Monday, September 14, 2009

Alert: Morales: US planning coups in Latin America

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=106135&sectionid=351020706

Morales: US planning coups in Latin America

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 08:21:11 GMT

Bolivia's President Evo Morales

The Bolivian president has accused the United States of planning coups in Latin America after Washington reached an agreement with Colombia over military bases.

"In Latin America, where there is a US military base there are military coups," Evo Morales told Bolivian immigrants living in Spain on Sunday.

Morales along with his allies in South America have repeatedly criticized the deal between Colombia and the US that would give the US military access to seven Colombian bases for a 10 year period.

"To the social movements of Europe and the world: Help us put an end to military bases in Latin American," he said, citing the Bolivian constitution that bans foreign bases on its soil.

According to US officials, American troops will continue to be involved in helping Colombia in counter-drug operations and in supporting its fight against leftist rebels.

However, Latin American governments believe that the US uses the regional war on drugs as a pretext to boost its regional military presence.

Meanwhile, Morales claimed earlier that the United States was involved in a military coup in Honduras that ousted President Manuel Zelaya in June.

Later, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez presented a document from the US Air Mobility Command which according to him showed Washington's future plans for the region.

The Venezuelan leftist leader claimed that the US wants to use Colombia as a power base, from which to dominate South America.

AGB/SC/DT

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Sacramento, California, Aztlan

Yahoo Email:peter.lopez51@yahoo.com

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Fractures in the Foundation: The Latino Worker's Experiene in an Era of Declining Job Quality

http://www.nclr.org/section/fractures_in_the_foundation/

Section Title

Why NCLR wrote this report

As we struggle with the task of rebuilding our economy, it is important to do as any architect would: we must examine not only the structural flaws, but also the condition of the foundation. Recognizing early on that the strength of the economy depends on the strength of its workers, ordinary Americans and public leaders constructed a foundation of laws and standards to ensure that workers are protected from harm and can reap the fruits of their labor. In the last century, policymakers set a minimum wage, capped the number of hours an individual could be compelled to work, restricted the employment of children, granted workers the right to organize, and established workplace health and safety standards.

Workers, employers, and the government all play a role in maintaining these standards, especially through the turbulence of a changing economy and a dynamic workforce. In recent decades, however, employers and government have not upheld their end of the bargain—and workers are paying the price. The most alarming indicator of this fact is that thousands of workers die on the job every year from preventable incidents. That Hispanic Americans consistently have the highest rates of fatal occupational injuries of any group compelled the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) to take a closer look at the state of workplace standards. This report provides an in-depth analysis of those standards, and it exposes serious weaknesses in the foundation of job quality.

NCLR has found that death is only one indicator of neglect for basic worker protections. Cases of workers who are never paid, who are denied basic benefits because their employer misclassified them as independent contractors, who are never compensated for a disabling workplace injury, or who are never trained on how to avoid job site hazards are a daily reality in nearly every American industry. The majority of these violations occur in low-wage jobs. Therefore, while millions of Latinos are solidly in the middle class, the focus of this report is on essential workers in less-skilled industries, such as production, food preparation and service, construction, farming, and maintenance—where more than one in every five workers is Latino.

Public opinion polls consistently find that Latinos believe strongly that opportunity comes from personal effort. The issues raised in this report prevent responsible, hardworking people from achieving the American Dream, but they are all amenable to policy change. Better enforcement of the laws on the books, modernized protections for a modern workforce, and investment in community-based strategies are essential first steps to restoring dignity to the workplace. At this unique moment of economic turmoil and anticipation for what lies ahead, a decision must be made about whether to take on these policy challenges or continue to chip away at the foundation of job quality. Workers' lives hang in the balance.

Click below to download the report

Full Report

Executive Summary

Executive Summary-Spanish

Chapter 1 Today's Latino Workforce: Diverse and Growing

Chapter 2 Bedrock of the Economy, Bottom of the Labor Market

Chapter 3 Troubling Indicators of Job Quality

Chapter 4 The Erosion of Job Quality: An Historic Perspective

Chapter 5 Major Issues Affecting Job Quality for Latinos

Chapter 6 Rebuilding Job Quality for Latinos and All Workers

Telephonic Press Briefing (Transcript)

Latino Worker Deaths Sound the Alarm for Declining Standards in America's Workplaces, Says NCLR

Major findings of this report include the following:

The experience of Latino workers sounds the alarm for what is happening to the quality of American jobs.

Latino workers are more likely to die from an injury at work than White and Black workers. In 2007, 937 Latinos, the majority of them immigrants, were killed by an injury at work. The occupational fatality rate for Latinos has remained the highest in the nation for 15 years. The Latino death toll lays bare the state of decay in American workplace health and safety standards; in all, 5,657 workers died on the job in 2007.

Click here to see "Fatal Occupational Injury Rate by Race/Ethnicity, 1992–2007"

Two in five Latino workers do not earn sufficient wages to keep their families out of poverty. In 2007, 41.8% of Latino workers earned poverty-level wages, which were about $10.20 per hour, to sustain a family of four. By comparison, 21.9% of White workers and 34% of Black workers earned poverty-level wages.

