First Year Anniversary Celebration!
La Voz del Trabajador Huesped: Centro de los Derechos del Migrante al Primero Año (The Voice of the Guestworker - Centro de los Derechos del Migrante at One Year)
CDM celebrated its first anniversary with an intensive two-day training of worker leaders, Mexican advocates, and government officials. About one hundred people crowded into the Casa de Cultura in the center of Zacatecas and took part in seminars discussing the changing nature of migration and labor and employment rights in the United States.
The event was dedicated to those migrants who have died while working in the United States. In particular two men from Zacatecas; Rito Mesa Castillo and Juan Jose Soriano Hernandez, both died while working as H-2A workers in tobacco in North Carolina. On the morning of September 2, Rito Mesa's wife gave a very moving dedication to her husband, and everybody attending fell silent for a minute to remember those who lost their lives working in the U.S.
Throughout the next two days a number of trainings were conducted for guestworker leaders, and other advocates from communities throughout Mexico, on subjects ranging from the status of legislation affecting guestworkers, to issues facing women migrants, to minimum wage and overtime law. The last evening saw a presentation of statistics and stories of CDM's work during its first year, which was followed by a large one-year anniversary celebration of the Centro.
Workers' Committee
During the weekend CDM also hosted the first meeting of its workers' committee. This new initiative brings together workers from many different parts of Mexico, and is designed to encourage migrant leadership within CDM, as well as extend CDM's reach in migrant sending communities.
The Worker’s Committee had their first meeting on Sunday, September 3, 2006, after two days of intensive training at CDM’s anniversary event. Together they began to conceive a long term strategy of outreach and education in their home communities in various states of Mexico, including Guanajuato, Jalisco, Queretero, Veracruz and Zacatecas. The Worker’s Committee decided to have their next training in early December in preparation for the return of migrant workers from the U.S. With CDM facilitating, the Worker’s Committee will come together to hone leadership skills, prepare for challenges and plan their next steps for the empowerment of migrant workers.
CDM would very much like to thank our guest speakers and trainers.
Bios of the trainers and their subjects are as follows:
D. Michael Dale [Immigration Legislation & the Future]
Northwest Workers’ Justice Project
Michael Dale is the Executive Director of the Northwest Workers’ Justice Project. Mr. Dale worked for 25 years as a legal services attorney in Oregon, directing its migrant program. When, in 1995, federally funded legal services were restricted from representing undocumented individuals and from class action litigation, Michael helped establish the Oregon Law Center to meet those needs. He has litigated and won significant cases involving minimum wage law, immigration rights, and workers compensation in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and in the Oregon appellate courts.
Cathleen Caron [Basics of the American Legal System]
Global Workers Justice Alliance
Cathleen Caron, the founder and Executive Director of Global Workers Justice Alliance, is an attorney with over a decade of human rights experience in the United States and abroad. Previously, she was in East Timor, to conduct a national needs assessment of the human trafficking situation for the Alola Foundation, chaired by East Timor’s First Lady. The final report is the first published paper on the situation of human trafficking in East Timor and serves as the basis for that country’s current national initiatives. Additionally, Cathleen has successfully litigated complex class action employment cases on behalf of foreign migrant farmworkers as a staff attorney in Florida with the Migrant Farmworker Justice Project. Before entering law school, she worked in Guatemala for over three years where she assisted Guatemalan lawyers in domestic human rights litigation, researched the needs of internally displaced persons in urban squatter settlements, and directed a regional indigenous rights program for the United Nations mission. Currently she also consults with Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative on labor migration issues.
Mónica Ramírez de Guerrero [Discrimination in the Workplace]
Southern Poverty Law Center
Mónica is the founder and director of Esperanza: The Legal Intiative for Immigrant Women of Southern Poverty Law Center. Esperanza is a project dedicated to helping immigrant women that suffer discrimination in the workplace based on gender. Mainly, the project is dedicated to helping women that suffer sexual harrassment and assault in the workplace. It is the first national project in the United States that focuses on this problem. Mónica graduated from the University of Ohio Law School and is licensed in the state of Florida.
Raul Barrera [Overtime Laws]
Now retired from the Migrant Farmworker Justice Project
Raul Barrera spent over 40 years working on behalf of migrant farmworkers in the United States. In his early years, Raul harvested crops in Florida, and became intimately familiar with the injustices and inequities endured by migrant workers. In the 1960’s, Raul was one of the first workers hired through the former Office of Economic Opportunity and helped provide services to migrant workers in Indiana. As state director of the Associate Migrant Opportunity Services, Raul led the fight for migrant workers’ rights to receive state benefits. In the 1970s, Raul began a paralegal career with Texas Rural Legal Aid, where he played key roles in major farmworker victories over the years.
Leticia Zavala [Right to Organize]
Organizing Director for the Farm Labor Organizing Committee
Leticia Zavala is currently the Organizing Director for the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC) in North Carolina. As a child, Leticia worked as a migrant farmworker, and much of her childhood was spent throughout the United States, including Ohio, Florida, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. In recent years, Leticia joined FLOC and played a large role in the Mt. Olive Pickle Workers’ victory. With Leticia’s help, FLOC reached an agreement with the North Carolina Grower’s association. This agreement expands the reach of the organization, and allows FLOC to enforce workers’ rights when the Association brings Mexican workers to the U.S. Additionally, Leticia is a member of the Board of Advisors for Centro de los Derechos del Migrante, Inc.
Javier Riojas [Rights of the Guestworker]
Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, Inc.
Javier Riojas is a Staff Attorney and Team Manager for the Employment Unit and the Small Farmer Unit at Texas RioGrande Legal Aid in Eagle Pass, Texas. During his distinguished career, Javier has played a lead role in various litigation efforts on behalf of immigrant workers. In particular, he is considered an expert in the field of H-2 litigation, and is known for his innovative and multifaceted approach to farmworker advocacy. Javier has played a key role in litigation efforts within Texas on behalf of H-2 workers for over twenty years.