Posts Tagged ‘Labor’
Mexico, One of the Hardest Working Countries
11:46 am By Maegan La Mala · Labor|Latin America|mexico|society · Comments Off
28 May 2008
While Lou Dobbs might not want to admit it, a recent article in Forbes magazine says that Mexicans are among the hardest working populations in the world. Mexico ranks number 7 in the top 10 most hardworking countries, but that obviously doesn’t mean that it is getting rich from all that labor. In fact, it ranks as the country that works the hardest but makes less money.
The U.S. ranked number 9 on the list, while the number one and two countries were South Korea and Greece, respectively.
Via / VivirMexico
Image via bengarland on Flickr
Fresh Direct Gets Fresh with its Immigrant Workforce
11:20 am By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Controversia|Food|Immigration|Labor|New York City · 1 Comment
21 Dec 2007
Fresh Direct doesn’t have a great relationship with POC communities to begin with. The company that offers NYC buyers the chance to order produce, groceries, and prepared food online and have it all delivered to their door, won’t deliver to most POC ‘hoods. But ever since the company, based in Queens, began it had relied on a largely undocumented Latino labor force. These workers, mostly relegated to working the graveyard shift in a freezing cold warehouse, are barely paid minimum wage and receive no benefits. Those hundreds of workers now are preparing not for the holiday season but to be without jobs ever since the company announced that all employees needed to prove that they were legal residents thanks to an impending Immigration and Customs Enforcement (‘ICE’) at the Department of Homeland Security official review.
Study: Foreign-born Latinos making higher wages
6:36 pm By Maegan La Mala · Immigration|Labor · Comments Off
22 Aug 2007
The Pew Hispanic Center announced today the results of a new analysis of Census Bureau data which shows that foreign-born Latinos moved up from the lower end of the spectrum and closer to the middle with regard to wages in the period from 1995-2005:
Foreign-born Latino workers made notable progress between 1995 and 2005 when ranked by hourly wage. The proportion of foreign-born Latino workers in the lowest quintile of the wage distribution decreased to 36% from 42% while many workers moved into the middle quintiles, according to a new analysis of Census Bureau data by the Pew Hispanic Center.Newly arrived Hispanic workers also were much less likely to be low-wage earners in 2005 than in 1995, in part because they were older, better educated and more likely to be employed in construction than in agriculture. Yet despite the clear movement into the middle range of the wage distribution, many foreign-born Latinos remain low-wage earners. Even though the share of Latino workers at the low end decreased, in absolute numbers this population grew by 1.2 million between 1995 and 2005.
The Pew analysis also found that as Latinos moved out of the low end into the middles, many foreign-born Asians moved into the high end of the wage earning scale.
Via / Pew Hispanic Center
The paleta man’s life is not an easy one
12:40 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Activism|Books|California|Immigration · 1 Comment
11 Apr 2006
The almost mythical “paleta man” — the guy who strolls down the streets and highways with a little cart full of popsicles, ringing a bell — has become a fixture in this country. His image, I think, puts a face on the struggle of new immigrants to the U.S. Start with nothing, do some very hard work and barely scrape by.
In the age of the internet it seems that most of the conversations about immigration are happening online. The timeliness is great, but at times the discourse lacks depth. Luckily, there are still people taking the time to research and write books that tell stories. BeyondChron.org reviews a book that tells the story of the paleta man and other immigrant workers in California’s Silicon Valley:’
Turns out that in 1993, the Delicias de Jalisco corporation had a sweet thing going it selling its products through largely undocumented Mexican immigrants throughout Northern California. The worker had to pay $2.00 a day for the pushcart and ice, and kept only 33 cents of every 75 cent popsicle sold. After working for eight hours in the hot sun, and pushing the cart for five miles, the street peddler on a good day would make $40.00. Arturo, the immigrant whose daily activities are described in the book, could make $200 a week, as much as he was making working for a non-union janitorial company.
