Introduction

Until now, working conditions in the agricultural sector have historically been precarious, regardless of the agricultural holding size.

A distinctive feature of this sector is that in view of the increase in the specialized workforce at specific times of the year and the impact that climate and environment have on production, there need to be adjustments in the duration of work, roles and volume of labor force.

This leaves large flows of workers in the cycle of national and international mobility with unstable employment, and subjects them to irregularities in the process of recruitment, hiring, transfer, job performance and return. This sector mostly seeks labor in populations living in poverty and confronting discrimination, who also face rights violations that include unstable employment, risk of fraud, forced labor, trafficking for labor exploitation, exposure to hazardous chemicals, withholding of wages and documents, mistreatment. Having a job allows these individuals to get by, but not to get out of the cycle of discrimination, poverty and a lack of access to human rights.

Families often accompany workers to the Mexican farms, where they face institutional neglect in areas such as health, housing, food, education and access to justice. Although there are similar conditions and obstacles in their communities of origin, traveling with the families reinforces family ties during extended stays in the farm fields, reducing abandonment and offering greater safety to women traveling on their own to do agricultural work. Those traveling to the farms in the United States or Canada face a wide range of obstacles, making the option of traveling with their families unfeasible.

The lack of acknowledgment and attention to particular cultural and linguistic issues, and a lack of understanding of gender and migration affects the workers—especially women—and their families as well.

Migrant women farm workers put up with double and triple work shifts, risk exposure to harassment, workplace- and/or sexual violence, as well as being excluded from- or discriminated against when trying to access better jobs or equal pay for equal work, because according to normalized gender roles they are not considered fit to carry out other tasks.

In 1989, as a way to address some of these gaps, the federal government created the National Program for Agricultural Day Workers (PRONJAG Spanish acronym) with six lines of action:

  1. Housing and environmental health
  2. Healthcare and pension
  3. Food and sourcing
  4. Education, culture and leisure
  5. Employment, training and productivity
  6. Administration of justice

In 2003, this policy became the Agricultural Laborer Support Program (PAJA Spanish acronym) under the Secretariat of Social Development that became the Secretariat of Welfare in the period 2018-2024 and then the program disappeared entirely in 2019. This transition took place with no option to replace the services PAJA provided, leaving a significant gap in guaranteeing this population their rights, with nothing to help them cope with the enormous issues they face.

According to Data Mexico [1], in the first quarter in 2024, the population involved in agricultural activities came to 2.93 million people (87.8% male and 12.2% female), earning an average monthly salary of $3,040.00 Mexican pesos and comprising 78.9 percent of informal labor. On average, this demographic group has 6.12 years of schooling compared to the national average of 9.7 years. It is important to take into account that mobility makes it difficult to gather statistical information on this group.

Migrant agricultural workers have to cope with greater vulnerability due to their national and international mobility, and the historical and structural discrimination they experience as a high percentage of them belong to indigenous communities of Mexico.

In 2023, the United States Office of Foreign Labor Certification [2] certified 20,379 applications [3] for H-2A visas, corresponding to 378,513 jobs. Some 84 percent of these applications were submitted by agricultural workers and day laborers. The International Organization for Migration [4] identified that, out of the 298,336 H-2A visas that had been approved in 2022, 93 percent had been issued for Mexican workers. This percentage has exhibited no significant variation since 1997. Furthermore, in 2023, Canada registered 45,500 Mexican holders of temporary foreign worker permits and 13,725 Mexican holders of International Mobility Program work permits.

As for international labor mobility toward Mexico, in the first quarter of 2023, the National Institute of Migration [5] issued 747 Border Worker Visitor Cards (TVTF Spanish acronym) for cross-border workers in Campeche, Chiapas, Tabasco, Quintana Roo and Yucatan. This authorization includes agricultural labor.

In 2021, against the backdrop of these complex and pressing challenges, Fundación Avina [6] promoted PERIPLO [7] an alliance now composed of twelve organizations. PERIPLO seeks to help create a domestic and international labor migration system that is fair and co-responsible in terms of the rights of migrant agricultural workers in the agricultural industry supply chains in Mexico and between Mexico, the United States and Central America.

