Foreign Labor Contractor Fined Again

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Global Horizons, the farm labor contractor known for bringing Thai workers to the west coast, is under fire again for violating US labor laws. They have been ordered to pay $292, 455 in back wages and fines for work done on two Hawaii farms.

Previously, I wrote about the loss of Global Horizons’ contracting license in Washington State, due to labor violations including “sub-standard housing and sanitation facilities, lack of pay-stubs, not forwarding pay to the workers’ families, and requiring them to sign contracts they couldn’t read.” The Hawaiian complaints charged similar violations, “found by the department include misrepresentation of working conditions and illegal deductions from the workers’ pay for housing and living supplies. The department also found the firm attempted to force the workers to waive certain rights, failed to provide required transportation and subsistence costs to and from Thailand and failed to meet safe transportation requirements in violation of the Migrant and Seasonal Agriculture Worker Protection Act.”

Sadly, this is the same Global Horizons that the UFW chose to enter into a labor contract with in April. “This gives us a chance to have a national contract that protects the rights of agricultural guest workers,” UFW President Arturo Rodriguez said. The hope of the UFW is that the workers will “rely on the union rather than the government to enforce the federal rules.”

My observation of American history is that it takes both labor organization and strong enforcement of labor laws to truly protect workers. Global Horizons is more reminiscent of the Mariana Island labor practices, which Congressmen like George Miller have been fighting for years “This type of abuse is happening all over our nation,” said Miller. “The ILO report should serve as a jolting reminder to the United States and countries around the world that this modern form of slavery continues in all of our own backyards. It is a violation of our most basic shared humanity, and it must be stopped.”

Immigration reform will only work with a true coalition between labor and government to stop exploitive contractors like Global Horizons, not enable them. President Rodriguez needs to condemn Global Horizons and clearly state that these actions will not be tolerated.

LINKS:
http://www.lightupthedarkness.org/blog/

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1. kick

cuz how foreign workers are brought to this country is important.