I’ve had occasion in the past to compare the situations faced by new Latino immigrants to this country to those faced by Eastern European immigrants at the turn of the century in Upton Sinclair’s legendary work “The Jungle”. I find myself turning again to this comparison upon reading reports of conditions for Latino migrant workers charged with cleanup in the Gulf states post-Katrina:

Once he got to Mississippi, Rafael said, he found things much different than promised. He said he was expected to work about 75 hours a week demolishing a casino in Biloxi but was never paid overtime. He said he received about $740 a week for the grueling work, and when he got sick for four days, his pay was suspended. He also said that the contractor still owes him for two weeks of work.

Rafael also said he wasn’t given an apartment as the recruiter had promised, but rather had to sleep in the streets or in a big workshop with about 70 other men.

Gustavo, 35, another immigrant living in Biloxi, said the same contractor recruited him in Dallas, Texas and had not paid him in four weeks. “There’s exploitation,” he said, in Spanish. “The company should pay week by week, but it’s been four.”

Interesting, given the fact that hate mongers like Mayor Nagin and others make the situation out to be a windfall for “Mexican workers” who are “taking jobs from locals”. What local would want to live like this?

During a survey of the area, Antonio Vasquez of the American Friends Service Committee met a group of immigrants brought in by a North Carolina contractor.

“They had been in a trailer for three weeks and hadn’t had food for three days, because most of them hadn’t been paid,” said Vasquez. “A lot of people don’t know what the situation is within this disaster zone. There are rampant violations of workers’ rights and health conditions.”

It seems that the shameful state of neglect of our Gulf region, revealed by Katrina, has given way to still more shame. It’s “The Jungle” all over again. The carrot is dangled in the face of the neediest and only after they are sucked dry of all dignity and vitality do we say “we don’t want you here”.

Via / New Standard News