Action Link: Stop Worker Abuse

E-mail from John:

In its final days, the Bush administration gave a gift to U.S. corporations by rewriting little-known rules that allow them to "import" foreign workers to fill jobs here.

Bush's changes make it even more attractive for businesses to hire foreign guestworkers — undercutting wages, opportunities and working conditions for all workers. This is especially troubling in today's economy.

These changes shred the few protections for H-2B guestworkers. And they're already taking a toll. Just last week, an appellate court in New Orleans cited the new regulations when ruling that an employer did not have to reimburse guestworkers for thousands of dollars in fees they paid to obtain low-wage, temporary jobs.

Foreign guestworkers don't have the same protections as U.S. workers, so they are vulnerable to exploitation by unscrupulous employers. In fact, they are routinely cheated out of their wages, and some are treated as modern-day slaves.
This abuse must stop!

We're working through the courts to stop the exploitation of guestworkers. But we need broader reforms that can only come from the federal government.

Please contact Obama http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/ and urge him to overturn the Bush rules and reform this program from top to bottom.

• Suggested message:President Obama, please rewrite the rules for the H-2B guestworker program. This fundamentally flawed program results in the systematic exploitation of workers and gives incentives to U.S. businesses to bring in vulnerable foreign workers, undercutting wages, opportunities and working conditions for all workers.

Thank you for support,The Southern Poverty Law Center