Case Studies

Case study #1: Margarita's story

Margarita is a woman from central America who was approached by a man claiming he was a supervisor in a factory in the US. He gave her a job with a $20 per month finder's fee, unknown to margarita he was just a worker and the finder's fee increased to $40 with some of the money being given under the table to the manager. Margarita was working in deplorable conditions, she worked for 12-15 hours a day and 5-6 days a week with most likely little pay. Her hourly pay was reprimanded if she didn’t meet her quota and this quota was still necessary even if one was sick or injured. The factory was under constant surveillance and there was a 3 minute limit for restroom breaks. The managers of the factory would almost force workers to do overtime work. The worst of the experience was that Margarita and other Latinos and African Americans were treated badly and the women were sexually harassed. Margarita's manager sent her explicit pictures and texts and another pushed her to sleep with him and one even went as far as threatening to kill her over the phone! Women in the factory that offered sex and other favors in that nature to the managers received raises and promotions while those who did not experienced pay cuts and even the possibility of being fired. It all ended with margarita calling authorities and shutting down the backwards operation. This is one of many cases where people are tricked into a horrible experience or job where they are almost forced to do many things they do not want to do and usually get little from it.

Case Study #2: Promised Work

In this study done by the "Southern poverty law center", two individuals were subject to forced labor in which they were promised a better life and job in the US, however, the received little pay and little compensation. Some workers at certain corporations were "required to leave some form of collateral" and they are "required to pay as much as $1,000" in order to not be deported because most of the time they were undocumented (SPLC 11). This number is also equal to the amount they would be fined if they were to quit or go against their contract. Alvaro Hernandez-Lopez discusses his experience with the SPLC, “What I earned planting trees in the States was hardly enough to pay my debt, it was really hard for us to fight to get to the States legally and then not earn any money. We were told we had to leave our deeds to get the job. On a blank paper we had to sign our names and hand over our deeds. They said that if we didn’t sign this paper they wouldn’t bring us to the States to work"(SPLC 11). They were told if they were to leave the employers would call the government to deport them immediately. Nelson Ramirez was also subject to forced labor. He, like Hernandez-Lopez, was from Guatemala, "describes a similar experience when he signed up to work for Eller and Sons Trees Inc. in 2001. A labor recruiter required that his wife sign a paper agreeing to be responsible if he were to break his contract. “I didn’t understand exactly what this threat meant but knew that my wife would have to sign if I was going to get the visa,” Ramirez said. “The work was very hard, but I worried about leaving because my wife signed this form to get me the job and I worried about her"(SPLC 11).