U.S. "guest" worker program exploitative: report

By Matthew Bigg

ATLANTA (Reuters) - Workers who come to the United States on short term, seasonal contracts are routinely exploited and have few legal safeguards, according to a report issued on Monday by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Under the "guest" worker program, employers recruit tens of thousands of unskilled workers from their home countries, tying jobs and visas to their employer.

The system gives these employers unusual power which is further strengthened by the common practice of confiscating identity papers and travel documents, effectively nullifying worker rights, said the report titled "Close to Slavery."

"Workers are abused fairly systematically. This is not a question of bad employers. It's built into the structure of the program," said Mary Bauer, director of the immigrant justice project for the Center.

"There are few legal rights and the legal rights that do exist are almost never enforced .... Right now it (the program) is the subject of chronic, shameful abuses," Bauer said in an interview.

Many workers pay thousands of dollars to recruiters for jobs and visas. They sign over deeds for property or cars in their home country as collateral, leaving them with crippling debts carrying high rates of interest.

In one example, workers recruited from Peru, Bolivia and the Dominican Republic by a major hotel company in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 paid up to $5,000, or around three to four months wages, the report said.

Many live in sub-standard housing and get little compensation or medical care in the event of an accident. Some earn wages below the federal minimum but have little legal redress and regulations are often not enforced.