LAWSUIT WIN FOR COLORADO’S UNDOCUMENTED
Posted on May 26, 2009 | link
Fields of fear for Colorado farm laborers
Five undocumented Mexican workers won a civil lawsuit against their agricultural contractor employers, who were found guilty of violating the Agricultural Worker Protection Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act. The contractors offered no defense to charges of threatening the workers with violence and deducting from the workers’ paychecks fees for rent, transportation, and smuggling them across the border. The judge awarded the workers $7.8 million. To read the full article, click here.
OUT OF EXILE NEW YORK EVENT
Posted on May 21, 2009 | link
WEDNESDAY, MAY 27th 2009, 7:00pm – 8:30pm
HOUSING WORKS BOOKSTORE CAFE
126 Crosby St, New York, NY 10012
In light of the paperback release of Out of Exile, editor Craig Walzer will be speaking at Housing Works Bookstore Cafe in New York. Special guests (via sateliite): Out of Exile narrators Panther Alier and Alweel Kol.
Paperback copies, signed by Craig Walzer, Dave Eggers and Valentino Achak Deng, will be on sale at the event.
To download the event flyer, click here.
To RSVP, email mimi.lok_at_voiceofwitness_dot_com.
VOW T-SHIRTS Available
Posted on May 15, 2009 | link
If you make a donation of $25 or more, you can receive a free, custom-designed VOW t-shirt. Once you’ve made your donation, email letters@voiceofwitness.com with “T-shirt” in the subject line. In the body of your message, please indicate t-shirt size (S/M/L/XL) and how you made your donation e.g. online/check. (Offer applies to U.S. residents only.)
Undocumented workers pitch in to Utah economy
Posted on May 14, 2009 | link
Starting July 1, a Utah state law will make it easier to deport undocumented workers. There is debate in Utah about whether its 40,000 undocumented workers hurt or help the state economy. The state government spends millions of dollars each year educating undocumented workers and their children, but the Utah Hispanic Chamber of Commerce estimates that this group contributes, through payroll taxes and consumer spending, $2 billion a year to the state. To read the full article, click here.
Targeting employers puts undocumented workers at greater risk
Posted on May 14, 2009 | link
In a letter to the New York Times this week, the director of the Immigrants Rights Program of the American Friends Service Committee argues that immigration agents’ shift in focus from undocumented workers to their employers “will only drive those workers further underground, setting the stage for more exploitation and violations of labor rights.” To read the full article, click here.
