New Orleans, Louisiana —
The treatment of migrant workers has been highlighted during the World Cup in Qatar, where many temporary foreign workers reportedly died while building the event’s infrastructure.
Advocates for immigrant workers in the U.S. note that abuses aren’t just happening overseas.
“The fact of the matter is that migrant workers in the U.S. are struggling with many of the same issues those workers were facing in Qatar,” said Julie Taylor, executive director of the National Farm Worker Ministry, headquartered in North Carolina, speaking with VOA.
Those issues include “being forced to work through extreme heat waves, wage theft, poor housing, lack of access to healthcare, a shortage of personal protection equipment,” Taylor said. “The tragedy in Qatar shouldn’t be tolerated, and it’s also an important opportunity to remind Americans of the tragedies happening in our own backyard.”
In some states and local jurisdictions, government agencies and advocacy organizations can point to progress for migrant workers. Last year in New York, for example, farm workers – a large proportion of whom are foreign-born, temporary laborers – won collective bargaining rights that will allow them to better advocate for higher wages and better working conditions.
And last month in New Orleans, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division renewed an agreement with the Consulate of Mexico to provide Spanish-speaking workers in Louisiana and Mississippi with information on...
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