A tough job, but somebody’s got to do it
3:15 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Immigration|Labor · Comments Off
20 Feb 2006
Coal mining isn’t a career most of us consider when pondering what we want to do for a living. Apparently even children of miners, once the heirs apparent to the vocation, aren’t considering it anymore either. Enter Latino immigrants:
The local mine company here, Sidney Coal Co., is seeking to change Kentucky mining legislation so it can hire non-English-speaking Latino workers.
Kentucky law requires that miners be fluent in English for safety reasons, but Sidney Coal, a subsidiary of Massey Energy Inc., has claimed that it cannot find enough local workers.
I want the other minority: workplace discrimination
1:04 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Labor|race|society · 1 Comment
24 Jan 2006
The Wall Street Journal has an interesting piece today about a supposed trend in the working world — blacks are being passed over for positions as employers show favoritism towards Latino candidates:
This kind of case marks a shift from years past, when blacks were likely to seek legal action against employers who showed preferential treatment toward whites. The cases highlight mounting tension between Hispanics and blacks as they compete for resources and job opportunities.
Recently, the federal agency announced it also secured a $180,000 settlement from Zenith National Insurance Corp., a national workers-compensation specialist, to be divided among 10 blacks who applied for a mailroom job at its headquarters in Woodland Hills, Calif. The job was offered to a Latino man with no mailroom experience, according to the EEOC.
Should Undocumented Workers Be Able to Sue?
11:00 am By Maegan La Mala · Immigration|Labor|New York City · Comments Off
11 Jan 2006
Today the New York a court will begin to hear a case which will likely set a precedent in labor relations. The case will determine if undocumented workers injured on the job are protected by labor laws and thus have the right to sue for injuries sustained or if their families would have the right to sue for negligence. At the center of the case is New York Labor Law 240, which was created in 1921 to protect child laborers, sweatshop workers, and mine and tunnel workers. Does this law also apply to undocumented workers? Pro-Immigrant organizations and even New York Attorney General Elliott Spitzer have weighed in in support of Gorgonio Balbuena, the Colombian who is suing his former employers, ID Realty, LLC & Dora Wecler.
Via / El Diaro/LA PRENSA
The Pew Hispanic Center released a report yesterday that shows the gap between Latino workers and White workers is widening. Latinos continue to be overrepresented in jobs paying lower wages and jobs with lower educational requirements such as jobs in the service and construction industries despite the fact that the study looked at a ten year time period which has been touted as having the “largest economic expansion in recent U.S. history”. The representation of Latinos in management and other professional areas actually declined from 1990 to 2000. Most interestingly, citizenship did not seem to be a huge factor with both Mexicans and Puerto Ricans (who are all citizens of the United States) lagging the furthest behind whites.
Via / Pew Hispanic Center
NYU Doesn’t Want to Give the World a Coke
9:34 am By Maegan La Mala · Colombia|New York City|Politics · Comments Off
29 Nov 2005
New York University may be better known for scandals with students selling coke than for drinking it, but the private university located in the heart of Greenwich Village is looking to ban the soda and all its products. The carbonated company has until December 8 to agree to an independent investigation of its Colombian bottling operations. Coke has been battling accusations of abusive and possibly criminal labor practices in Latin America including kidnapping and murder of labor leaders. The ironly of all ironies is that NYU is currently involved in their own labor dispute with grad student teachers.
Via / Gothamist
Black Friday Doesn’t Have to be so Black
25 Nov 2005
My mother had to open the retail store she manages at 7 am today. My cousins said they would be at the toy store at 6 am. The mall near my apartment was open at 5 am. The leftover turkey in the fridge, it’s time to go shopping! The day after Thanksgiving is considered the biggest holiday shopping day of the year and is sometimes called “Black Friday”. But that doesn’t mean that we have to join in the shopping madness or given the recent conversation on VL about sweatshops that we can’t shop with a conscience. There are alternatives to the early bird shopping specials and red tag sales.
Hola!
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