This objective can only be reached through the concerted efforts of the governments of Mexico, the United States, and Guatemala, with state and municipal entities, businesses, academic institutions, civil society organizations, and the workers themselves.

In this document we share the undeferrable items on the agenda for human and labor rights of migrant agricultural workers and their families, in order to open a channel for constant communication and cooperation to address different issues. The alliance drafted this text and published it on May 15, 2024 [8], National Agricultural Worker Day, and in the electoral context, addressing the candidates. Now, with the incoming elected government, we updated the agenda and we reiterate our readiness to cooperate with the different authorities to strengthen the labor rights of this important and essential demographic sector.

We respectfully call on the three branches of government, especially the Executive, taking office in October 2024 under the leadership of President elect Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, in coordination with state and municipal governments, as well as legislators in the federal and state chambers. We also call on the Mexican government to promote trans-national policies with other States, in order to extend the broadest possible protection to migrant agricultural workers, and to promote economic development based on shared prosperity.

 

International Agenda

  • Strengthen cooperation with the governments of North America and Central America to work on programs that promote anti-discriminatory practices, access to information for migrant agricultural workers, as well as regulate regional-level recruitment agencies.
  • Advocate before the United States to continuously improve the Deferred Action for Labor Enforcement (DALE) and H-2A labor visa program, working closely with workers and the organizations that support them. For instance, extend DALE protection to five years, and eradicate structural gender discrimination that women and the LGBTQI population have to cope with.
  • Promote the creation of a temporary work program for Central American migrant agricultural laborers to work in any state in Mexico, taking into account the lessons learned from the United States H-2A visa program, and with the engagement of- and recommendations by workers and the expert social organizations that support them.
  • Revise the temporary work permit that Mexico offers Central American workers, streamlining procedures and improving the protection of labor human rights.

Federal Agenda

  • Advocate so that national and international migrant agricultural workers, their families and the organizations that support them can participate in the process of policymaking and implementation, in order to ensure their voices and needs are heard.
  • Ensure that legislation is enforced and that policies are created with a cross-cutting perspective, taking into account crucial aspects such as gender, age, social 
  • condition, language and cultural heritage, putting an end to structural discrimination, violence, inequality, forced labor and child labor, trafficking in persons, labor exploitation and abuse.
  • Create comprehensive human rights-based support programs for migrant agricultural workers for direct impact enhancing their quality of life. The priority is for these programs to complement concrete actions in the communities of origin and destination, to counteract the lack of access to fundamental rights like justice, education, social security (healthcare/pension), comprehensive health, adequate food, water and housing.
  • Education policy initiatives—especially for children and adolescents—in the territory and context of agricultural day laborer communities, with human rights-based policies that are responsive to migration and ethnic background.
  • Advocate so that the National Care System covers women agricultural workers, promotes equal distribution of care-work, and a network of sites for those who are migrating with their families, such as children and adolescents, people with disabilities, the old or sick.
  • Take action to ensure migrant agricultural workers have effective access to their labor rights, such as a written contract in their own language or that it is read to those who do not know how to read, provide safe pathways for immigrant regularization for non-nationals, maternity leave, healthcare/pension, vacations, overtime pay, year-end bonus, utilities and sick leave, retirement savings, as well as personal protective equipment for handling agro-chemicals and other hazardous materials that can affect one’s health.
  • Advocate for strengthening the labor inspection system in its capacity, efficiency and resources to guarantee respect for the rights and benefits recognized in the Federal Labor Law and the Mexican Social Security Institute, as well as to verify that workplace conditions are suitable and sanitary.
  • Develop and implement a specific federal program to strengthen people’s capacities, with different institutions providing comprehensive care and protecting their rights, before they undergo a labor mobility process.
  • Create an open and accessible public registry of agricultural sites, providing security for workers and facilitating inspection processes.
  • Promote measures that ensure safety and risk prevention in the work environment, including daily trips to the farm fields, and trips to and from their communities. Also request that effective measures against organized crime be created.
  • Work with the private agricultural sector to establish strategies that address responsibilities regarding the right to healthcare, education or job benefits for migrant agricultural workers.
  • Advocate for and follow up on policies and regulations on business and human rights—as per United Nations Guiding Principles—so that companies operating in Mexico incorporate human rights and environmental due diligence, that they prevent-, and when appropriate, repair-, remedy- and ensure no repetition of negative impacts from their direct operations or their supply chain, for instance labor intermediaries and suppliers. Consequently, we request a National Business and Human Rights Plan be put in place, with a baseline and indicators for monitoring and evaluation purposes.
  • Create legal reparation systems and mechanisms at all levels, in all regions and sectors, by strengthening State agencies in charge of inspection and oversight that can sanction violations of the law, and unify the national line against trafficking in persons in the country, taking into account the different indigenous languages.
  • Enhance the process of gathering official statistical information to monitor profound changes, disaggregating data by gender, ethnic and cultural background, language and age.
  • Put in place measures to prevent and mitigate the impacts of climate change that jeopardize crops, jobs and people’s health. This population needs to be taken into account in programs to respond to disasters, such as droughts, earthquakes, floods and hurricanes, and also in occupational retraining models as required in the agricultural sector.
  • Expand the protection of human rights in the Regulations for Job Placement Agencies of the Secretariat of Labor and Social Welfare of Mexico, taking into account the participation of workers and the organizations that support them.

