II. Temporary workers and recruitment in the regional migration corridor (Central America-Mexico-U.S.) Milena Novy-Marx, MacArthur Foundation:

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1 GCIR International Migration Peer Learning Group Conference Call Notes October 23, 2012 Group Members: Kate Brick (Unbound Philanthropy), Daniel González (Fundación AVINA), Tara Magner (MacArthur Foundation), Milena Novy-Marx (MacArthur Foundation), Maria Teresa Rojas (OSF), John Slocum (MacArthur Foundation), Naomi Spitz (OSF), Astrid Ziebarth (German Marshall Fund). GCIR Staff: Felecia Bartow, Daranee Petsod. I. Welcome and Introductions: Daranee and Felecia welcomed participants and provided an overview of the agenda for the call. II. Temporary workers and recruitment in the regional migration corridor (Central America-Mexico-U.S.) Milena Novy-Marx, MacArthur Foundation: (Please see Improving Recruitment Practices table for additional details and information.) The regional migration corridor through Central America and Mexico is aimed for jobs in the United States; the issue quickly becomes a global one. Approximately 700,000 to 900,000 workers are recruited every year. The employers who are doing the recruiting range from mom and pop businesses to very large firms. Recruitment agencies are tasked with worker placement; staffing agencies are used in specific sectors, such as the health care industry. These agencies contract with a hospital, for example, and pay the wages for the person who comes to the United States; a much more profitable model, but complex and difficult to regulate. There are a large number of visa categories. Main temporary visas: H2A (no cap, 55K 2010, 93% are from Mexico and most are undocumented); H2B (47K 2010; capped at 56K). Recent reforms to H2B. J1 student visa, exchange for students and workers; 320K visas H1A, H1B. Whole range of other visas, they will share a report that covers them after the call. The concept of recruitment varies by industry. Difficult to manage and regulate; there are many people involved. Typically, a local person (known in the community) contacts the workers or vice versa. Recruiter knows that visas are available and may go with the worker to get one. Sometimes they ask for documents, and they may or may not show them the employment contract. Housing can be substandard. Pre-employment orientation is especially important in health care and other industries. 1

2 Regulatory oversight is hard to keep track of from a civic society standpoint. The Department of Labor (DOL), Department of State (DOS), and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) are all involved in different cases; they don t always communicate well. In the U.S., the employer is liable for abuses by a recruiter; hard to prove that an employer knew about conditions in Mexico. There are far too many human trafficking cases associated with offers of temporary employment, along with outright fraud. Migrants pay for a visa for a job that doesn t exist. They are charged a recruitment fee along with fees for their passport, travel, etc.; some go into debt bondage or are indebted to their employers. Discrimination is also an issue. For example, 40 percent of applicants for agricultural jobs are women (only four percent are hired). Work site may be very different than what was promised (e.g., substandard housing, etc.). Visa, Inc. report details the perfect storm of factors that conspire against migrants, such as minimal access to justice in the US, combined with other factors. Policy concerns include a lack of social support (e.g., pensions, Social Security) and health care, which has an impact on sending countries. People have a right to migrate See Improving Recruitment Practices table for an overview responses, outcomes, and organizations/efforts. Responses include: immigration policy reform (e.g., more cooperation between sending and receiving countries); improved regulation and oversight; market-oriented measures; voluntary approaches; pre-departure training; information and communications technologies; standardized employment contracts; advocacy/policy/research; alternative recruitment mechanism; and litigation. Also, a transnational justice approach includes networks of pro bono attys. The Equitable Food Initiative is a market-oriented approach in the agricultural industry that is aimed at whole supply chain. Good wages, working conditions. Among the current partners are: Costco, Farmworker Justice, Oxfam, and the United Farm Workers. In the next 1-2 years, this will be rolled out to consumers, but it has been at least a two-year process to get to this point. At Costco, a high-level VP got personally involved and interested. Arguments risk management; there are lots of risks in the supply chain. Surveys show that 20 percent of consumers are willing to pay a premium for products produced with fair labor standards. MacArthur began funding through migration, but realized that this was so far beyond a migration effort and the farmworker population. Now they fund through discovery grants program (high-risk, highreward). MacArthur has invested $500K over several years; Oxfam has contributed resources, too. Daniel noted that AVINA has been promoting fair trade coffee in Latin America; their main partner has been Fair Trade USA. Depending on impact you are trying to create establish connections between our foundations so we can complete the different pieces of the puzzle; these pieces are interconnected. It has taken Fair Trade USA over a decade to grow the fair trade market in the U.S. Daniel will send everyone a report on standards wars. 2

