Date: 2002-10-01
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Madam Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding time to me. Madam Speaker. I rise in support of this resolution to honor the foreign guest workers who worked in the United States from 1942 to 1964. Those of us who represent California and Texas and other areas along the border can clearly remember the hard work performed by the braceros. When I was a young person going to school. I worked alongside of many of the braceros in what is now my congressional district in the fields there and in the orchards. with people who worked very. very hard. toiled at great length. and provided badly needed labor in our agricultural sector of the California economy. As many have pointed out. they originally came here in World War II so we could free many of our citizens to go off and fight in the Second World War and they could continue to provide work here on the home front. This resolution honors those individuals. and it honors their dignity. and it honors the contribution that they have given to this country. What we should not honor is the conditions under which they worked. the conditions under which they were forced to live. the conditions under which they were separated from their families. the hours that they were required to toil. and the actual working conditions. We -had what became a big issue. a critical issue of the shorthandled hoe that they were required to work with that led to disabilities of very young people. and in many instances permanent disabilities of their ability to work. It was a fact that many of their children were kept from the schools of various States and this Nation. and there was very little or no sanitation for these individuals. that they were required to work constantly around pesticides that at that time were literally put on the crops without protective gear. without being able to wash up after work. without being able to protect their families and places that they lived from those very same pesticides. I say that because I spent time in what we called the bracero camps at that time. with as many as 12 or 14 people sharing a single room. or multiple families. or families sharing space with individuals. or individuals sleeping in the trucks at night when they were not used by the farmers that they were working for. So while we think back about the dignity of those workers and the contribution they made to this Nation. Madam Speaker. we should understand the problems that they had when they tried to get fair wages. when. in many instances. they worked and were not paid. when. in many instances. they were worked. and unjust withholding was taken from their paycheck. Yet out of this incredibly disgraceful treatment of these individuals. we saw the growth and the beginning of a very powerful movement that gave additional dignity and power to these men and women. led by Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta of the United Farm Workers Union. born in the 1960s. to demand decent living and working conditions. That movement brought to the attention of consumers across this Nation how the inexpensive food. fruits and vegetables they were eating were subsidized by the poor working conditions and the poor wages of these individuals. which led to a nationwide boycott of the grape industry that was one of the most successful in the history of this country. That continues today to vigorously pursue the rights of these individuals to improve their working conditions. Just this week. Governor Gray Davis signed into legislation a bill that requires mandatory mediation of labor disputes in the agricultural industry in our State. Why? Because many ofthese workers had a right to a union 23 years ago. and they still have not gotten the union. They won the elections. they won them all. They have not been recognized. Now we are saying if. after 3 years. you cannot get it. we will have mandatory mediation. He also signed legislation to try to get back the wages that were withheld from them so they could pay for their trip back to Mexico. but they were never returned to them. the 10 percent that was withheld. I wish this House would address that same issue. I wish this House would address agricultural labor. I wish this House would address the restitution to these people. So as we speak here today and we talk about their dignity and their contribution. we have to recognize that many of these same conditions exist today. We have to recognize that this House. the Republican leadership. refuses to bring to the floor a resolution honoring Dolores Huerta. one of the most powerful labor leaders in the country. one of the most importantly symbolic labor leaders in this country with respect to females working in the agricultural movement and working in so many endeavors in this country. a woman who gave almost her life with the terrible illnesses. from all of her exposures in the field. this last year. Yet this House cannot summon its ability to recognize her dignity and her contribution to the American fabric and the fabric of this society. So I join this. because these people were entitled to this recognition. But this cannot be the only agenda for people who continue to toil in our fields. for people who continue to be exploited. for people who even have less status than the braceros. people who are hired every day. They are hired on Monday. and come payday on Friday. they call the INS service rather than pay them. and the government rounds up the workers in the Napa Valley. in the Central Valley. in the Imperial Valley of California. people who today have no housing. no housing. These are people today who harvest the grapes that go into a $100 or $200 bottle of wine. and they have no housing. They sleep in the fields. in the cars. in the culverts. Those are the descendents of the braceros. There are some who want to create a new bracero program. While we honor their dignity and contribution. let us remember before we ever contemplate a new bracero program that these people had no status in terms of their ability to have decent working conditions. decent living conditions. and decent wages. We can never recreate that situation in the United States. I thank my colleagues on the committee for bringing this legislation to the floor. I hope the braceros and their descendants will understand what we are trying to do with this legislation. but I also would hope that they understand that the struggle continues. and I would hope that this Congress understands that the struggle continues for these people to receive economic and social justice. and dignity for their families.