Global Horizons and its attorneys have informed us that they are contesting the accuracy of the article below in California state court.
Guest Workers Seek Global Horizons: U.S. Company Exploits Migrant Laborby Kari Lydersen, Special to CorpWatchNovember 3rd, 2006
Global Horizons is one of the biggest companies in the business of importing temporary foreign workers to do jobs in the U.S. ranging from agriculture to nursing. Their workers sometimes endure worse conditions, and enjoy less rights than undocumented workers.
About 170 Thai migrants paid thousands of dollars to recruiters in Bangkok for the opportunity to work in the bountiful orchards of Washington state. Their tale illustrates the pitfalls of the H-2A guest worker program which is a mainstay - along with undocumented labor - of the U.S. agricultural system.The migrant workers paid up to $8,000 each to Thai recruiters working for Global Horizons, a California-based company, which then obtained H-2A agricultural guest worker visas for them, flew them to Washington and set them up in housing, as required by the federal program. Before taking the jobs, the workers had been told they would live in apartments, eat meals catered by a Mexican restaurant and be able to send significant amounts of money home to their families, according to the Seattle Times. Instead Global Horizons housed the Thais in motels and trailers that had not been approved, as required, by the state labor department.
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