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The
Working Immigrant
Safety and Health Coalition (WISH)
Many
immigrants in the San Francisco Bay Area
work in the garment industry. (Artwork courtesy
of UNITE.)
Immigrants in the U.S. often face the most dangerous work
but have the least resources to protect themselves. In 2001,
LOHP helped launch the WISH Coalition to build skills, share
strategies, and propose policy recommendations to improve the
health and safety of California's immigrant workers.
NEW! WISH Website
In
2005, the WISH Coalition launched its own website at www.wishcoalition.org.
To learn more about WISH from its new site, click here.
About
WISH
With
funding from the University's Institute for Labor and Employment
and the California Department
of Health Services, Occupational Health Branch, WISH was formed
to:
- Identify
and share strategies to protect the health and safety of immigrant
workers. What works? How can we form an effective network?
- Develop
a policy briefing paper with recommendations regarding education
and advocacy strategies to reduce the risk of job-related injury
and illness among immigrant workers.
- Involve
workers and community groups in developing recommendations.
- Sponsor
a conference to disseminate the findings to policy makers, labor
unions, workers, management, researchers, advocacy groups, and
other potential partners.
- Begin
developing a network of organizations to provide training
and support for immigrant workers regarding health and safety
in the workplace.
This initiative has received commitments from the Alameda County
Labor Council, San Francisco Labor Council, San Mateo Labor Council,
SEIU Local 250, Sweatshop Watch, Asian Immigrant Women Advocates,
La Raza Centro Legal, Cal/OSHA, California Department of Health
Services Occupational Health Branch (HESIS), and the Center for
Occupational and Environmental Health at UC Berkeley, San Francisco,
and Davis.
To
become involved with the WISH Coalition, contact Suzanne Teran
at LOHP, (510) 642-5507, or e-mail her: steran@berkeley.edu.
WISH Conference
In
October, 2002, WISH co-sponsored a Berkeley conference with LOHP
to present a new report detailing recommendations it developed
over the past year.
Click
here to read the WISH final
report (in Adobe Acrobat format).
Background—Immigrant
Working Conditions
Immigrant
workers are:
- Disproportionately
represented in dangerous industries (construction, manufacturing,
and agriculture) and in hazardous occupations within those industries.
- Disproportionately
represented among temporary workers, part time workers, and workers
in the informal economy. Their high turnover is related to higher
injury rates; most injuries occur during a worker's first year
on the job.
- Paid
less and exposed to more environmental and occupational risks.
Employment in fields such as home health care, restaurants, and
child care/domestic services offers low wages, few benefits, and
multiple occupational hazards. Immigrants also have less access
to health care and insurance than white non-Hispanics.
- Subjected
to racism and discriminatory practices, a situation aggravated
in the aftermath of the September 2001 tragedy.
Special
Risk Factors for Immigrant Workers
- Language
and cultural factors can be barriers to receiving adequate safety
training.
- Workers
are less likely to report hazards on the job due to fear about
job security, language issues, or lack of knowledge about their
rights.
- Concerns
about immigration status (for both documented and undocumented
workers) prevent adequate access to basic services and discourage
exercising basic rights.
Immigrant
Workers in California
- By
2000, 32.4% of California's population was Hispanic and 12% was
Asian or Pacific Islander. The two cities in the U.S. with the
highest percentage of foreign-born residents are Los Angeles (38.4%)
and San Francisco (34%). In California, 31% of persons 5 years
or older speak a language other than English at home.
- Asian
workers are over-represented in certain manufacturing industries.
In 1992 they held 43% of Silicon Valley assembly and operative
jobs in electronics. In the Bay Area, 53% of all textile and apparel
workers are Asian women.
- Hispanic
workers in California are concentrated in blue-collar jobs—less
than 10% are in managerial and professional occupations.
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