Thread: Mexican Consulate, U.S. officials reach labor agreement

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Mexican Consulate, U.S. officials reach labor agreement
June 03,2006
Brittney Booth
Monitor Staff Writer


McALLEN — The Mexican Consulate in McAllen joined forces Friday with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Hour and Wage Division to let workers know about their rights and ensure employers follow labor laws.

The two agencies signed an agreement at the McAllen Chamber of Commerce, formalizing an ongoing collaboration between the two agencies to protect low-income workers and recent immigrants from unscrupulous employers .

Under the agreement, the consulate will educate Mexican nationals who work in the United States about their rights and help them file complaints against employers who don’t provide workers compensation or benefits required under law, regardless of the worker’s immigration status.

The consulate will then turn over the complaints to the Labor Department, which can help workers claim unpaid wages. The department has already taken legal action against employers who don’t follow the law.

"This relationship is very important," said Luis Manuel Lopez-Moreno, the Mexican Consul in McAllen. "We have been working together to reach this agreement."

The department has similar agreements with Mexican consulates in many metropolitan cities, said Cynthia Watson, the Hour and Wage Division’s regional administrator.

"It’s a model that seems to be working," she said.

Because of the large amount of low-wage workers and recent immigrants in the Rio Grande Valley, the department receives a "fairly high complaint flow" from this area, Watson said.

"One of the challenges we face is that many of the recent immigrants are reluctant to approach a government agency," Watson said. Allowing those immigrants to file complaints at the Mexican Consulate, which is likely a more comfortable environment helps to alleviate that factor.

Consulate staff will receive training on certain requirements, such as the Fair Labor Standards Act, which requires employers to pay workers minimum wage and overtime and also follow child labor laws.

The training will also cover the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Protection Act, which sets out terms that employers must comply with when hiring seasonal or migrant workers; the field sanitation standards under the Occupational Safety and Health Act and programs under the Immigration and Nationality Act.

La Union del Pueblo Entero, founded by Cesar Chavez, will monitor the agreement to ensure complaints are followed and enforced if necessary, said Juanita Valdez-Cox, the organization’s Texas director.

"We are optimistic that now with the assistance of the Mexican consulate more complaints will come forward," she said. "We don’t want it to be an accumulation of complaints without a process to a solution."

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Brittney Booth covers courts and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach her at (956) 683-4437.

Under the agreement, the consulate will educate Mexican nationals who work in the United States about their rights and help them file complaints against employers who don’t provide workers compensation or benefits required under law, regardless of the worker’s immigration status.

Illegal, illegal, illegal, AHHHHHHH

Why don't we just wipe their butts for them too, I mean after all they are helpless illegals!!!!!!!1

They do not have any rights! The employers cannot be held accountable to the labor laws! They cannot even be held accountable for hiring illegals in the first place.

Where is a a banging your had against a wall emoticon when you need one.

This gets more ridiculous by the day.

Under the agreement, the consulate will educate Mexican nationals who work in the United States about their rights and help them file complaints against employers who don’t provide workers compensation or benefits required under law, regardless of the worker’s immigration status.

it appears the Mexican Consulant and the U.S. Department of Labor’s Hour and Wage Division need to learn the 'laws' before they try to educate the Mexican nations

Originally Posted by dlm1968

They do not have any rights! The employers cannot be held accountable to the labor laws! They cannot even be held accountable for hiring illegals in the first place.

Where is a a banging your had against a wall emoticon when you need one.

This gets more ridiculous by the day.

Oh the illegals will find some American lawyer that will twist our laws to favor them.

After we get the walls built...can we throw all of our lawyers over to the Mexican side?

Ok Ok before you bang MY head against the wall- hear me out- or read me out in this case. Then you can bawl me out

I think it's a Good thing to have claims against employers that hire illegals for slavery. Once the Feds get a hold of them, they'll also be investigated regarding their hiring of illegals.

Or am I just being idealistically hopeful?

Mexican nationalists have no rights here. They have NO RIGHT TO BE HERE! They have no right to live here! They have no rights PERIOD!
Ok, this is just a nightmare, and I will wake up, WONT I?

It has become all too ridiculous. We can only hope that employers would get a double whammy on this one, but hey, who are we kiding, it's the average working citizen in this country that will get it up the.......!!!!

We have seen it time and time again. I am not being a pessimist, I am trying to see it clearly and not let myself be blind. I'd rather be blissfully surprised when something good actually happens the way it should, than to feel totally duped if the same old thing happens.