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In Brief

U.S. Protects Migrant Workers’ Rights

29 August 2012

Migrant workers receiving flyers (AP Images)

The U.S. labor secretary says on the occasion of Labor Rights Week, August 27–31, that U.S. law demands that employers provide a safe workplace and pay a minimum wage to their employees, including migrants from other countries.

“We’re committed to ensuring that workers are safe on the job and paid what they’re owed by the law,” Labor Secretary Hilda Solis said in a statement about Labor Rights Week, August 27–31. “This means no one can be paid less than $7.25 an hour. And it means that employers must provide a safe workplace.”

The secretary underscored the importance of partnerships with other countries to educate migrant workers and their employers about U.S. labor laws. The United States signed agreements with Honduras, the Philippines, Peru and Ecuador in June 2012 on protecting their migrant workers in the United States. Similar agreements with Mexico, Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic and India had come into effect earlier.

In this photo, Anedina Corona, middle, and Palmeda Saldania, right, and other members of California’s farm working community receive flyers about swine flu from public health workers in Orosi, California, in 2009.