forwarded by Michael Hoover > --------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Vicki Nichols <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: fcpj <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: Wed, 12 May 1999 20:09:00 -0400 > Subject: ACTION ALERT-Guestworkers-URGENT > > Please distribute widely. Thanks, Vicki. > > Migrant Farmworker Justice Project > Florida Legal Services, Inc. > Post Office Box 2110 > Belle Glade, FL 33430 > Phone: (561) 996-5266 Fax: (561) 992-5040 Toll Free: (800) > 277-7447 > > > Action Alert > > To: All Farmworker Advocates, Interested parties > From: Dylan Morgan > Date: May 5, 1999 > Re: Federal Guestworker Legislation > > Background... > Guestworker programs like the current H-2A program allow agricultural > businesses claiming to experience a labor shortage to apply to bring in > foreign workers on temporary visas to perform seasonal work. > > Because guestworkers have few rights and little legal recourse, they > are often unable or unwilling to speak out about abuses they endure for > fear of losing their job and being deported. > > Generally, farmworkers face harsh conditions. Their wages have not > kept up with inflation and amount to a meager $6,500 annually while a > continuous flow of foreign labor removes growers' incentives to improve > wage and working conditions. > > Currently... > The Senate immigration subcommittee, chaired by Sen. Spencer Abraham > (R-Mich.), who supported the grower's guestworker amendment last year, is > holding and oversight hearing on guestworker programs on Wednesday, May 12, > 1999 (date subject to change). > The growers have not yet had their bill introduced, but it is expected at > the end of May. Their guestworker proposal is likely to be added as a > proposed amendment to an appropriations (spending) bill, probably the one > for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. (Last Congress, they tacked it > onto the Commerce, Justice and State appropriations bill.) > > Needed Action... > Write letters, both individually and on behalf of as many organizations as > possible, to your Senators asking that they strongly opposed the > guestworker legislation being sought by agricultural employers. > Of critical importance are members of the Senate immigration > subcommittee (Republicans Abraham, Specter, Grassley and Kyl > and Democrats Kennedy, Feinstein and Schumer) and agricultural > appropriations subcommittee (Republicans Cochran,Specter, Bond, > Gorton, McConnell, Burns, and Democrats Kohl, Harkin, Dorgan, Feinstein and > Durbin), Sen. John McCain (R-AZ, running for President), Sen. Robert Byrd > (D-W.VA, ranking Democrat on Appropriations Committee) and Sen. Patrick > Leahy (D.VT ranking Democrat on Judiciary Committee) > Write letters to President Bill Clinton, thanking him for opposing the > agricultural guestworker legislation last year and asking him to announce > that he would veto a new guestworker bill or amendment if it were to pass > this year. > > Contact Information > > Mail can be sent to the Clinton Administration at the following address: > > President Bill Clinton > The Whitehouse > Washington, D.C. 20500 > > Senate addresses are all: > > Senator > U.S. Senate > Washington, D.C. 20510 > > If you can fax the letter, so much the better. A few fax numbers for > Senators' offices in Washington, D.C. are: > > Florida Senators: > Bob Graham (202) 224-2237 e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Connie Mack (202) 224-8022 e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > For other contact addresses, visit: > http://www.senate.gov/ > > Senate immigration subcommittee: > Spencer Abraham, (R) 224-8834 > Arlen Specter, (R) 228-1229 > Charles Grassley, (R) > Jon Kyl, (R) 228-1239 > Ed Kennedy, (D) 224-0405 > Diane Feinstein, (D) 228-3954 > Chuck Schumer, (D) > > Senate agricultural appropriations subcommittee: > Thad Cochran, (R) > Arlen Specter, (R) 228-1229 > Christopher Bond, (R) > Slade Gorton, (R) 224-9393 > Mitch McConnell, (R) 224-2499 > Conrad Burns, (R) 224-8594 > Herb Kohl, (D) > Ton Harkin, (D) > Byron Dorgan, (D) 228-4466 > Diane Feinstein, (D) 228-3954 > Richard Durbin, (D) > > Others: > John McCain, (R) 228-2862 > Robert Byrd, (D) 228-0002 > Patrick Leahy, (D) > > Sample Letter > > Dear Senator : > > We write out of concern for this nations migrant farmworkers who harvest > our fruits, vegetables, tobacco and other horticultural crops. We ask that > you oppose the agricultural "guestworker" legislation that agricultural > employers intend to introduce again, possibly as an amendment to an > appropriations bill. > > [State who you are and what you or your organization does] > > America's farmworkers are underpaid, often ill-housed and frequently lack > access to health care. Wage rates remain quite low, and here in Florida, > piece rates for most agricultural commodities have remained stagnant > for the last twenty years. Unemployment and underemployment in areas > where farmworkers reside remains high, as noted in a recent General > Accounting Office report that concluded there is no farm labor shortage. > > Farmworkers are still not entitled to many of the legal protections that we > grant other workers, yet they are more in need of them than most workers; > farmworkers are the poorest of the working poor. It is long past time > for American agricultural businesses to modernize their labor practices to > attract and retain its work force. In turn, our government must end its > long history of supplying growers with an oversupply of vulnerable foreign > workers in undocumented or semi-documented status. > > The U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform's report in 1997 concluded that a > new guestworker program would be a "grievous mistake." There already is an > agricultural guestworker program, the H-2A program, which approves 99% > of agricultural employers' applications for guestworkers, according to the > U.S. > General Accounting Office. Farmworker advocates have repeatedly asked > the Department of Labor to improve its implementation of the worker > protections under that program, but abuses continue. The employers' > new program would be even worse than the current situation or even > the old "bracero" program, removing most of the longstanding protections > for wages, working conditions, housing and law enforcement. > > A new guestworker program would do nothing to reduce the number of > undocumented workers currently displacing domestic workers in this country, > and consequently, the labor surplus would increase under a guestworker > program and the wages and working conditions of all farmworkers > would decline still further. If we need more farm laborers in this > country, they should be invited as immigrants who have the right > to switch jobs if the employer mistreats them or if another employer > offers a better deal, who have the opportunity to become citizens with the > right to vote, and who could raise a family here. > > Edward R. Murrow's "Harvest of Shame" has continued for almost 40 years. > We Ask that you not perpetuate the mistreatment of migrant farmworkers > into the next century. We feel very strongly that you should oppose any > efforts to create a new guestworker program for agriculture. > > Sincerely, > ------------------------------------------------------------------------
