JAMAICA: JCLO APPEARS TO CHARGE JAMAICAN GUEST WORKERS IN

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KINGSTON 000418

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

STATE FOR WHA/CAR (ACADIEUX) (VDEPIRRO) (WSMITH)
WHA/EPSC (MROONEY)(FCORNEILLE)
INR/RES (RWARNER)
SANTO DOMINGO FOR FCS AND FAS
HOMELAND SECURITY FOR ALEX GISSER

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: CVIS PHUM SOCI PREL ELAB JM XL
SUBJECT: JAMAICA: JCLO APPEARS TO CHARGE JAMAICAN GUEST WORKERS IN
U.S. FOR UNNECESSARY SERVICES

REF: STATE 044004


1. (SBU) Summary: Post believes that the mandatory payroll
deductions imposed on Jamaican H2A and H2B guest workers to fund the
activities of the Jamaican Central Labour Organization (JCLO) are
duplicative of services provided by the Department of Homeland
Security (DHS) and the Jamaican Embassy and consulates in the U.S.,
and thereby violate USCIS H2A and H2B Final Rules, effective January
2009, disallowing "prohibited fees" (REFTEL). End Summary.

Background
--------------


2. (SBU) Each year, over 12,000 Jamaican nationals participate in
H2A and H2B guest worker programs in the United States. Jamaica's
Ministry of Labour (MOL): manages the pre-selection and selection
phases of the H2A program, as well as selecting about forty percent
of H2B applicants; conducts medical clearances and criminal
background checks; and makes travel arrangements for the program
participants. Meanwhile, the quasi-governmental Jamaica Central
Labour Organization (JCLO),with offices in the U.S. and Canada,
monitors work conditions and assists Jamaican H2A and H2B workers
with lost passports, insurance, medical care, contact with loved
ones, emergency travel plans, etc. Private H2B recruiters are
licensed and regulated by MOL, but are not served by the JCLO.

History
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3. (SBU) The Jamaican guest worker program has its origins in the
U.S.'s labor shortages during World War II. While the Mexican
bracero program of the 1940s through the 1960s supplied agricultural
workers in the western U.S., language, cultural and transportation
concerns made workers from the West Indies more popular in the
eastern United States.


4. (SBU) As Jamaica was a British colony at the time, the initial
agreements were between the governments of the USA and the United
Kingdom. The British West Indies Central Labour Organization
(BWICLO) was established in 1943 to facilitate the provision of
laborers from throughout the British Caribbean, although the vast
majority of the workers in the program were always Jamaican. A
Regional Labour Board (RLB) was established in 1951 to oversee and
formulate the guest worker policies of the BWICLO. The current H2A
program was introduced in 1947 and the H2B program in 1970. As the
British began divesting themselves of their colonies in the 1950s,
the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) took over the program and it was
renamed the West Indies Central Labour Organization (WICLO) in 1983.
In 2001, the program was renamed yet again, this time as the
Jamaica Central Labour Organization (JCLO). Since 2004, JCLO has
overseen Jamaica's H2A, H2B, and J1 student exchange programs.

Jamaican Central Labour Organization
--------------


5. (SBU) In a meeting on April 24, 2009, representatives of
Jamaica's Ministry of Labour (MOL) discussed the H2A and H2B
programs with Emboffs. They explained that JCLO functions as the
unincorporated nonprofit administrative arm of the RLB, an
instrumentality of a foreign sovereign charged with enforcing labor
policies decided upon in the Caribbean. Although the RLB does
include representatives of other West Indian nations, the vast
majority of the guest workers it oversees are Jamaicans. As such,
the JCLO sees itself as comparable to the U.S. Department of Labor
in its function and focus.


6. (SBU) The JCLO is funded through mandatory four-to-five percent
wage deductions from the H2A and H2B workers sponsored by the MOL.
In return, MOL representatives noted that JCLO representatives in
the U.S. visit work sites to ensure that contract provisions are
being respected, that workers have adequate housing and work
conditions, and that they are fed properly. They also perform
quasi-consular services such as facilitating travel for guest
workers who need to return home unexpectedly, replacing lost
passports, passing messages between guest workers and loved ones in
Jamaica, etc.


7. (SBU) It is unclear whether the JCLO deductions constitute a
"recruitment fee." Although MOL maintains that JCLO does not
recruit potential H2A employers/petitioners, Google Internet
searches turn up a number of Government of Jamaica (GOJ) and MOL

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press releases and statements extolling JCLO's "recruitment"
activities at job fairs.


8. (SBU) Emboffs question whether a quasi-governmental foreign
entity such as the JCLO is necessary, given that DHS is tasked with
monitoring H2A and H2B guest worker programs and that the Jamaican
Embassy and several consulates exist to provide consular services to
Jamaican citizens in the United States. Furthermore, the JCLO's
medical and criminal background screenings are not required of H2A
and H2B applicants; if the petitioning employer requires them, they
should cover the expense, not the laborer. If the JCLO's activities
merely provide unnecessary services or duplicate programs already
offered by DHS and the Jamaican Embassy, the mandatory four-to-five
percent wage deductions imposed on Jamaican guest workers would seem
to violate the USCIS H2A and H2B Final Rules, effective January
2009, disallowing "prohibited fees."

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Potential Jamaican Response
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9. (SBU) JCLO has been in existence for over fifty years and is a
well-established entity with offices and employees in the U.S. and
Canada. To prohibit JCLO from collecting the mandatory employee
wage deductions that provide for its operating expenses would likely
cripple the program in the U.S. Nevertheless, it would appear that
JCLO survives by taking the already modest wages of the minimally
skilled Jamaican laborers, while providing few, if any, services not
already provided by DHS and the Jamaican Embassy and consulates.
JCLO and MOL will likely protest and maintain that the organization
provides vital monitoring and consular services to Jamaican guest
workers in the U.S. However, the evidence presented here suggests
that JCLO exists mainly to skim revenues from Jamaican guest
workers.

Conclusion and Recommendation
--------------

10. (SBU) The mandatory four to five percent payroll deduction
imposed on all Jamaican H2A and H2B guest workers sponsored by MOL
is used by JCLO to either conduct screenings not required under U.S.
law or to provide services already provided by DHS and/or the
Jamaican Embassy and consulates in the U.S. As such, these
deductions appear to constitute "prohibited fees" under USCIS H2A
and H2B Final Rules, effective January 2009. Therefore, Post
recommends that, so long as JCLO collects its mandatory four-to-five
percent wage deductions, the MOL be considered a recruiting agency
imposing prohibited fees on H2 workers.

MOSS