Month: November 2022

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 their rights in the United States, as well as access to training, such as worker safety training.

“By partnering with the Mexican Consulate, we improve our ability to ensure both employers and workers understand their obligations and their rights,” Troy Mouton, New Orleans, Louisiana district director of the Wage and Hour Division told VOA.

The hope is the agreement will decrease wage violations against vulnerable workers toiling at the margins of society by helping those workers understand their employers’ obligation under the law to pay them.

Despite such steps, advocates insist much more needs to be done.

Essential workers

According to a 2017 study by the Pew Research Center, America has approximately 12 million migrant workers at any given time, some authorized and others not. America’s current labor shortage, with millions of jobs unfilled, would be worse without the participation of migrant and temporary workers, say labor groups.

“Migrant workers are contributing in nearly every sector in the economy,” explained Shannon Lederer, director of immigration policy for the AFL-CIO, a union federation, “and they’re also being exploited in all of them – across all industries and across all wage levels. This is a full-blown crisis.”

Mouton says temporary foreign laborers have played an indispensable role in New Orleans and across the Gulf Coast region in recent years. This, he said, underscored the need to renew an agreement with the Mexican Consulate to help to protect the rights of those workers.

“In recent history, the single most significant event that resulted in an increased migrant worker presence in Louisiana was Hurricane Katrina in 2005,” he said, recalling the infamous storm that flooded 80% of New Orleans and killed more than 1,800 people. “Most of our migrant workers came from Mexico and elsewhere in Central America, and their efforts after the storm in debris removal, demolition, and eventually reconstruction have had a huge impact on our city.”

Similar efforts took place following later hurricanes such as Laura, Delta, and last year’s Hurricane Ida, but Mouton said migrant worker contributions extend far beyond disaster recovery.

“The majority of migrant workers in Louisiana contribute to the construction, agriculture, and seafood processing industries, all of which are important to the economy of Louisiana,” he said, adding that it is an ongoing struggle “to protect the welfare of these workers” and achieve “compliance with federal labor standards.”

Appalling conditions

Amy Liebman, chief program officer for the Migrant Clinicians Network, headquartered in Texas, believes the COVID-19 pandemic has underscored just how essential migrant workers are to America and its economy. This, she said, should make the conditions these workers endure even more appalling to the nation.

“In a 75-mile [120-kilometer] radius from where I live, we have 10 chicken processing plants, and there are many migrant laborers doing that difficult work,” she told VOA. “During the peak part of COVID-19, it was those workers – toiling all day in tight spaces – who were getting sick and dying from the virus, and they were getting their families sick.”

Liebman added, “But there’s a fear, and it’s a fear founded in truth, that if you complain to your boss, you’re going to not just get fired, but deported, as well.”

Immigrant advocates such as Liebman and Lederer say understanding why workers come to the United States in the first place can illuminate how desperate their situations are. It’s often “push factors” such as war, violence, political instability and natural disasters – or “pull factors” such as a demand for cheap labor in the United States – that draw people from their home country.

“When you have people who are desperate to leave home, or to come here so they can send money back home to family, you have a situation in which these workers can be exploited, and that’s exactly what is happening,” Lederer of the AFL-CIO said.

“You have recruiters in the United States who are finding workers in other countries and demanding payment from them for the right to work in the U.S.,” Lederer continued. “So now those laborers are in debt when they arrive, making them more desperate for their job. And their visa is tied to one employer, so if they complain about subpar overcrowded housing, or if they say something about not getting paid on time, their employer can fire them and they’ll be sent back to their home country.”

21st century challenges and a need for comprehensive solutions

Liebman said a warming climate is adding to migrant workers’ woes, as they often toil outdoors in increasingly hot, dangerous conditions. This can add to health problems and compound the struggles many face.

“Getting good healthcare as an immigrant is already challenging, but now add in the migratory nature of their work,” Liebman explained. “Every time you move somewhere new you have to take the time to relearn everything. Who will take care of you and your family? Where is the community health center? How will you get there? How will you pay? In areas with large migrant worker populations, community health centers are often pushed beyond their capacity, so what then?”

While immigrant advocates hail incremental progress in some jurisdictions, they say federal action is needed to meaningfully improve conditions for migrant workers.

“This is an emergency, and we need to get serious about finding real solutions,” Lederer said, adding that comprehensive reform of America’s immigration system would be a good start. “If we’re going to create a welcoming country for the labor our economy needs, the focus should be on longer term solutions that allow immigrants to come to this country permanently and with the ability to change jobs once they’re here.”

