I m m i g r a t i o n R e f o r m C o n f e r e n c e F r i d a y, M a y 2 8 , 2 0 1 0

B e t h Ly o n

Agricultural

Exceptionalism

U.S.

VLS Farmworker Legal Aid Clinic Goals

  Teaching goals:   Litigation and legal case management   Client-centered lawyering   Role of race and ethnicity in subordination   Bi-/multi-lingual lawyering (interpreter internship program)   Role of lawyers in social change and access to justice   Unique workforce challenges in agricultural industry

  Service Goals:   Individual representation for members of underserved

community   Know-your-rights outreach to underserved community

Waged Agricultural Work: World Overview

  40% the world’s workers are in agriculture

  30% of agricultural workers are waged employees

  Over 70 per cent of child labor is in agriculture. Some 132 million children under 15 years of age work on farms and plantations worldwide

  Agriculture is the third most dangerous industry

United States Overview

  2.5 million agricultural workers in the United States

  99% are racial minorities

  50-75% are undocumented immigrants

  21% are women

Slavery and Debt Peonage as Agricultural Worker Policies

 “Land abundance dictated slavery”: export model

 The “vast majority” of slaves brought to the United States worked on plantations: cotton, sugar, tobacco, rice

 Key role of Chinese migrants in California agriculture

 New Deal Era: 85% of agricultural and domestic workers were African American

 Agrarian ethos

Farmworker Protections (approx. %) as Compared with Other Industries

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%

100%

Current Farmworker Protections (approx. %) with Unauthorized Worker Exclusions

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%

100%

Lack of Enforcement, Lack of Support for Families

Immigration Policy as Agricultural Workforce Policy

 Bracero program

  “H2-A” Program   51,000 in 2007   Employer-tied   Excluded from basic farmworker protections

International Ag. Labor Exceptionalism

  ILO Agricultural Worker Health and Safety Convention   Did not participate in latest ILO consultation and fora on

Decent Work in Agriculture   Did not participate in IACHR litigation on

undocumented worker rights   Has not signed or ratified the UN Migrant Worker

Convention   Has not acceded to ILO Migrant Worker Conventions   Has not implemented NAALC rulings for farmworkers in

domestic courts

Fundamental ILO Conventions Compared with ILO Migrant Worker & Ag. Conventions

0 20 40 60 80

100 120 140 160 180

Fundamental, Agricultural & Migrant Worker ILO Conventions: Two U.S. Ratifications

0 20 40 60 80

100 120 140 160 180

Recent and Ongoing Change Efforts

  Immigration Amnesty and “AgJobs” Bill

  Increased enforcement

  Hazardous child work regulations

  Increased funding and innovation to combat trafficking

  NAALC litigation on right to counsel

  Binational networks: Portability of Justice and Labor Citizenship

Proposal: Comparative Indices

  Agricultural Labor Exploitation Index

  Foreign Labor Exploitation Index

  Problematize northern failure to manage labor migration   Problematize agricultural worker rights exclusions and lax

enforcement   Challenge Northern-biased index culture