, but they exist mainly on paper. government enforcement of their
rights is almost nonexistent. private attorneys typically won’t take up their cause. guestworkers who come to the
United states are routinely cheated out of wages, forced to mortgage their futures to obtain low-wage, temporary
jobs, held virtually captive by employers who seize their documents, forced to live in squalid conditions and denied
medical benefits for injuries. the current program is shamefully abusive in practice, and there is almost no
enforcement of worker rights. guestworkers are usually poor, powerless people who are lured here by the promise of
decent jobs. but all too often, their dreams are based on lies, their hopes shattered by the reality of a system that
treats them as commodities. they’re the disposable workers of the global economy. the federal government has
failed to protect them from unscrupulous employers, and most cannot obtain private legal assistance to enforce their
rights through the courts. the structure of this system creates unequal power between employer and worker, which
leaves the worker in a dangerously vulnerable position. the H-2 should not serve as a model for immigration reform,
but in fact should be overhauled if allowed to continue. as part of the reform of the broken U.s. immigration system,
congress should eliminate the current H-2 system entirely or commit to making it a fair program with strong worker
protections that are vigorously enforced.
reference
the southern poverty law center. (2007). Close to slavery: Guestworker programs in the United States. retrieved February 27,
2009, from http://www.splcenter.org/pdf/static/splcguestworker.pdf
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