Guest workers or unauthorized immigrants? The case of forest workers in the United States

Abstract

Forest management workers, H-2B guest workers, Undocumented workers, Legal status, Labor conditions, Latinos, Southeast, Pacific Northwest, Alabama, Oregon,

Working in the Shadows: Safety and Health in Forestry Services in Southern Oregon

“…They also expressed a belief that supervisors have no compunction about firing them because they “know there are lots of other guest workers who are available to take your place if they want to fire you” (Focus Group Participant, quoted in Bush et al 2014, p. 795). This finding is consistent with other studies that have documented the atmosphere of fear under which undocumented and H-2B workers live while in the United States (Knudson and Amezcua 2005, Salazar et al 2005, Sarathy and Casanova 2008, Sarathy 2012, Holmes 2013). …”

“…Immigration policies and enforcement practices that contribute to creating a labor system with these inherent vulnerabilities and power imbalances need to be further examined and changed. Although our results are limited to the sample of workers who responded to our survey, the fact that other studies have found similar problems in forestry services and other labor-intensive industries that rely on immigrant and foreign labor supports our findings (Krissman 2000, Casanova and McDaniel 2005, Salazar et al 2005, Champlin and Hake 2006, Sarathy and Casanova 2008, Sarathy 2012, Sandoval 2013). …”

“…Federal immigration policies create structural incentives for securing such labor by criminalizing undocumented workers and imposing restrictions on legal, temporary foreign workers (Sarathy and Casanova 2008, Quesada et al 2011, Holmes 2013). These policies also create the conditions that make undocumented and H-2B workers, including forest workers, disproportionately vulnerable to occupational hazards and economic distress.…”

“…The program is designed to help employers who have a seasonal or temporary need for non-agricultural labor and cannot find US workers to fill these job vacancies. Investigative journalism articles (Knudson and Amezcua 2005), reports by attorneys representing H-2B workers (Bauer 2013, American University Washington College of Law and Centro de los Derechos del Migrantes nd), and at least one peer-reviewed study (Sarathy and Casanova 2008) published over the past 10 years suggest that although they are legally authorized to work in the United States, H-2B workers in forestry and other occupations often experience many of the same risks and working conditions as their undocumented counterparts and are embedded in the processes of shadow transnationalism.…”

Social scientific research on the American West: current debates, novel methods, and new directions

“…While recent scholarship tends to emphasize 'New West' economic migration, a small number of scholars continue to document the experiences of Latina/o migrants working in traditional Western industries. For example, Latina/o workers in Oregon's timber industry have received some attention (Sarathy andCasanova 2008, Wilmsen et al 2015), as have agricultural workers in Oregon's Willamette Valley (Nelson 2007, Stephen 2007. In Central Wyoming, Quechua migrants from the Peruvian Highlands have worked as sheepherders since the 1970s and continue to do so (Krögel 2010).…”