PARCC Labor Studies Group Panel discussion

"Taken for a Ride: Guestworkers in the U.S." Recruited to the United States on H-2 visas, guestworkers are subjected to extreme labor exploitation. Bound to a single employer by the terms of their visas and embroiled in complex and costly recruitment and subcontracting arrangements, guestworkers lack the ability to organize, collectively bargain and otherwise challenge their working and living conditions. This event takes advantage of Syracuse's distinction as host to the Great New York State Fair, an event during which, in 2010, the conditions faced by guestworkers were brought to light after a food contractor was found guilty of wage theft and human trafficking of at least nineteen Mexican guestworkers. The speakers at this event will discuss the political-economy of U.S. guestworker programs, describe the conditions faced by guestworkers in the seafood processing and fair/carnival industries and highlight innovative local and transnational forms of organizing and advocacy aimed at improving the working conditions faced by these "excluded workers."