AF3IRM denounces guest worker program as a form of trafficking
Feminists and allies are invited to join the New York chapter of AF3IRM on March 8 — International Women’s Day — to celebrate the working women and launch its latest campaign against labor trafficking.
There will be a cash bar mixer at Madame X at 94 West Houston.
“On this day, we must think of how women through the centuries do the work that enables all work to be done,” said Leilani Montes, chapter coordinator. “This means recognizing the value of the unheralded and the mundane tasks women do, from the home to the office to the factory and fields.”
In recognizing women’s work and working women, the Association of Filipinas, Feminists Fighting Imperialism, Re-feudalization and Marginalization (AF3IRM) marks the launch of the organization’s new national campaign against sub-contracting, de-unionization and labor trafficking through the guest worker program of the United States.
“Outsourcing has come home to roost,” said Montes. “We are seeing entire corporate departments sub-contracted to outside companies, which in turn bring in migrant workers under trafficked conditions.”
The message of Pres. Barack Obama in his State of the Union address regarding preventing the export of jobs through outsourcing and bringing back exported jobs is slightly out of date, the group said in a statement.
“The steady increase of subcontracted corporate operations within the U.S. destroys unions, transforms regular work into casual hire and encourages labor trafficking,” said Montes. “The guest worker program’s inadequate provisions make the latter even easier.”
Montes said AF3IRM and its allied organizations have been instrumental in securing 24 T-visas for trafficked workers in the past two years. “We are not seeing any improvement in the situation.”
Corporate and public operations where women are the majority workers continue to be subcontracted, throwing people out of jobs and increasing U.S. poverty. Already 15 million U.S. children either live in poverty or are at risk of living in poverty, as their parents lose jobs, she said.
“For this reason, AF3IRM is focusing on the working woman this March 8th – to underscore the dire economic truth that women remain the poorest of the poor, both in the U.S. and globally.”
If you feel like talking economics for the evening, RSVP to nynj@af3irm.org.
This something to think about. It has affected me too. My wife lost her job about a year ago.