UNITED FARM WORKERS WANT A PIECE OF THE GUEST

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MEXICO 002054 SIPDIS DEPT FOR DRL/AWH AND ILSCR, CA/VO, WHA/MEX, USDOL FOR ILAB E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ELAB CVIS EAGR PGOV SOCI PINR MX SUBJECT: UNITED FARM WORKERS WANT A PIECE OF THE GUEST WORKER (H-2A) ACTION IN MEXICO ¶1. SUMMARY: The United Farm Workers of America (UFW) sees a real potential for union organizing and growth in Mexico. This is especially true, the UFW concludes, if the next US presidential administration succeeds with some type of immigration reform. Consequently, a little over a year ago the union began preparing for what it believes will eventually be the establishment of more formalized ties between US agro-businesses and migrant Mexican workers. As a part of this preparation two officials recently called on Mission Mexico,s Labor Counselor to discuss UFW plans for expansion and organizing in Mexico. The UFW,s Mexico initiative is still very much in the information gathering stages. Nevertheless, the two officials made clear the UFW,s view that it will ultimately be able to show both US agro-businesses and Mexican migrants that better use of the H-2A visa Guest Worker program is in their best long term interest. End Summary PREPARING FOR THE FUTURE -------------- ¶2. On June 26, Mission Mexico,s Labor Counselor had an extended meeting with two officials of the United Farm Workers of America (UFW). The two union officials were the UFW,s International Director based in Tacoma, WA and its Director of Operations, Guest Worker Fund based in Keene, CA. According to the two officials the UFW is in the process of re-assessing how it can be more effective as a labor organization. For the UFW, part of this process means preparing itself for the future and taking full advantage of potential opportunities for growth. For a variety of reasons, the UFW sees Mexico as an area where it can grow. ¶3. One aspect of the growth strategy the UFW is pursuing is a national effort to represent guest workers who enter the US on H2A visas. Based on what the two officials said during the meeting with Mission Labor Counselor, it appears that up until recent years the UFW did not do as much as it could have to look into the possible advantages of organizing workers before they arrived in the US. The union is now trying to correct that shortcoming -- and Mexico, because of its proximity and the long established patterns of agricultural workers migrating to the US in search of employment, fits in very well with the UFW,s vision for future growth. At this point the UFW is still every much in the information gathering stage and has confirmed what it (and everyone else) already knew anecdotally; that by far the vast majority of migrant farm workers in the US come from Mexico. The officials made clear that there are also surprisingly large numbers of farm workers in the US from such diverse places as Thailand and the Philippines but for sheer numbers, Mexico and then Central America are respectively numbers one and two. ¶4. Once its organizing activities in Mexico begin to gear up the UFW believes it will be in a position to offer value added to both US agro-businesses and potential Mexican migrant workers. As an indication of what it believes it can accomplish the UFW officials referred to a negotiation the union concluded this year with an agro-business in the United States. This past April the UFW concluded what the labor organization says is the first nationwide union contract protecting agricultural workers signed with Global Horizons. Global Horizons, which the UFW describes as, one of the US,s largest suppliers of imported foreign farm workers, operating in dozens of states. The UFW agreement allows Global Horizons to provide assurance to the American growers who contract its services that it is in full compliance with all relevant USG laws and regulations. In other words, the growers can devote themselves to the business of producing food while Global Horizons takes handles all the details associated with bringing in foreign guest workers in compliance with US law. Moreover, the workers who sign on with Global Horizons under the UFW contract will receive legal protection and full benefits such as employer paid medical care (while in the US),standard wages and seniority protections so workers are hired or laid off based on years of service with the company. MEXICO 00002054 002 OF 003 MEXICO, LAND OF OPPORTUNITY BUT ( -------------- ¶5. Given the large numbers of Mexican migrant farm workers in the US the UFW wants to position itself so that it can better organize these laborers. The UFW officials indicated that their union believes Mexico provides significant opportunities for growth; both for their organization and with regard to improving the lot of workers who can benefit from a legal and orderly way of obtaining employment in the US. In order to prepare itself to take advantage of these potential opportunities UFW officials have made a series of visits to Mexico in the past year. One of the things the UWF has learned in visiting