Domestic Workers’ Committee commemorating June 16 International Domestic Workers’ Day, Summer 2016, Alamo, Texas

In front of Juanita, a domestic worker, immediately beginning the conversation, I feel a deep connection with her, who at first has a hard time remembering her past and her gaze is lost in the void when remembering her origins in Mexico.

Born into an indigenous family in her native Chiapas, she decided to become independent at age 18 when her parents came to live in Mexico City and she moved to Mexico City with the firm intention of studying a university career. There she meets the father of his son who works making prosthetics and in agriculture in Monterrey and the Rio Grande Valley in Texas.

They decide to come to work definitively to U.S. but they return and their son is diagnosed with a serious disability and needs to undergo several surgeries.

Upon returning, she began her immigration problem because she was not allowed to cross the bridge and her son was required to be operated on. She hires an attorney, whom defrauds her and she hands herself over to the immigration authorities and eventually gets granted a 10-year permit, time she spent supporting her son with therapies, surgeries and everything necessary to save his life.

The father of her son decides to abandon them. Years later she marries the father of her second son, who at the beginning of the relationship was an excellent stepfather and companion, and he decides to submit papers to request her permanent residence in this country. As a result of a departure to Mexico to give the last goodbye to her mother who had died, wanting to re-enter the country she is imprisoned 1 month and treated as a drug trafficker.

She still remembers with pain as they opened her legs looking for drugs and is finally deported to a border town of Tamaulipas. At that moment I feel her pain when expressing how she suffered being separated from her children, not knowing about them, without giving them the care and love of mother. Her family turned their back on her when she needed them most out of fear of immigration. Knowing that her partner is trying to take custody of her children she made the decision to cross the river even at the cost of her life to meet with them.

With tears in her eyes, she tells of the life she lived in order to care for her children, while at the same time coping with the domestic violence she was going through. Speaking almost to herself she says that every day of work was painful as she left her children with other people to get to work. She recalls working in agriculture, painting houses and cleaning houses.

February 14, 2016 “We are the Heart of the Home – Somos el Corazon del Hogar” Celebration

She has 23 years here and continues to clean houses and apartments and remember that there were occasions where she was paid with used things as if she could pay the rent or expenses with scrap. Juanita recalls when she was not paid she was threatened with immigration to intimidate her and press her into a position of not continuing to fight for her salary, a very common tactic used by exploitative and abusive employers.

In 2013, Juanita attended a labor rights talk at the Fuerza del Valle Workers’ Center and realized that workers with or without documents have labor rights, she also realizes that the minimum wage is $7.25 per hour. She reasoned the abuse to which she was subjected by the people to whom she worked. At the same time she recognizes that there were people who treated her as a human being, as a worker who only wants to live in dignity.

“Unknown, they see us vulnerable, without documents and in need of money for our basic needs, that is why they exploit us,” says Juanita.

When she became more involved with the Workers’ Center, she decided to “not work in these conditions” and now she does not work if she is not paid the minimum wage and sometimes she is paid up to $ 10 per hour.

She is currently an activist and community leader who helps empower other domestic workers in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas, motivating them to know their rights through Fuerza del Valle and defend them as she found a space there to be heard.

Juanita is one of the 1.6 million domestic workers in this country who clean houses, care for children, the elderly or disabled.

Historically excluded from labor protections, domestic workers are vulnerable to abuse and exploitation coupled with the anti-immigrant climate that contributes to the already existing fear of undocumented domestic workers putting them even more at risk of labor exploitation and abuse such as those suffered by Juanita.

The Domestic Worker Committee, part of Fuerza del Valle, has more than 60 active members who recently participated in the first study of domestic workers in the Texas border. Fuerza del Valle in coordination with the National Domestic Workers Alliance developed the project where they surveyed 262 domestic workers documenting working conditions, and will give light to the problems of domestic workers in South Texas.

The struggle for dignity for domestic workers continues throughout the country. In the Rio Grande Valley, this powerful movement is motivating domestic workers to defend their rights organizing their activity through the Domestic Workers’ Committee. As part of Fuerza del Valle Workers Center, they have the support of Texas RioGrande Legal Aid and the Equal Voice Network of the Rio Grande Valley, since Fuerza del Valle is part of this great network that prioritizes working families needs.

For more information, to join and support call (956)433-3523 or send an email to domesticasdelvalle@gmail.com, fuerzadelvalle@gmail.com.

October 10, 2017

January 2017 March for Migrant Rights McAllen, Texas

Rosa Sanluis, Community Organizer

Juanita Castillo, Leader and Active Member

(pseudonym for actual member)

Fuerza del Valle Workers’ Center

Fuerza del Valle Workers’ Center cultivates the leadership and power of unprotected workers to stop the rampant problem of wage theft, and to build a movement for economic justice in the South Texas.  Fuerza del Valle Workers’ Center and the Labor Justice Committee in El Paso form Border Workers United to uplift the voice of border workers.

www.fuerzadelvalle.org

International Women’s Day, March 8, 2015.

