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Unscrupulous Employers Robbing Latino Wages

Latinos Twice as Likely to be Food Insecure

“Ernesto” Story from Helpline Specialist Jairo Valencia

No Estas Solo/a Campaign

National Action Summit for Latino Worker Health and Safety

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Unscrupulous Employers Robbing Latino Wages

(CNN)  Low-income Latinos are routinely discriminated against in the South, a  report released by the Southern Poverty Law Center says.  The study’s author and others say the problem exists nationwide, with millions of Spanish-speaking immigrants living “beyond the protection of the law.”

The report, released by the Southern Poverty Law Center, documents the experiences of 500 immigrants in the South, finding that Latinos routinely are cheated out of wages, are denied basic health protection and fall victim to racial profiling.

“Under Siege: Life for Low-Income Latinos in the South” details stories such as that of a Tennessee woman who says she was jailed at a cheese factory for asking for pay, a bean picker in Alabama who says his life savings were taken by police at a traffic stop, and a rapist in Georgia who was not arrested because the suspect’s victim was an undocumented immigrant.

Forty-one percent of the people surveyed said they had experienced theft of their wages by employers. Forty-seven percent said they know someone who was treated unfairly by police. Seventy-seven percent of women surveyed said they have been sexually harassed by bosses, many saying that bosses used their immigration status as leverage.

“This report documents the human toll of failed policies that relegate millions of people to an underground economy, where they are beyond the protection of the law,” said Mary Bauer, author of the report. “Workplace abuses and racial profiling are rampant in the South.”

But such discrimination is also rampant nationwide, she said. The human-rights law center focused on the South because that’s the area the Montgomery, Alabama-based group knows best, she said.

Teodoro Maus, president of the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights, has heard thousands of discrimination complaints from Mexican immigrants during the past two decades.

“It’s absolutely correct that there’s generalized discrimination,” he told CNN. “There’s a general feeling that discrimination is valid because these people are illegal, because these people have no right to be here.”

But the attitude toward discrimination has changed throughout the years, said Maus, who was also the Mexican consul general in Atlanta, Georgia, from 1990 to 1994 and from 1995 to 2001.

“The big difference from previous years is that there were discriminatory acts before, but not the belief that discrimination is allowed,” he said.

Bolstered by what Maus called “an ultraconservative element,” some people “realized they could have open aggression against a group of people who could not defend themselves.”

Bernardo Mendez Lugo, Mexico’s deputy consul in Tucson, Arizona, said he sees three main forms of discrimination: racial profiling by law enforcement officers, problems in the workplace and difficulties in the rental housing market.

In the workplace, he said, employees often find they are passed over for promotions despite their qualifications or length of employment. The abuse, Mendez Lugo said, is generally aimed at undocumented workers.

“They are told, ‘I’m going to call immigration [authorities] if you keep asking,’ ” Mendez Lugo said.

Federal officials say there are more than 12 million undocumented immigrants in the United States. Most of them come from Mexico and other Latin American countries.

The center urged the federal government to strengthen labor laws and crack down on racial profiling.

“We’re talking about a matter of basic human rights here,” said Southern Poverty Law Center President Richard Cohen. “By allowing this cycle of abuse and discrimination to continue, we’re creating an underclass of people who are invisible to justice and undermining our country’s fundamental ideals.”

Source: CNN

Latinos Twice as Likely to be Food Insecure

This document is taken from the President and CEO of NCLR, Janet Murguia’s presentation to the Subcommittee on Department Operations, Oversight, Nutrition, and Forestry on The Effect of Food Insecurity in the Latino Community.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Hispanic household food insecurity rate (17.9%) is twice as high as the rate for non-Hispanic White households (8.2%), the most food secure.6

In addition, Latino households with children have even higher rates of food insecurity; 21.6% of these households experience food insecurity compared to 11.8% of similar White households. Because of the dearth of resources in many Latino households, their ability to make food purchases is restricted.  While the typical non-Hispanic White U.S. household spends $45 per person each week for food, Hispanic households spend 25% less, just $33 weekly per person.7

