 EFFORTS TO COLLECT MONEY OWED TO BRACERO WORKERS PICK UP STEAM
Even as support for a new guest worker program grows in some circles, problems that arose from the guest worker program used from the 1940s to 1960s – the bracero program – continue to exist. While the abuses of workers in the program are well known, and in part contributed to its end, a lesser-known problem is that the workers are still owed millions of dollars.
Workers had money deducted from their paychecks, money that was to be put into Mexican banks. The money has been missing for decades, and the bracero workers have never seen it. The money was to have provided for their old age. Bracero workers filled a crucial role during World War Two, when many US workers went to fight in Europe and the Pacific. Nearly 2.5 million Mexican workers participated in the program.
The news that Mexican President Vicente Fox is interested in trying to track the money was met with enthusiasm by about 300 former braceros in Los Angeles. The Braceros Committee, an organization that protects the rights of former braceros, is also considering filing a class action lawsuit against both the US and Mexico. They are also beginning a nationwide tour next month to highlight the plight of the former workers.
Through an agreement between the US and Mexican governments, ten percent of the workers’ paychecks was withheld, to be given to them upon their return to Mexico. Most have never seen any of this money, now estimated at more than 0 million.
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