Women’s rights are human rights, regardless of a woman’s race, ethnicity, immigration status, gender expression or economic status. With a political climate and administration that has threatened these rights through rhetoric and practice, women and the community of the Rio Grande Valley will stand up and march to uplift the justice we seek and the dignity we deserve on Saturday, March 11.

March 8th is recognized as International Working Women’s Day, a historical day of action and mobilization for women’s rights all over the world.

For decades, women across borders and walls, have mobilized for a better world, justice and dignity for all. This March 11, we continue this struggle towards a new day for women in the RGV and everywhere.

Join us, Saturday, March 11 at 9:30am in Brownsville in solidarity with this movement for women’s rights and justice!

What: Women’s March For Justice

When: March 11, 9:30 AM

Where:  600 E. Harrison Street, Brownsville, TX.

For more information contact:
Fuerza del Valle Workers’ Center
956-283-5650
fuerzadelvalle@gmail.com

or

NLIRH RAL TX – “Las Poderosas”
956-459-1031
paula@latinainstitute.org

CONTRIBUTE NOW AND DONATE TO FUERZA DEL VALLE (for check or money, click here for information)

Lt. George Gonzalez Jr -500 W Harrison, Harlingen, Texas
6:30 PM to start at 7:00pm
1 Mile walk to the Prelude in downtown Harlingen

Join us as we Walk for Migrant Justice!

The Domestic Workers’ Committee of Fuerza del Valle Workers’ Center invites you as:

We walk to demand an end to family detention! It is a shame  as a society we claim to value families while openly incarcerating them- mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, daughters, sons, grandmothers- instead of supporting them to connect and find their loved ones.

#EndFamilyDetention #FreetheFamilies #ShutDownDilley #ShutDownKarnesCity

We walk to demand an end to the deaths of migrants in the borderlands as they try and reach a better life. We need an immigration policy that prioritizes human life; one that fully respects ALL of our human rights.

We will be collecting donations of $1 to support the work of the South Texas Human Rights Center.
$1 = 1 gallon of water that can save a life. We need funds to keep the water stations fully stocked all summer in north Hidalgo County, Webb County, Brooks County, and Kennedy County.

#NoMoreDeaths #Falfurrias 

We walk to call an end to the separation of families; an end to deportations that terrorizes our communities nationwide.

We Walk for Justice for all Workers.

#Not1More #StopDeportations

Migration is not a crime. We walk for freedom!

For more info email, txt, or call: fuerzadelvalle@gmail – (956) 283-5650

Alamo, TX, May 11, 2016.

This Saturday morning, June 11th, join the Domestic Workers’ Committee of Fuerza del Valle Workers’ Center as we ‘Walk for Migrant Rights’ in Mission, TX.

These monthly walks started in October of 2015, after the historic 100 Women 100 Mile ‘Walk For Justice’ of September. We have continued with these gatherings and they keep gaining momentum when we collectively meet up on the 11th of every month.

We walk for an end to Family Detention, it can not be we claim to value families and incarcerate them instead of letting them unify with their love ones.

We walk to end the deaths of migrants in the borders as they try and reach a better life. We need an immigration policy that prioritizes human life, that fully respects all of our human rights.

We walk to end the separation of family that terrorizes our migrant communities nationwide.

We walk because we all deserve freedom.

We are joining the South Texas Human Rights Center, and are asking attendees to bring at least $1.00 for one gallon of water to support the Water Stations Project. The STHRC builds water stations in Brooks County and nearby areas for the migrants who are passing by, in need of water for survival. STHRC needs your help to keep this important project going.

Water barrels used by the South Texas Human Rights Center in Falfurrias, TX.

If you would like to donate immediately you can donate here, or you can get in contact with the Workers’ Center at 956-283-5650 if you would like to drop off the donation in the RGV or have it picked up.

What: Walk for Migrant Rights / Caminata por Derechos Migrantes
When: 10 AM, June 11th, Saturday morning.
Where: Starts at 2215 N Conway, Mission, TX 78572; Ends at 620 N Dunlap Ave, Mission, TX.

RSVP for the Walk For Migrant Rights / Caminata por Derechos Migrantes on Facebook.

‘Like’ Fuerza del Valle on Facebook.

‘Like’ South Texas Human Rights Center on Facebook.

Members of Fuerza del Valle Workers’ Center participated in events Honoring Migrant Lives this past weekend and helped raise awareness on the plight of migrant families as they cross through the brush for a better life in the north.

Friday, October 30th members and allies gathered at the South Texas Civil Rights Project in Alamo, where Fuerza del Valle is housed, to construct at traditional Day of the Dead altar for a ceremony to honor migrant lives.

In the evening the dozens of unidentified bodies found in Brooks County in the previous year were honored with a ceremony that consisted of a moment of silence, offerings of water for the water stations in Brooks County, and a reading of the unidentified migrant bodies identifying exactly at which ranches and what date they were found.

“That night at Fuerza, that was a beautiful altar we built. Seeing one up closely in real life was beautiful. It made me think of my own dad who has passed away. I took care of him during his last years but was not there for those final moments a lot like the families of these migrants. It’s a frustrating type of confusion; you can’t get rid of that….There’s no closure.”
-Martha, Fuerza del Valle Member-

Read more about this: Somber ceremony honors migrant lives

Saturday the 31st we joined the South Texas Human Rights Center in welcoming the Antorcha Guadalupana and in celebrating two years of the Humans Rights Center and the fight to save Migrant Lives.