While millions of Americans worry about losing their health insurance and retirement benefits, a significant portion of working Latinos is already living those fears. In 2007, just over half (52.3%) of employed Latinos had health insurance through their employers, compared to 72.6% of White and 67.1% of Black workers. An even smaller share of Latinos (34.6%) had access to a retirement plan through their employers.

Many employers evade their legal responsibility to pay their workers and keep their work sites safe.

For employers who break the law, the chances of getting caught are slim and the penalties are low. Employers who allow dangerous conditions to persist even after a worker becomes injured or is killed have little chance of facing penalties against them. Consequently, many employers have come to treat compliance with labor laws as optional and fines for noncompliance as merely a cost of doing business.
Some employers legally sidestep accountability for their workers' well-being. For instance, the IRS code provides a "safe harbor" from penalties for employers who misclassify workers as independent contractors as long as they can prove that the misclassification is a common practice in their industry, which is often the case in industries with high Latino representation. An estimated one-third of businesses misclassify workers, robbing them of the benefits, retirement security, and health and safety protections they deserve.
Employers who take advantage of vulnerable workers drive down standards for all workers. The enactment of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 made the workplace the frontier of immigration enforcement and shifted the balance of power heavily in favor of employers. Unscrupulous employers who cut corners and threaten workers with deportation if they complain are granted an unfair advantage over employers who follow the law.

Ongoing divestment and government inaction undermine basic labor standards and devalues the contributions of workers.

The enforcement capacity of the Department of Labor is severely constrained. A typical full-time Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) employee has four times the caseload that an OSHA employee had in 1975. Employers' active discouragement of worker complaints and other causes of underreporting often misdirect these limited resources away from high-risk workplaces.
Millions of workers are without legal protection. Millions of workers are excluded from basic protections simply based on the kind of work they do. Antiquated labor laws that exclude agricultural workers and domestic workers from coverage are especially damaging to Latinos, who represent 45.1% and 37.5% of these occupations, respectively. Additionally, since the 1970s, the shifting U.S. economy has crowded less-skilled workers—including many Latinos—out of high-quality manufacturing jobs and into lower-quality service jobs. Federal labor policies have lagged behind these changes, leaving wide segments of the workforce to labor in largely unregulated work arrangements, often for low pay and no benefits.

Click here to see "Latinos Employed in Nontraditional Work Arrangements, 2005"

NCLR recommends the following steps to restore basic worker protections:

Reassert the federal government's role as workplace watchdog.

Make the punishment fit the crime for employers who break the law. The penalties for employers who fail to uphold basic wage and safety standards must be sufficient deterrents against the tendency of unscrupulous employers to cut corners, which harms their workers and their competitors. Long-overdue increases in fines and elevated legal consequences for repeat and egregious violations—especially those resulting in a worker's death—are essential first steps.
Restore funding for government outreach and enforcement efforts, with emphasis on high-risk and emerging industries. In order to keep pace with an increasingly complex labor market, Congress must devote adequate federal funds to the Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division and OSHA. Targeted programs that reach low-wage workers, subcontractors, workers on multiple job sites, and limited-English-proficient workers should be prioritized.
Support community-based organizing structures for nonunionized and nontraditional workers. In addition to working to open union jobs to Latinos, who are currently underrepresented in unions, the Department of Labor should partner with community-based organizations to pilot models for disseminating culturally competent and linguistically appropriate training and "know your rights" information to immigrant and low-wage workers. Community-based organizations can also help identify high-risk workplaces that traditional enforcement entities may miss.

Empower workers to defend themselves against exploitation.

Correct historical inequities in wage and hour laws. The rampant exploitation of farmworkers and domestic workers could be significantly reduced by eliminating outdated legal exclusions in laws that set a floor on wages and a ceiling on hours.
Strengthen policies to protect workers in nontraditional arrangements. Hiring individuals as temporary help workers, day laborers, and independent contractors is a growing trend that has left millions of workers, especially Latinos, without basic labor protections. Congress should pass legislation to close tax loopholes and crack down on industry norms that allow employers to legally evade accountability for these workers.
Uphold the rights of all workers through comprehensive immigration reform. More than ten million American workers, 81% of whom are from Latin American countries, work without legal authorization because our immigration system does not offer sufficient legal channels for immigrants. The culture of fear that exists in many workplaces enables employers to escape punishment for actively subverting workers' complaints. As a result, job quality declines for all workers. The first step toward leveling the playing field in the labor market is to fix the nation's broken immigration system. Comprehensive immigration reform requires a plan to make immigration policy more responsive to labor market needs, unclog naturalization backlogs, and incorporate stronger workplace protections.