A survey in the Journal of Nutrition found that some of the consequences of food insecurity include hunger pangs, fatigue, lack of concentration at school, low work capacity, stress, disrupted household dynamics, and distorted means of food acquisition and management. 9

Respondents to the survey reported depression, increased need for health care, and decreased participation in social activities. 10 Families will go to great lengths to keep their children from going hungry, which is why it is so alarming that many Latino children do not have adequate resources for a nutritious diet. Food insecure children are twice as likely to be in fair or poor health.11

Further, a survey of parents of low-income, young Latino children who are food insecure found that they are two times more likely to note developmental concerns, including risks of developmental delays or disabilities, than households with children who have adequate resources for food.12 Even small cognitive changes can have lasting impacts on a child s education. Even when a child experiences even mild levels of food insecurity, data suggest that school performance and social skills are comprised.13

The coping mechanisms associated within adequate food resources such as overeating when food is available, compromising the quality of food in order to consume higher quantities, and even skipping meals, which causes metabolic shifts can result in a higher propensity for weight gain. While food insecurity persists in the Latino community, there is also a rising trend of obesity. One recent study found that among Latino preschoolers children in the critical stages of growth nearly one-quarter (24.4%) were identified as obese.15

Food insecurity also has a broader impact on society. The increased risk for and severity of sickness and disease that results from food insecurity can create a demand for more physician time, extensive levels of treatment, and greater rates of hospitalization all of which require more money and resources. The health care costs associated with increased illness due to food insecurity not only fall on individuals who suffer from these effects, but ultimately add strain to the entire health care system.

There is also mounting evidence that the overweight and obesity trends in the United States are due, in part, to high levels of food insecurity.14

The educational benefits of participating in government assistance programs include contributing to families achieving a higher level of nutrition. Program participants are more likely than low income nonparticipants to lack confidence about their knowledge of good dietary practices and the quality of their diet. However, they benefit from nutrition education, which promotes consumption of healthier foods, a balanced diet, and physical activity. The results can be seen in the healthier choices they make in grocery stores.17 Further, the education of adult participants is likely to have lasting impact on the younger family members, encouraging children to make healthy choices in and outside of the household. Although it is difficult to establish a direct causal relationship between participation and health outcomes because of the added effects of the program on reducing poverty and improving socioeconomic status, data show that participants are able to make more deliberate choices that maximize the nutrition content of their food. In fact, despite rising obesity rates throughout the country for the population overall, women who
participated in the Food Stamp Program from 1999 to 2002 were less likely to be overweight and
were able to keep their weight relatively steady compared to nonparticipants.18

Document sampled from the House Committee on Agriculture website.

For more information on Food and Nutrition Assistance Programs visit: www.fns.usda.gov

“Ernesto” Story from Helpline Specialist Jairo Valencia

The fear of losing a child is terrifying for any parent. For “Ernesto,” this nightmare has become reality as he tirelessly fights for custody of his five-year-old son. This overwhelmed father in need recently called Acceso Hispano’s bilingual toll-free helpline (1-800-473-3003) and shared his heart-wrenching story with Helpline Specialist Jairo Valencia.

The phone call revealed that “Ernesto” was a victim of domestic abuse and for that reason was forced to leave his home. His ex-wife has since denied access to their child despite his continued financial support. Desperate, “Ernesto” turned to the courts for help but was unable to garner neither legal representation nor a Spanish interpreter. These barriers prevented him from communicating to the judge that his ex-wife had a history of both domestic and alcohol abuse. After hearing their testimonies, the judge ruled in favor of the mother because “Ernesto” could not provide receipts documenting payments made to support their son.

