Great Successes at the Latino Worker Health & Safety Summit
Last week we took workers to Houston, Texas for what could be a historical event, the National Action Summit for Latino Worker Health & Safety. The worker leaders who joined us on the trip have...
View ArticleA Little Knowledge Yields A Lot Of Power
I never expected something so small that it could fit in a back pocket to make such a big difference. For many in this country, information is readily available via the Internet. But this is not the...
View ArticleImmigration Reform Benefits American Economy
Why would immigration reform make sense from an economic and labor point of view? Many are saying that immigrants come here and are taking away jobs from lots of “Americans”. That’s not entirely true...
View ArticleChinese Labor and American Immigration
Rumor has it the end of cheap labor is coming to China. I really doubt that is true, but at least it is looking better for some Chinese workers in terms of receiving something similar to fair wages. We...
View ArticleDefending the 14th Amendment
The 14th Amendment is the affirmation that all persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to its jurisdiction are, in fact, U.S. citizens. Efforts to dismantle are moving us backwards...
View ArticleHardhat Decals Created by Immigrants and Refugees to Improve Safety
Let me tell you a story of a how a simple sticker can be used to send a message that could literally safe lives and limbs. Eight months ago, it was a cold and snowy January weekend in Iowa when …...
View ArticleStress, Working Conditions and Workers Health
Low paying and high stress jobs take a toll on the human body. No I am not a doctor, but I spend a lot of time talking to low wage workers in high stress work environments across the Midwest. I …...
View ArticlePunitive Rules in Food Processing Endanger Workers and Consumers
Talking with workers in food plants, mostly where turkeys and hogs are processed, I hear many disturbing stories. Just a few months ago management at one of these plants fired a woman who had been...
View ArticleTemp agencies make job security tough for meatpacking workers
Temporary work agencies have been popping up all over the country. I did a Google search for agencies in Iowa alone and came back with 53,000 results. As I talk to workers, many of them say they are...
View ArticleMeatpacking workers ready for struggle in 2011
It has been about 30 years since the turkey plants began to open in the Iowa and other parts of the rural Midwest. The location was ideal for corporations. After breaking up the labor unions in...
View ArticleI-9 Verification, riddled with errors, continues to hurt American workers
In 2005, the US initiated the I-9 verification program for employers. The I-9 Form is used by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to verify an employee’s identity and eligibility to work in the...
View ArticleImmigrant and refugee workers undercut by temp agency hiring
Times are hard and a lot of Americans are having difficulty finding jobs. Immigrants, refugees and other workers of color are having the hardest time. With more states requiring that employers use...
View ArticleFood workers struggle for justice with tomato pickers in Immokalee
Earlier this month, I along with a few workers from the Midwest joined hundreds of protesters and Immokalee workers in Tampa, Florida. This effort to bring more attention to the plight of food workers...
View ArticleShows of Unity Permeate this Year’s National Latino Congreso
My experience this past weekend at the National Latino Congreso in Austin, TX, was truly inspiring, as many of us convened together with Latino leaders and grassroots organizers from across the country...
View ArticleImmigrants are Vital to Our Communities
A few months back workers were let go from their jobs at a local processing plant in Iowa due to discrepancies with their immigration status. I started to get calls on a cold Monday in January. Workers...
View ArticleFear and Loathing on the Killing Room Floor
Where animals are slaughtered and processed, where the meat is portioned and packaged, several dangerous elements exist. Processing plants in this country dispense with over 400 head of cattle per...
View ArticleMeat-Packing Workers Coalesce after Attack by Supervisor
As many of us know, immigrants are often exploited in the workplace, but many of us aren’t privy to the severe impunity, even physical violence, that their supervisors sometimes display. Such was the...
View ArticleThink Your Summer was Hot? Try Working in the Agricultural Fields of the US.
Much of this country’s food production depends on foreign laborers who come to this country temporarily. The US contracts with other governments to bring workers here to do the “unwanted, unpleasant...
View ArticleBullying in the Work Place & in Our Schools: the Same Problem
Bulling is an obvious problem in this nation, one that’s receiving more and more serious attention in recent times. Young Jamey Rodemeyer, for example, took his life because some other cruel boys were...
View ArticleGiving Thanks to the Immigrants Working the Processing Plant Floors
With the Thanksgiving holiday here, I’d like to take a moment to talk about the workers who process and pack the turkeys that so many of us will consume. When I drive through the state of Iowa and...
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