Source: Voice Of America

More than 2 million people in the Houston area were under a boil order notice Monday after a power outage at a purification plant caused water pressure to drop, and the mayor of the nation’s fourth-largest city ordered a full review of the system.

The notice tells customers to boil water before it’s used for cooking, bathing or drinking. Multiple Houston-area public and private schools, as well as some local colleges, were closed Monday as a result of the notice, while others made adjustments to provide affected campuses with bottled water and sanitizer.

The notice was issued Sunday, hours after two transformers failed, causing power outages at the water plant, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said at a press conference Monday. There was no indication the water system had been contaminated.

Water quality testing was underway, Turner said. He said he expects the notice to be lifted by early Tuesday at the latest, once the state’s environmental agency gives an all-clear after analyzing test results.

According to Turner, the city issued a notice, which affects all of Houston and multiple adjacent areas, in an “abundance of caution” after the two transformers — a main one and its backup — “uniquely and coincidentally” failed. The problem affected the plant’s ability to treat water and pump water into the transmission system, resulting in low water pressure.

The power system at the water plant undergoes regular maintenance, Turner said, but he did not give a timeline for how often. The mayor said he has ordered a diagnostic review of the system to understand how this was possible and how it can be prevented. He said because the issue was within the plant’s system, backup power generators would not have made a difference.

Sixteen sensors marked dips under the minimum pressure levels required by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality — 14 of them for only 2 minutes and two of them for nearly 30 minutes, Turner said.

Untreated groundwater can enter a water system through cracked pipes when water pressure drops. Customers are told to boil water to kill bacteria that could be harmful.

“We are optimistic the results will come back clean,” Turner said.

Turner defended the decision to warn residents about the water quality several hours after the issue first occurred and apologized for the disruptions to businesses, schools and elective surgeries. He said the dip in pressure did not automatically trigger a water boil notice, but a decision was made to issue one based on the data once the city consulted with and was instructed to do so by TCEQ.

Water infrastructure and quality has been a prominent issue in cities large and small throughout the U.S., including Baltimore; Honolulu; Jackson, Mississippi; and Flint, Michigan.

Source: Voice Of America

Just like on other farms where bird flu has been found this year, all the chickens on the Nebraska farm will be killed to limit the spread of the disease. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says more than 52.3 million birds in 46 states — mostly chickens and turkeys on commercial farms — have been slaughtered as part of this year’s outbreak.

Nebraska is second only to Iowa’s 15.5 million birds killed with 6.8 million birds now affected at 13 farms.

In most past bird flu outbreaks the virus largely died off during the summer, but this year’s version found a way to linger and started to make a resurgence this fall with more than 6 million birds killed in September.

The virus is primarily spread by wild birds as they migrate across the country. Wild birds can often carry the disease without showing symptoms. The virus spreads through droppings or the nasal discharge of an infected bird, which can contaminate dust and soil.

Commercial farms have taken steps to prevent the virus from infecting their flocks, including requiring workers to change clothes before entering barns and sanitizing trucks as they enter the farm, but the disease can be difficult to control. Zoos have also taken precautions and closed some exhibits to protect their birds.

Officials say there is little risk to human health from the virus because human cases are extremely rare, and the infected birds aren’t allowed to enter the nation’s food supply. Plus, any viruses will be killed by properly cooking poultry to 74 degrees Celsius (165 degrees Fahrenheit).

But the bird flu outbreak has contributed to the rising prices of chicken and turkey along with the soaring cost of feed and fuel.

Source: Voice of America

A meal fit for monkeys was served on Sunday at the annual Monkey Feast Festival in central Thailand.

Amid the morning traffic, rows of monkey statues holding trays were lined up outside the compound of the Ancient Three Pagodas, while volunteers prepared food across the road for real monkeys — the symbol of the province around 150 kilometers north of Bangkok.

Throngs of macaque monkeys ran around, at times fighting with each other, while the crowds of visitors and locals grew.

As the carefully prepared feast was brought toward the temple, the ravenous creatures began to pounce and were soon devouring the largely vegetarian spread.

While the entertainment value of the festival is high, organizers are quick to point out that it is not just monkey business.

“This monkey feast festival is a successful event that helps promote Lopburi’s tourism among international tourists every year,” said Yongyuth Kitwatanusont, the festival’s founder.

