| http://flsny.yellowmoonbroadcasting.com/2008/07/14/the-struggle-of-farm-worker-women.aspx | Cheryl Gee and Alina Diaz, advocates from FLSNY, show us a glimpse of the struggles of farm worker women through pictures and interviews produced by Danielle Finkelstein. Danielle Finkelstein graduated from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University, in May of 2008 with a degree in photojournalism. She is now working as a freelance photojournalist in New York City. She has a strong commitment to issues of immigration and human rights. Ms. Finkelstein can be reached via email at dbfinkel@syr.edu or phone at (516.633.8263). |
Last month, representatives from the Farmworker Legal Services of New York (FLSNY) conducted a free, online training (see below for WebEx
link) for members of Rescue & Restore focused on human trafficking and the farmworker community. FLSNY underscored the conditions that may lead migrant workers into forced labor situations. The training also highlighted the need for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and service providers to train their members on working with the migrant farmworker community and connecting to local agencies that can provide immediate and long-term assistance to victims.
In addition to agricultural migrant work, forced labor in the United States can occur in the following situations: domestic service; small businesses; "Mom and Pop" operations (tree-cutting, nail salons, restaurants, industrial cleaning); factories; construction sites; and even peddling/begging rings. Labor trafficking victims can be U.S.
citizens or people from other countries. They may be young children, teenagers, or adult men and women.
Victims are often lured with false promises of good jobs and better lives, and then forced to work under the threat of violence or some other form of punishment, and often in inhuman conditions. In situations of forced labor, traffickers exert a degree of ownership over the victim and restrict the victim's physical and psychological freedom.
Victims are often kept isolated to prevent them from getting help.
Also, victims may have their work or travel documents confiscated by traffickers, only to be blackmailed by the traffickers regarding their status as undocumented aliens or their participation in an illegal industry. Traffickers also keep victims compliant by threatening to report them to law enforcement or immigration officials.
Labor trafficking can take the form of debt bondage in which the victim's work is demanded as repayment for a loan or services, and terms and conditions have not been defined. For example, the value of the work of the person in bondage is greater than the original sum of money "borrowed," but the debt is not forgiven.
Possible indicators that a victim of labor trafficking might display include (but are not limited to) the following: malnourishment; signs of physical abuse, such as bruises, broken bones, burns and scarring; skin or respiratory problems caused by exposure to chemicals; infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis and hepatitis, which are spread in overcrowded work environments with limited ventilation; substance abuse problems; untreated injuries; pelvic pain, urinary tract problems (if sexually exploited as well); and psychological problems such as shock, denial, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, panic attacks, and phobias.
]]>65 years we’ve been importing men as cattle
while we rattle their existence like they’re enemies in battle.
From the Bracero to the H-2A we make them work and
then we make them pay with prison if they wish to stay.
Pick that fruit! cut the cabbage, milk the cow
quick fast ‘cause we think of them as savage;
call them illegal if they have no working papers
then convince the population that there eagle came to rape us.
Or is it ego that prevents us from surrendering to equal treatment?
logic is a lonely friend.
Is it predicting end to all existence that has made us distant
from the punch that makes the breathless bend?
Play pretend with politicians if you wish
but I don’t want to fish their fish, I rather play with ammunition.
My deadly weapon is my word and
I will have their stories heard before a wall assumes submission.-Sai-
Robert Bilheimer, President of Worldwide Documentaries, is a world-renown, Oscar nominated director of films that delve into the human tragedies of today’s global community. In 1989 his film, Cry of Reason, about South African anti-apartheid leader was nominated for an Academy Award. His 2003 feature-length film A Closer Walk focused on the global AIDs epidemic. He visited Farmworker Legal Services to interview FLSNY staff for his latest project on human trafficking and modern-day slavery. In his film, Not My Life, Slavery in our time, he takes us on a journey into the depravity of trafficking, its global roots, and its pervasiveness.
Global does not mean every place outside of the United States. Global does not mean New York State is exempt from trafficking. On the contrary, Mr. Bilheimer is here today because FLSNY daily reaches out to agricultural workers in New York State to investigate human trafficking.
]]>Pesticides are an issue that extends beyond the workplace and into the homes of farmworkers through "take home exposure." Here, we discuss the implications of this exposure for farmworker families.
]]>Pesticide exposure is a very real problem for farmworkers throughout the United States. Pesticides can have very serious effects both in the short- and long-term on workers’ health. FLSNY has an outreach and education program that focuses on: health effects, protections that exist for workers, and what workers can further to do protect themselves. Here we discuss this outreach program and the occupational exposure to chemicals that is a daily reality of farmworkers’ lives.
]]>Farmworker Legal Services of New York, Inc. (FLSNY) is a not-for-profit corporation providing free legal services to New York's migrant and seasonal agricultural workers. FLSNY's lawyers and paralegals provide a wide range of legal advocacy on behalf of farm workers. FLSNY seeks to assure that agricultural employers and housing providers in New York and nationwide comply with the law, that government entities respect farm workers' civil rights, and that the public is educated about farm worker exclusions from existing labor laws.
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