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Education for Liberation! Venceremos Unidos!
Peter S. Lopez ~aka ~Peta-de-Aztlan~
Sacramento, California, Aztlan
Yahoo Email: peter.lopez51@yahoo.com

Come Together! Join Up! Seize the Time!
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Humane-Rights-Agenda/

http://humane-rights-agenda-network.ning.com/

http://humane-rights-agenda.blogspot.com/
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c/s

Latino Workers More Likely to Die on the Job…for 16th Year in a Row

http://www.allgov.com/ViewNews/Latino_Workers_More_Likely_to_Die_on_the_Job__for_16th_Year_in_a_Row_90913

Latino Workers More Likely to Die on the Job…for 16th Year in a Row
Sunday, September 13, 2009

(photo: immigrationhereandthere.org)

It's hard out there to be a Latino worker, according to a new report published by the National Council of La Raza. More than any other ethnic group, Latinos are at the highest risk to die on the job—a situation that has not changed in 16 years. More than 900 Latinos, mostly immigrants, died in 2007 from an injury at work, out of a total of 5,657 work-related fatalities in the U.S.

The news is grim for Latinos in other areas as well. In 2007, just over 40% of Latino workers earned poverty-level wages ($10.20/hour to sustain a family of four). Only 21.9% of Caucasian and 34% of African-American workers suffered the same fate.

Also, only 52.3% of employed Latinos had health insurance through their employers, compared to 72.6% of Caucasian and 67.1% of African-American workers. Only 34.6% of Latinos had access to a retirement plan through their jobs.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

Fractures in the Foundation (National Council of La Raza)

http://www.nclr.org/section/fractures_in_the_foundation/

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Post-9/11 immigration debate needs shift in focus: By Rinku Sen

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Post-9/11 immigration debate needs shift in focus

By Rinku Sen

8:38 AM on 09/11/2009

Post-9/11 immigration debate needs shift in focus

The Statue of Liberty at first light against a smoke-filled backdrop of the lower Manhattan skyline, Sept. 15, 2001. (AP Photo/Dan Loh)

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Related News: Young 9/11 victim leaves behind legacy of scholarship; Why we need immigration reform - now; Black and brown should unite against racial profiling

Since September 11, 2001, immigration opponents have honed their "immigrant as criminal" narrative, knowing that the specter of the foreign terrorist works perfectly.

Fifteen years ago, the nation's major newspapers refused to use "illegal" because it was dehumanizing and inaccurate. Today, the media employs the term in the context of an immigration debate in which immigrants themselves have little voice, and in which their full humanity appears to have little value.

September 11th marked a shift in the politics of race and immigration that prevents us from adopting a plan for legalization, much less overhauling our very broken system to benefit either the United States or immigrants themselves.

Currently, the Obama administration is following a purely enforcement approach to immigration, though they have promised investigation into racial profiling and human rights abuses in workplace raids and the 287(g) program that deputizes and trains local police departments in enforcing immigration law.

Last week, 500 organizations wrote to President Obama urging him to end the controversial 287(g) program. But, despite the national outcry against local officials like Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the Arizona official accused of rounding up Latinos and checking papers later, Homeland Security czar Janet Napolitano has expanded the 287(g) program.

While promoting our book about the organizing of New York City immigrant restaurant workers who lost their jobs at the World Trade Center on September 11th, my co-author and I met dozens of people who have suffered from the enforcement-only approach.

There were the 18-year-olds brought to the country as children who cannot now work or study legally. There was the group in Minnesota working to keep open an affordable housing complex whose best leader and his wife were carted off at 5 o'clock in the morning, leaving their 4-year-old son behind. There was a young man desperately trying to find his friend who had been taken by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) to an unspecified detention center.

Immigrants do more than work. They raise families; they organize to improve life for the poor; they learn new skills and build communities. Yet, they are typically treated as expendably "illegal" even if they aren't.

Comprehensive immigration reform would leave the enforcement approach in place, while changing the status of millions of undocumented people. But a little bit of legalization won't cancel out the negative effects of enforcement. Twenty years from now, the undocumented population will grow again, and we will again debate how much legalization to offer.

The traditional pro-immigrant response to restrictionists has been to characterize immigrants as hard workers simply looking for a decent living. Though more benevolent, this narrative suggests that immigrants offer nothing more than a pair of hands available for picking, cleaning and writing computer code.

The economic argument is not the only reason we need an entirely new system. The one we have is terribly broken, especially for the vast majority of poor immigrants and immigrants of color. We need a system that eases people's movement rather than restricts it (thereby equalizing the power of immigrants in relation to their employers), one that isn't fixated on preserving some outdated notion of America as simply a white, Christian country.

Until such time as immigration reform heats up again in Congress, we must reclaim the debate and change our language. For instance, we should be challenging the criminalization of undocumented workers by labeling them "illegal." Beyond this, we need to stand up for full inclusion of immigrants in our educational, health and labor systems. The struggle includes all immigrants, including those who gave their lives at the World Trade Center on September 11th.

Rinku Sen and Fekkak Mamdouh co-authored The Accidental American: Immigration and Citizenship in the Age of Globalization (Berrett-Koehler 2008). Rinku Sen is the executive director of Applied Research Center and publisher of ColorLines. Fekkak Mamdouh is the co-director of Restaurant Opportunities Center (ROC)-United. Mamdouh lost 73 friends on September 11th alongside whom he worked at Windows on the World, the restaurant at the top of the World Trade Center.

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