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January,
2003
Immigrant
Worker Conference
Discusses Coalition Proposals
More
than 100 people came together in October, 2002 at a Berkeley
conference to discuss a new report on "Improving Health
and Safety Conditions for California's Immigrant Workers" and
to share strategies for educating immigrant workers about health
and safety on the job.
The
Working Immigrant Safety and Health (WISH) Coalition, brought
together by LOHP, developed the report and co-sponsored the conference
with LOHP. The Coalition includes community-based organizations,
unions, immigrant rights advocates, health care providers, and
local and state agencies.
"Immigrant
workers support California's economy. They pick the crops, load
the trucks, clean the bathrooms, and swing the hammers. Yet they
are getting killed on the job in record numbers, and also suffer
higher rates of injury and illness," said Robin Baker, director
of LOHP. "By participating in the WISH Coalition, we have
a unique opportunity to help put our state in the forefront of
protecting these workers."
Click
here to read the WISH final
report (in Adobe Acrobat format).
Recommendations
The
report points out that deaths on the job among immigrant workers
are increasing, even as workplace injuries and deaths overall
are declining. To improve working conditions for this population,
the report calls for a "coordinated resource, outreach,
and assistance program" and makes the following key recommendations:
- State
agencies should improve their ability to protect the safety
and health of immigrant workers by providing culturally and
linguistically appropriate educational programs in non-English
languages and employing sufficient numbers of qualified bilingual
persons in public contact positions.
- The
state should support efforts to improve health and safety conditions
in high-hazard jobs where large concentrations of immigrant
workers are employed. Activities could include research, training,
developing incentives for employers, and informing key industries—agriculture,
manufacturing, construction and personal service—about
existing solutions (for example, installing a mechanism to
prevent idling farm vehicles from suddenly moving and running
over workers).
- .To
help local communities take a more active role in protecting
and assisting immigrant workers, public and private funds should
be available for community-based organizations and unions to
carry out training programs for employers and workers, addressing
hazard recognition and control as well as legal rights and
benefits.
The
report also recommends that immigrant workers be involved in
exercising their safety and workplace rights, that data be developed
to support responsive policies and programs, and that briefings
and hearings be scheduled to "educate legislative policymakers
about the immigrant worker health and safety crisis."
Future
Action
The
report is being disseminated for further comment and action. "The
input we receive will help us to determine what our priorities
should be as we develop the coalition's work plan for next year," said
the conference organizer, LOHP's Suzanne Teran.
Already,
the California's new Labor and Workforce Development Agency (LWDA)
has agreed to increase its focus on the health and safety of
immigrant workers, Teran said. Another result of the coalition,
she said, has been the creation of a network for organizations
with shared concerns. "People have been encouraged by the
connections they have made. They are exchanging strategies and
information that help further their own work," she said.
For
more information, contact Suzanne Teran at LOHP: steran@berkeley.edu.
Also
see the Immigrant
Workers'
page for more on the WISH Coalition.
Adapted
from COEH newsletter, Bridges
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