3 III. Temporary workers and recruitment in Asia and the Middle East María Teresa Rojas and Naomi Spitz, Open Society Foundations (MTR) OSF wants to learn from other fields, industries. There are striking similarities between Asia/Middle East and the U.S./Mexico/Central America corridors. There has been little attention paid to the recruitment process itself in the Middle East. We want to increase protections for migrants and then shift policies in the long term. Two populations of focus and concern are: migrant domestic workers and construction workers (in the Gulf States), and migrants-in-transit. Can we recommend specific practices, increase accountability, and decrease impunity in terms of how migrants are employed? This will require transnational coordination and advocacy. By focusing on reforming recruitment practices, we can make some gains that will make a difference in the lives of migrants. The goal is to nurture growing global movements, e.g., domestic workers. (NS) OSF s work is focused on temporary workers (Indonesia, Nepal, and Philippines -> Jordan, Lebanon, and the Gulf States). Middlemen are working without regulations; this increases the risk of trafficking, salary deduction schemes, facilitating bonded labor, etc. Strategies to address current conditions: (1) increase accountability in countries of destination and origin and overall transparency; (2) provide better pre-departure information on how to avoid being deceived (e.g., community radio network in Nepal); (3) conduct research, map access to justice for migrants, provide avenues for legal redress (profits and recruitment); (4) explore potential for standardizing employment contracts increasing transparency and reducing exploitation. They are also exploring an online Trip Advisor model to track ethical and unethical employers. A foundation in Indonesia is helping to develop a recruitment agency report card. Litigation and more proactive legal structures are needed. In Qatar, they are working with Engineers against Poverty. Building the infrastructure for 2022 World Cup involves one million migrant workers. Who is responsible for health and safety in construction sites? Not an adversarial engagement, but a discussion. IV. Q & A and Group Discussion Milena: Technology can also play a role (e.g., interactive map and DB that track different employers and recruiters). What is the best way to make this information available to a migrant? Via text? On a website? What needs to happen at the policy level? Another grantee is using Facebook to report information in real time; they have a grant from the Google Foundation ($100K of internet advertising every year). 3

4 MTR: we have to tackle risk at very different levels, beginning with the grassroots first. We are trying to challenges ourselves how do we reach that population? Through intermediaries? Can t rely on cell phones, but can rely on other social interactions. We have to try all of these different venues and word of mouth. Daniel: it would be interesting to have a future call on this topic how we can use technology to achieve our goals. There are tools that are out there, but how are they used? In large part, they depend on how social networks behave and how people are communicating with each other. Google grants allow any nonprofit to access free ads. AVINA has two important partnerships with the Omidyar Network (co-founder of EBay), including a program (RFP) for institutions that use IT and social networks to advance democracy in general. Levinson Foundation works on inventions. Is there a need for global movement on recruitment? Can we learn from domestic workers, death penalty, and other campaigns/movements? Or are these issues too place-specific? The International Labor Recruitment Working Group was founded in October of 2011 at the end of the first Issues in International Labor Recruitment Retreat, which was organized by the Centro de los Derechos del Migrante, CDM. The group is a nascent and unfunded entity that includes organizations and individuals working to protect the rights of internationally recruited workers across industries and visa categories; they are collaborating to reform the laws and regulations that govern U.S. work visa programs; and they have developed eight principles for ethical recruitment. Similar efforts have been prompted in the Philippines around health worker recruitment. Outgrowth of a previous MacArthur funding project to CDM around the release of a report on recruitment practices. Formed a steering committee; a potential vehicle for drawing together some separate strands of work. The ILO was instrumental you need an international body that can bring together different sectors, including the private sector. Other actors that could be engaged include the media. What is the role of investigative reporting? Could they look at certain aspects of this issue? Part of recruitment fee is for insurance and health care we don t believe that money is going in that direction. Could we pose an alternative system? Something very strategic that involves unions? In many states, agricultural workers cannot organize, but the UFWF and PCUN have been involved. CAMMINA is supporting that effort. It has been challenging to get traction, but it is a great potential solution. Have there been efforts to cut off recruiters in the Middle East? Astrid: When we worked in India (southern tip corridor to the Gulf), the gov t was involved in cutting off recruiters. She can put folks in touch w/their contacts. 4

5 V. Next Steps and Follow-up: We ran out of time to discuss follow up items from the May 2012 in-person meeting, including: (1) conducting a grantee mapping exercise; (2) building a shared learning agenda; and (3) adding new members to the group. These issues will be carried over to the agenda for our next call. Prior to the next call, GCIR will ask group members to weigh in on the topic(s) that they would like to cover (e.g., engagement of migrants in our work, use of technology, etc.). Do we want to continue to focus on peer-learning or do we want to identify other experts who we want to hear from? 5