Determined to protect his child, “Ernesto” will fight to have his case heard before a circuit court. Unsure of how to approach such a process, he turned to Acceso Hispano for help. Jairo Valencia patiently listened to this father’s story and immediately connected him with organizations in the Acceso Hispano Community Service Directory. These resources are located in his community and will provide counsel for “Ernesto” as he fights to overcome legal, cultural and social challenges in the battle for the wellbeing of his child.

Like the thousands of other people who call the Acceso Hispano Helpline, “Ernesto” is in a difficult situation – but he is not alone. Jairo Valencia and the rest of the Acceso Hispano team will continue to provide support to this father and will follow-up on his story.

by Janessa Nickell

No Estas Solo/a Campaign

Designed specifically for the US Department of Justice-Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), Self Reliance

Foundation (SRF) launched a pilot Spanish-language human trafficking public awareness campaign featuring a major media and grassroots outreach campaigns in Washington, DC, Virginia and Maryland to build awareness and to assist the local human trafficking programs and services in increasing reported cases of human trafficking. This targeted, cross-platform 4 week communications strategy, which launched in December of 2009, was designed to reach victims and engage local Hispanic communities in identifying and rescuing victims of human trafficking.

Working together with members of the Washington DC Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force, the DC based-AYUDA, Inc., Polaris Project, and Hispanic Communications Network, Self Reliance Foundation delivered a high-impact Spanish-language educational multimedia campaign in the DC metropolitan area that delivered critical information on human trafficking and promoted critical information and key services to the local Spanish-speaking population. The integrated media campaign included 28 bus and 16 bus shelter posters that were located in predominately Hispanic neighborhoods, resulting in more than 5 million media impressions. An innovative call-in media campaign included phone card messaging to 550,000 Spanish-speaking consumers. Radio spots ran on 4 local Spanish stations resulting in 785,000 media impressions, and a live call-in radio program featured bilingual experts who provided detailed facts, information and resources to listeners. The campaign included television spots that ran during popular programs on local Univision and Telemundo stations resulting in more than 750,000 impressions.

The campaign offered a toll free hotline that received more than 3,000 calls during the campaign period. The calls received were primarily from individuals who were potential victims of a wide variety of potential trafficking issues including labor exploitation, unfair labor, domestic violence, sexual exploitation. Self Reliance Foundation’s Acceso Hispano Helpline (Linea de AYUDA) provided quality bilingual information and referral to our nonprofit partners AYUDA and the National Human Trafficking Resource Center and other local service providers.

To reinforce the media campaign’s message, SRF collaborated with the Hispanic-serving community and faith based partners to disseminate the campaign’s public education materials, and develop interpersonal grassroots outreach efforts to engage potential “Good Samaritan” members of the greater Hispanic community in the campaign. Our strategy of “in the air” and “on the ground” marketing efforts were designed to meet our goals of increasing the number of community members who are understand how to identify human trafficking victims, are aware of the purpose and services of the local service providers, and ultimately are willing to work with the these groups to identify, rescue, and assist human trafficking.

National Action Summit for Latino Worker Health and Safety

April 14, 2010

to

April 15, 2010

April 14-15, 2010
Houston, Texas

Who Will Attend:

Workers and representatives from employer associations, labor unions, the faith community, community organizations, worker centers, the medical community, safety and health professionals, educators, government officials, Consulates, the entertainment community, the advertising industry, and other non-traditional partners.

The Goal:

Reducing injuries and illnesses among Latino workers by enhancing knowledge of their workplace rights and improving their ability to exercise those rights.

The Scope:

The Summit will target the construction industry and other high risk industries that employ large numbers of Latino workers.

The Action Agenda:

The Summit will develop a working agenda to prevent injury and death among Latino workers. It will showcase innovative partnerships, demonstrate successful education and training strategies, and develop effective enforcement and communication strategies.

Where: Hilton Americas Hotel, Houston, Texas

Co-Sponsored with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health

In partnership with the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

To Register for the Conference and the Hotel click here

Source:   www2.ergweb.com