State Agenda

  • Inclusive and participatory process to design and implement a program for agricultural day laborers and their families—migrants and residents—to ensure their human rights in dignity and guarantee their labor rights, involving the corresponding agencies: Secretariat of Labor, National Employment System, Secretariat of Health, Secretariat of Public Education, Secretariat of Agricultural and Rural Development and Secretariat of Welfare.
  • Create and submit mechanisms for preventing, monitoring and ensuring transparency of measures implemented to provide comprehensive care to agricultural day laborers and their families by governments in the States of Sinaloa, Guerrero, Morelos and other migrant worker-sending and receiving states—as per the January 2024 Decree that amends, repeals and adds to several provisions of the Federal Labor Law and the Social Security Law, regarding farm workers labor rights.

The PERIPLO Project maintains that decent work in the rural sector can no longer be put off. It is urgent to take action and protect agricultural workers, especially those who migrate, without delay and that the incoming government commit to safeguarding those who work in this sector that is essential for the food sovereignty and economy of Mexico. Upholding the human rights and working conditions of migrant agricultural workers is a life-saving commitment for our country and the world.

**

PIE DE PÁGINA

[1]  Data Mexico. Trabajadores en actividades agrícolas. Government of México. Retrieved July 25, 2024: https://www.economia.gob.mx/datamexico/es/profile/occupation/trabajadores-en-actividades-agricolas?employSelector3=salaryOption

[2] Office of Foreign Labor Certification (September 30, 2023). H-2A Temporary Agricultural Program – Selected Statistics, Fiscal Year 2023. Department Of Labor: H-2A_Selected_Statistics_FY2023_Q4.pdf (dol.gov)

[3] Applications are submitted by employers and are collective. Therefore, each application represents several positions or individual hires.

[4]  International Organization for Migration (March 2, 2024). Estadísticas Migratorias para México. Boletín Anual 2023: Estadísticas migratorias 2023 (iom.int)

[5] Secretaría de Gobernación (7 de mayo de 2023). Se expiden 38 mil 710 Tarjetas de Visitante por Razones Humanitarias durante primer trimestre de 2023. Gobierno de México: Se expiden 38 mil 710 Tarjetas de Visitante por Razones Humanitarias durante primer trimestre de 2023 | Secretaría de Gobernación | Gobierno | gob.mx (www.gob.mx)

[6]  Learn more about the PERIPLO Project at: https://proyectoperiplo.org/

[7]  Learn more about Fundación Avina at: https://www.avina.net/

[8] Read the original document at: https://proyectoperiplo.org/es-esencial-que-las-personas-candidatas-tomen-en-cuenta-los-derechos-de-las-y-los-trabajadores-agricolas-migrantes/