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Labor Secretary Solis, PH, others ink migrant worker rights accord
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Posted on Jun 16 2012
WASHINGTON, D.C- During a ceremony this week at U.S. Department of Labor headquarters in Washington, Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis signed partnership agreements with ambassadors representing the embassies of Honduras, the Philippines, Peru and Ecuador.
“Migrant workers make important contributions to our economy,” said Solis. “[These] agreements help ensure these workers are aware of the right to safe workplaces and to receive full payment of the wages owed to them under the laws of the United States.”
Under the agreements, regional enforcement offices of the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration and its Wage and Hour Division will cooperate with local consulates of the four countries. Together, the consulates and Labor Department agencies will reach out to migrant workers with information about U.S. health, safety and wage laws.
The partnerships will help the Wage and Hour Division and OSHA more effectively enforce U.S. laws, especially in high-risk and low-wage industries. This cooperation also will help both agencies identify problems faced by migrant workers and target labor law enforcement efforts.
“We are very pleased to sign these joint declarations and letters of arrangement with DOL,” said Philippine Ambassador Jose L. Cuisia Jr. “We assure DOL we will do our part in ensuring the dissemination of helpful information to Filipino workers concerning their right to a safe and healthy working environment, and fair wages and working hours in the U.S., and in assisting them to seek redress when such rights are disregarded or outright violated.”
More information about the agreements and the department’s program to protect migrant workers is available at http://www.dol.gov/ilab. (PRNewswire-USNewswire)