“Previously, there were around 300 monkeys in Lopburi before increasing to nearly 4,000 nowadays. But Lopburi is known as a monkey city, which means monkeys and people can live in harmony.”

Such harmony could be seen in the lack of shyness exhibited by the monkeys, which climbed on to visitors, vehicles and lampposts. At times the curious animals looked beyond the abundant feast and took an interest in other items.

“There was a monkey on my back as I was trying to take a selfie. He grabbed the sunglasses right off my face and ran off on to the top of a lamppost and was trying to eat them for a while,” said Ayisha Bhatt, an English teacher from California working in Thailand.

The delighted onlookers were largely undeterred by the risk of petty theft, although some were content to exercise caution.

“We have to take care with them, better leave them to it. Not too near is better,” said Carlos Rodway, a tourist from Cadiz, Spain, having previously been unceremoniously treated as a climbing frame by one audacious monkey.

The festival is an annual tradition in Lopburi and held as a way to show gratitude to the monkeys for bringing in tourism. This year’s theme is “monkeys feeding monkeys,” an antidote to previous years where monkey participation had decreased due to high numbers of tourists, which intimidated the animals.

Source: Voice of America

Protests simmered in Shanghai early Sunday, as residents in several Chinese cities, many of them angered by a deadly fire in the country’s far west, pushed back against heavy COVID-19 curbs nearly three years into the pandemic.

A fire Thursday that killed 10 people in a high-rise building in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang region, has sparked widespread public anger as many internet users surmised that residents could not escape in time because the building was partially locked down, which city officials denied.

In Shanghai, China’s most populous city and financial hub, residents gathered on Saturday night at the city’s Wulumuqi Road — which borrows its name from Urumqi — for a vigil that turned into a protest in the early hours of Sunday.

“Lift lockdown for Urumqi, lift lockdown for Xinjiang, lift lockdown for all of China!” the crowds in Shanghai shouted, according to a video circulated on social media.

At one point a large group began shouting, “Down with the Chinese Communist Party, down with Xi Jinping, free Urumqi!” according to witnesses and videos, in a rare public protest of the Chinese leadership.

A large group of police looked on and sometimes tried to break up the crowd.

China is battling a surge in infections that has prompted lockdowns and other restrictions in cities across the country as Beijing adheres to a zero-COVID policy even as much of the world tries to coexist with the coronavirus.

China defends President Xi Jinping’s signature zero-COVID policy as life-saving and necessary to prevent overwhelming the healthcare system. Officials have vowed to continue with it despite the growing public pushback and its mounting toll on the world’s second-biggest economy.

Videos from Shanghai widely shared on Chinese social media showed crowds facing dozens of police and calling out chants including: “Serve the people,” “We don’t want health codes” and “We want freedom.”

Some social media users posted screenshots of street signs for Wulumuqi Road, both to evade censors and show support for protesters in Shanghai. Others shared comments or posts calling for all of “you brave young people” to be careful. Many included advice on what to do if police came or started arresting people during a protest or vigil.

Anger nationwide

Shanghai’s 25 million people were put under lockdown for two months earlier this year, an ordeal that provoked anger and protest.

Chinese authorities have since then sought to be more targeted in their COVID curbs, but that effort has been challenged by a surge in infections as China faces its first winter with the highly transmissible omicron variant.

While low by global standards, China’s case numbers have hit record highs for days, with nearly 40,000 new infections reported by health authorities on Sunday for the previous day.

On Friday night, crowds took to the streets of Urumqi, chanting “End the lockdown!” and pumping their fists in the air after the deadly fire, according to videos circulated on Chinese social media.

Many of Urumqi’s 4 million residents have been under some of the country’s longest lockdowns, barred from leaving their homes for as long as 100 days.

In Beijing, 2,700 kilometers away, some residents under lockdown staged small protests or confronted local officials on Saturday over movement restrictions, with some successfully pressuring them into lifting the curbs ahead of schedule.

A video shared with Reuters showed Beijing residents in an unidentifiable part of the capital marching around an open-air carpark Saturday, shouting “End the lockdown!”

The Beijing government did not immediately respond to a request for comment Saturday.

The next few weeks could be the worst in China since the early weeks of the pandemic both for the economy and the health care system, Mark Williams of Capital Economics said in note last week, as efforts to contain the outbreak will require additional localized lockdowns in many cities.

Source: Voice of America