Marisela, 27, originally from the community of Iztacalco, municipality of Chilapa, says that because of the lack of work in Guerrero wants to be hired for work in the agricultural fields from Florida, United States.
She, like 50 other young people, was trained to be interviewed by an official from the National Employment Service (SNE) and be hired as farm worker.
Marisela has experience in agricultural work since she was seven years old.
Her mother took her to work in different agricultural fields in the northern states of the country.
Just a month ago he worked in an agricultural field in Sonora, a little earlier he was in Sinaloa, Hidalgo and Morelos.
“I have a 12-year-old son. He left it in my town; my mom takes care of it».
In the central courtyard of the offices of the Ministry of Labor, located on Galo Soberón y Parra street, there are about 50 young people from communities in the municipalities of Zitlala and Chilapa who are waiting to be hired as agricultural day laborers.
Lee: A call to Mexico from agricultural workers in the United States
They travel to work in the agricultural fields
They are hired here directly by Florida business representatives.
In order to be registered, they have to meet a series of requirements, for example, having their passport in order, agricultural work experiencebirth certificate, health certificate and have the vaccination scheme and the reinforcement of Covid-19.
One of the requirements is that they have the vaccine approved by the World Health Organization (OMS).
If they have the Cansino, Chinese or Russian vaccine, Sputnik, they are not hired.
The trip to the United States is paid for by the company that hires them.
“I’ve cut cucumber, green beans, chili, eggplant,” says Marisela when talking about her experience as a farm laborer.
He mentioned that one of the requirements that he had difficulty obtaining was proof of his last job in the fields of Sonora.
“The companies with which we are going to work want one to have a lot of experience in cutting agricultural products and I have it,” the young woman boasts.
He says that work in the agricultural fields is from seven in the morning to four in the afternoon.
On this point of labor productivity required by companies in the United States, an employee of the SNE that depends on the Federal Government’s Secretary of Labor, said that a day laborer receives the payment of a daily minimum wage but he is required to pay more so that they hit him more.
“The company demands 200 boxes of agricultural products a day, but many fill up to 500 boxes and they pay them more,” he said.
According to the SNE official, the Ministry of Labor is on the lookout for the workers rights not be raped there in the United States.
This agricultural day laborer hiring program is carried out here in Chilpancingo two and even three times a year.
“The contract is for three months, but it can last up to ten months,” the official said.
In this first week of August, the SNE and the American company Lipman Produce María Dehrigen hired 60 men and 8 women.
Lee: A new Journey for the human rights of migrant agricultural workers
The working day of agricultural workers
One of the company envoys explains to the applicants that the work is hard and that they are not going to the United States to “pull face”.
The working day is six days and on the day of rest the company takes the workers to make your purchases from the pantry and send remittances to your relatives.
If they want to have fun on their only day off, they will do it in their rooms and not on the street.
The 68 chosen by the company will leave from August 20 to 25; They will travel alone to Monterrey, Nuevo León and in that city they will be picked up by company representatives who will take them to Florida.
The expenses of the transport tickets will be paid by the day laborers and when they arrive in Monterrey the company will reimburse them, it was explained to them in the interview.
The SNE official presumes that Guerrero occupies one of the first places in exporting labor To united states.
“We have figures on the remittances that agricultural day laborers send to their families, but for security reasons we do not disclose them,” he says.
Lee:Justice on our tables: a living wage for farmworkers
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said in his morning conferences that the remittances sent by migrants grew during his government.
“The truth is an achievement that should not make us happy because it reflects that there are more people from our country who go to work in the United States because they have no options here,” says Marisela.
“I can’t be in my town all year round because I have to go out to work because if I stayed I don’t have money to support my family,” she adds.
He says that in his town located in the Warrior Low Mountainif there are schools, water, electricity and health center.
“But there is no work,” he mentions.
Most of the women and men who applied to be hired to work in the agricultural fields in Florida and in other cities in the United States are from communities of the municipalities of Chilapa and Zitlala.
Both municipalities for decades have been cheap labor expellers to the agricultural fields of the northern states of Mexico and also to the United States.
Civil organizations such as the José María Morelos y Pavón Human Rights Center documented the exploitative labor conditions of agricultural day laborers in this region of the lower mountains of Guerrero.
Currently these two municipalities, apart from the marginalization and poverty in which their inhabitants live, are plagued by insecurity and violence.
What we do at Animal Politico requires professional journalists, teamwork, maintaining a dialogue with readers and something very important: independence. You can help us continue. Be part of the team. Subscribe to Political Animalreceives benefits and supports free journalism.
#YoSoyAnimal
The charge Marisela and her life of exploitation in agricultural fields appeared first in Political Animal.
–
