Welcome, campesinos, but don’t be greedy; don’t expect to be paid the Minimum Wage!

Say what?

Senator Saxby Chambliss, a Republican (tenía que ser) from Georgia, has proposed that the Mexican farm workers recruited under the so-called H2A program (foreign temporary workers program) be excluded from the protection of the Minimum Wage provision of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). In other words, he wants these H2A workers, who work very hard for long hours picking the food for our tables, to earn less than $5.15 per hour. ¡Pura esclavitud y cheap labor!

Senator Chambliss has proposed a bunch of amendments to strip Mexican “guest” agricultural workers of the few protections and rights they have now. Things like eliminating provisions that prohibit employers from firing a worker without a just cause or rising fines imposed upon the ones that decide to apply for temporary residency from $100 to $1000. But the one most serious is amendment 3232 that would slash the H2A program already inadequate wage rates by getting rid of the protection of the federal minimum wage provided by FLSA.

This is a tragedy if we consider that farm workers in US already earn the lowest wages in the labor force. Farm workers average income is about $7,000 a year, not even close to half the income of a worker living in poverty according the so-called Federal Poverty Income Guidelines. A farm worker of the border area, picking chile in New Mexico or picking onions in the El Paso Lower Valley already earns a salary equivalent to about $25 a day. So the Farm workers, who are now the poorest of the poor, will continue to sink into extreme poverty.

If the flamante senador señor Chambliss succeed, who is going to win? Not the consumers. No way! The winners will be the large farmers and big agribusiness because they will be able to pay less salary and make more profits.

No wonder el senador Chambliss is considered some kind of a hero by big food agribusiness and large grower associations. Just read what Mr. Woods Eastland from Greenwood, Mississippi and former head of the National Cotton Council (NCC) declared once: “Agriculture is fortunate to have someone with Senator Chambliss’ wealth of knowledge, experience and respect for the agricultural committee to take charge of the committee”… At the same time, Mr. Bob McLendon, a big farmer from Leary, Georgia, and also a former presidente of the NCC, said: “Agriculture is fortunate to have Senator Chambliss… Senator Chambliss has been extraordinarily responsive to the concerns of production agriculture.” McLendon further said: “We look forward to working with him and our colleagues in the commodity, specialty crop, livestock, conservation and nutrition communities as he helps us meet the challenge of providing the world’s safest, most abundant and most affordable supply of food and fiber...”

To read more about the H2A Program, visit:

http://www.ejm.lsc.gov/EJMIssue3/LitigationReport/litigation_report.htm

This site will give you a good simple description of FLSA:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_Labor_Standards_Act

To learn more about farm workers visit:

http://www.farmworkers.org