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The accusation of discrimination against rural workers stains the T-MEC in its first year

2021-03-24T02:31:32.470Z


Women are the protagonists of the first complaint within the free trade agreement for being excluded from visas for agricultural jobs and denounce that they are referred to sectors with lower wages


Farmworkers with temporary visas make their shift in Greenfield, California, on January 4 Brent Stirton / Getty

The first complaint under the trade agreement between Mexico, the United States and Canada has had women as the protagonist.

The organization Centro de los Derechos del Migrante (CND) presented the document to the Labor Policy and Institutional Relations Unit on Tuesday.

It contains an analysis of the episodes of violence experienced by women agricultural workers who migrate with a temporary visa to the United States to obtain employment in the fields.

The organization claims that women are excluded from recruitment for jobs in the fields because of their gender and diverted to lower-paying jobs where they face violence and abuse.

Mexico, the United States and Canada inaugurated a new commercial stage last July with the entry into force of the new Free Trade Agreement (T-MEC) after former President Donald Trump asked to renegotiate the old North American Free Trade Agreement ( NAFTA).

This first complaint accuses the United States Government of failing to comply with labor laws against discrimination based on sex for migrant workers on temporary labor migration visas.

The CND has documented how "for 15 years" the US Government has allowed "systemic discrimination based on sex."

The organization claims that job postings for the H-2 visa on social media and in communities across Mexico reveal overt discrimination based on sex during the hiring process.

"Lack of oversight of the hiring process allows US employers to shirk responsibility for gender dissemination," the document reads.

Adareli Ponce Hernández relates that since the first time she went to the United States 18 years ago, the situation of discrimination against women has remained the same.

Ponce then went out to look for work as a secretary in Mexico and was rejected.

"We necessarily have to go looking for work because we see how things are in our country," he detailed at a press conference.

She lived in the State of Hidalgo, within a migrant community where men migrate to seek income with an H2 visa in agricultural jobs in the United States.

He decided to do the same.

“That's where my ordeal began.

Men do not fight anything, but we are singled out for being women and they tell us that we cannot do that job ”, she has detailed.

Like her, hundreds of thousands of migrant workers cross the border each year to work on H-2A agricultural visas and H-2B visas in non-agricultural industries, such as construction and seafood processing.

90% of the visas that are granted are given to Mexican citizens, but less than 10% of the total are for women, according to the CDM.

"Due to discriminatory recruitment and hiring practices, women are largely excluded from access to these visas," the organization denounces.

As a result, many are forced to carry out jobs where they suffer abuse and violence.

Rachel Micah-Jones, founder and CEO of CDM, has highlighted that discrimination continues to grow in temporary work programs.

“By not enforcing its anti-discrimination laws, the United States is fostering gender inequality.

The Governments of Mexico and the United States must respond quickly and meaningfully to demonstrate that the labor protections under the T-MEC are not just words on paper, ”he declared.

The complaint also calls for the necessary measures to be taken to abolish the segregation of women in rural positions.

Among them, they recommend making the complaints channel more accessible for female workers in several languages, investigating workplaces to detect cases of discrimination, as well as facilitating access to legal services to report bad practices in the field.

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Source: elparis

All news articles on 2021-03-24

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