Fighting International Human Labor Trafficking after Katrina
Guest workers are international workers
on temporary visas who have been brought to the Gulf Coast to work
in extremely exploitative conditions. The “guestworker program” is a
much debated element of the national immigration debate.
Thousands of guest workers have been trafficked to the Gulf Coast
after Katrina, often taking on crushing debt at home for
false promises
of green cards and permanent residency, and face conditions that many workers, advocates, and policymakers
have described as a modern form of slavery.
In January 2007 the Workers' Center
organized the Alianza de los Trabajadores Huéspedes por la Dignidad
(Alliance of Guest Workers for Dignity), a membership organization
for guest workers on the Gulf Coast. Members have included workers
from across Latin America working in the hotel, shipyard, service,
factory and other blue-collar industries throughout the Gulf Coast,
as well as Indian welders and pipe fitters trafficked to Mississippi
and Texas. The Alianza’s campaigns have helped workers recover
illegally confiscated passports, gain access to medical treatment,
win back wages owed, gain access to state identification and drivers
licenses, map out the politics and dynamics of their workplaces, plan for statewide and federal legislation relating to the guestworker program, and
force investigations of companies and recruiters that engage in human trafficking.
The Congress of Day
Laborers
United For A Just Reconstruction
Day laborers are workers who stand on
street corners to look for work on a temporary basis. They are the
most visible symbols of New Orleans’ new low-wage immigrant
population. They face tremendous abuses at the hands of contractors,
police, and immigration authorities, as well as problems of health
and homelessness. In December 2006, the Workers’ Center
founded the Congreso de Jornaleros de Nueva Orleans (New Orleans
Congress of Day Laborers). The
Congress is a dues-paying membership organization dedicated to building power for day laborers and
all workers in the greater New Orleans area.
Homeless Worker Organizing
Project
Defending the Disposable Workforce
There are nearly 12,000 homeless
residents in New Orleans. Experts and analysts, including the
homeless, expect a steep rise in this number with the imminent
closing of FEMA trailer parks and the affordable housing crisis
currently afflicting New Orleans. From October 2007 to December
2007, the Homeless Worker Organizing Project has stopped the
eviction of dozens of homeless residents from temporary housing at a
local hotel, forced open communication and accountability with
the social service network serving the homeless, and consolidated key homeless leaders into a committee that can
commit to leadership development, campaign planning, and actions.