Alien labor-safety deal signed in LR

Shortly before signing an agreement with the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration in Little Rock on Friday, Mexico’s Consul for Arkansas addressed a crowded room ofMexicans waiting to meet with consular officials.

“My countrymen,” said Andres Chao in Spanish. “What’s important about this agreement is that - independent of your immigration status - you have rights and those rights have to be respected.”

The joint declaration formalizes what has been a twoyear partnership between the federal workplace safety agency and the Mexican government to facilitate the reporting of workplace violations and to educate Mexicanswho work in Arkansas and Oklahoma - legally or illegally- about their rights.

Chao estimated that the consulate has worked with OHSA on about 50 cases in the past two years, mostly dealing with workplace injuries and wage complaints.

Under the agreement, the identity of complainants will remain confidential and won’t be shared with other federal agencies, such as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which handles deportation cases.

Mexicans who are in the state illegally need to know that reporting workplace abuses or dangerous working conditions won’t put them in danger of being sent back to their homeland, Chao said.

“Before many people thought, ‘If I tell [OHSA] anything then maybe I’ll get in trouble,’” Chao said.

Carlos Reynolds, OSHA’s Little Rock area director, said his agency is interested in enforcing federal safety laws, not checking immigration status.

Reynolds appeared at the brief signing ceremony with Oklahoma City’s OSHA area director, David Bates.

“We’re excited to sign this agreement today, it will help us protect Hispanic workers in both states,” Bates said.

About a dozen similar joint declarations have been signedaround the country after the U.S. and Mexican governments reached an agreement on the issue in May.

Educating and training Mexican workers about workplace safety and wage rights is one objective of the program, according to a Labor Department news release.

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 9 on 02/19/2011

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