Report Finds Guestworkers in "Close to Slavery" Conditions

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)

“Workers who come to the United States on short term, seasonal contracts are routinely exploited and have few legal safeguards” according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, reported Matthew Bigg last Monday on the Reuters website. The Center’s report, “Close to Slavery: Guestworker Programs in the United States,” found that many workers “live in sub-standard housing,” receive “little compensation or medical care,” and “earn wages below the federal minimum wage” with minimal legal recourse, reported Bigg. The report is based on interviews with of guest workers and the legal decisions affecting them. Click here to read the entire Reuters article. To hear an interview with Mary Bauer, Director of the Immigration Justice Project for the Center, click here. Guestworker cutting lettuce, photo by David Bacon