Mexican Ambassador Asks Labor Secretary to Discuss Abuses of Mexican Agriculture, Meatpacking Workers

in the United States protect all workers, regardless of their immigration status, in practice, factors such as ignorance, fear and abuse by some employers prevent migrant workers from exercising fully their labor rights in some industries and states," Esteban Moctezuma wrote May 12. He complained that there is no federal regulation for heat stress, and that employers do not comply with rest and bathroom protocols for agriculture workers. He said that agriculture workers are excluded from general wage and hour laws that provide for overtime pay and the right to organize and bargain collectively. Specifically, he said, undocumented workers don't have access to ask for reinstatement to jobs or payment of lost wages under the U.S. labor laws. And he said that officials overlook sexual harassment and violence in both sectors. "For the aforementioned reasons, the Government of Mexico considered it necessary to point out the importance of adequately enforcing its federal regulations to guarantee the labor rights of workers in the agricultural and meat processing and packaging industries in the United States," he wrote.