Mexico is that not everyone is enthusiastic about the union expanding its operations here. ¶6. One of the UFW,s first stops when it began visiting Mexico was a call on the Mexican Foreign Ministry (SRE) to both inform them of their activities and to seek GOM support for their organizing activities. Since their initial contact with the Foreign Ministry the UFW has concluded that, despite verbal assurances of Mexican government interest, there has been no meaningful follow-up on the part of SRE. Mission Mexico Labor Counselor opined that while it was certainly well worth the effort to inform the SRE of the UFW,s activities there are other GOM agencies that might be a better fit for what the US union hopes to accomplish. Labor Counselor offered to share with the UFW officials some of his contacts at the Secretariats of Labor and Agriculture. ¶7. In addition to a lack of follow through from the SRE the UFW is now aware that it can expect considerable resistance from an assortment of recruiting agencies that specialize in contracting agricultural workers for US growers. The recruiting agencies have, what is probably, a well deserved reputation for charging potential farm laborers exorbitant fees for finding them work in the US. Currently it is not unheard of for these recruiters to charge workers seeking employment as farm laborers in the US as much as USD 3,000. For this the laborer,s name may or may not be placed on a list of persons being legitimately contracted for employment in the US as an agricultural worker. In a large number of cases the recruiters have already been paid by the US growers to hire potential laborers and have received assurances that no additional fees will be collected from the prospective workers. ¶8. These recruiters also often have a reputation for threatening and abusing prospective workers. It is also not unusual for these recruiters to place intending immigrants on their lists of prospective laborers. From what the UFW officials learned (and a significant amount of anecdotal information reaching Mission Labor Counselor) these recruiting agencies will not look kindly on a US union coming to Mexico to organize farm worker. The UFW officials expressed awareness that their union could face violent opposition once it begins actual organizing activities in Mexico. UFW BELIEVED HISTORY WILL REPEAT WITH IMMIGRATION REFORM -------------- -------------- ¶9. The bedrock assumption underlying all of the UFW,s plans for organizing in Mexico is the union,s firm expectation that no matter which party win this year,s US presidential election the next administration will ultimately obtain some type of US immigration reform. Based on it conversations with US agro-business the UFW knows that many large and influential American companies are pushing for a significant expansion of the H2A visa program. ¶10. The UFW has no doubt that future US immigration reform will include some process that allows undocumented workers to legalize their status. According to the UFW officials, a large number of undocumented workers in the US are currently employed as farm laborers. The UFW, and according to the two officials who met with Mission Labor Counselor, is assuming that once immigration reform is passed history will repeat itself in that many farm workers employed in US agriculture will leave the fields and seek other, better paid MEXICO 00002054 003 OF 003 opportunities. This, the UFW officials said, will create an incredible demand for replacement workers as US agro-businesses struggle to maintain a stable labor force. The UFW has no doubt that this demand for labor will be filled one way or another with foreign guest workers. When this happens the union wants to be able to offer prospective workers and potential employers a legal and fully reliable method for meeting both their needs. COMMENT -------------- ¶11. The UFW is not the first American union whose main focus is agricultural workers to set their sites on Mexico. The AFL-CIO affiliate FLOC (Farm Labor Organizing Committee) has been in Mexico for some time and event has a permanent office in the northern industrial city of Monterrey. As noted above the UFW is still gathering information as it develops a plan of action for organizing in Mexico. A lot of what the UFW hopes to accomplish in Mexico as based on the assumption that the US Congress will pass some type of immigration reform in the not too distant future. The UFW does not appear to be in a particular hurry to begin its Mexico expansion. The officials who met with Mission Mexico Labor Counselor seemed much more concerned with doing things right as opposed to doing them fast. That said, once this well established US union gets going in Mexico they could play a significant role in helping to ensure that migrant agricultural workers seeking employment in the US do so in a form that is fully in compliance with relevant American law and regulation. Visit Mexico City's Classified Web Site at http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/mexicocity and the North American Partnership Blog at http://www.intelink.gov/communities/state/nap / GARZA