Guest Workers' Working Conditions in U.S. Farming: The Example of Farm Workers from Tamaulipas

Simón Pedro Izcara Palacios
Karla Lorena Andrade Rubio

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DOI: 10.2190/WR.15.1.c

Abstract

This article examines the working conditions of guest workers from Tamaulipas in U.S. agriculture, analyzes the participation of foreign temporary workers in unions, and describes the workplace risks suffered by these workers. In Tamaulipas, a state situated in the northeast of Mexico where problems of unemployment and underemployment have increased because of decreasing job opportunities in the farming sector, rural workers are eager to migrate to the United States as agricultural guest workers. However, farm work operates on the bottom rung of the job ladder, and seasonal guest workers are subject to severe exploitation. Tamaulipas's guest workers are isolated on remote farms, they are indentured to a single employer, they suffer from unsafe working conditions and underpayment, and they are generally powerless to complain of violations of their rights because they depend on the good will of their employers for future employment.

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.