We marched with the Antorcha for about a mile to the grounds of the Brooks County Courthouse where we then went on to commemorate the two year anniversary of the South Texas Human Rights Center, a big hug and shout out to Eduardo Canales, Sister Pam, and the community that supports the Human Rights Center and prioritizes the struggle to save Migrant Lives.

The South Texas Human Rights Center maintains over 100 water stations throughout Brooks and surrounding Counties and has been the catalyst in getting DNA testing for migrant remains.

Read more about this: Remembering the dead

“I got motivated, they are so brave [the migrants] to continue forward for their lives, for their families. They are heroes. We learn so much from them, they have opened the doors for us to continue this struggle. We will continue forward against these injustices.”

-Maria de Jesus, Fuerza del Valle Member-

The struggle continues and unity in our communities is needed now more than ever as the environment of hate is furthered by irresponsible leaders. Join the struggle! We will be walking in Brownsville for Migrant Justice this coming 11th of November.

-Fuerza del Valle media team-

In 2013, the Workers’ Defense Project released a study in which they reported that more than one in five workers in construction has been denied pay. The study, titled “Build a Better Texas,” reports that fifty percent of construction workers have never been paid overtime even though they work as much as 80 hours a week. More than fifty percent of workers earn poverty level wages

Not only is the industry booming as construction workers in Texas are paid poorly, the industry has also been one of the most dangerous in the country. More people die in Texas construction than in any other construction industries in almost any other state. Texas workers have reported that one in five have had injuries on the job that required medical attention. An outstanding fifty percent of workers have reported that they never received basic safety training and the WDP researches reported that at almost every construction site they visited, they discovered numerous safety violations.

The Rio Grande Valley has seen significant growth in the last number of years, a lot of it tied to the construction industry. Any resident that has lived here for ten years or longer can tell you that the RGV has constant new businesses setting up shop, implying major construction projects.. It’s astonishing that the majority of cases reported to the Fuerza del Valle Workers’ Center are claims where workers are denied payment in some form of another in an industry where millions are spent. When contractors are approached about the problem, the blame has always been handed to the contractor ahead or below them in the chain of command, all while RGV construction workers are left out in the cold needing to support themselves and their families.

This May Day, we call upon Fuerza del Valle members and supporters to come out and join the Two Mile March for Justice in the Construction Industry to the Paseo Points Apartments in Los Fresnos, TX in an act of solidarity with workers who are owed over $12,000 in unpaid wages. May Day has always been an international day of solidarity and celebration for working families, and some of our most important, yet most exploited workers have always been construction workers.

We will let Galaxy Builders Ltd., the general contractor; Manish Verma, owner of the partments; and Pete Coronado, subcontractor know that no longer will we tolerate unfair labor practices, especially when the sites is partially subsidized by the federal government through Housing and Urban Developemnt.

Wage theft is a dire problem society as a whole must take on and not ignore Construction workers like domestic workers, restaurant workers, agricultural workers, and other service industry workers enable society to function.

This May First, stand in solidarity with construction workers, working families, and people on the front lines fighting labor exploitation in the Rio Grande Valley. Join Fuerza del Valle Workers’ Center and the community in the struggle for workers’ justice. Talk to a friend and let them know that wage theft is widespread practice in the RGV, and in the construction industry. Follow Fuerza del Valle Workers’ Center on Facebook and Twitter, or email fuerzadevalle@gmail.com to keep up with the struggle for justice for working families.

Join our efforts, follow Fuerza del Valle on social media (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram) and share our photos and information regarding domestic workers. Pass the word; share the Workers’ Center newsletter (attached).
We celebrate the sacredness of the work of our compañeras, sacred because they take care of what is most important to us, our families, or daughters and sons, our parents, our homes. As Celia, FVWC member, states, “We are the Heart of the Home”

The Domestic Workers’ Committee invites you to our celebration this Saturday, 14 of February; we will have a ceremony with testimonies, appreciation, and words of inspiration. We recognize the value of Domestic Workers and we commit ourselves to continue to struggle with our compañeras.

We are asking each organization to limit themselves to 3 people, preferably domestic workers or ex domestic workers from your base, membership, or affiliates. You do not have to be a domestic worker to attend.

Please RSVP by sending an email to fuerzadelvalle@gmail.com, domesticasdelvalle@gmail.com or call at (956)787-8171 or at (956)433-3523 or at (956)283-5650.

Fuerza del Valle will be joining Reform Immigration for Texas Alliance (RITA) to urge lawmakers in the 84th legislature in Texas to keep the welfare of working families in mind.

We must once again defend students’ right to in-state tuition, a vital feature to keep education in reach and accessible. We are also demanding accountability for enforcement agencies operating on the border and affecting the quality of life for members of border communities.

Hundreds of advocates will convene on February 11 at the state capitol to remind lawmakers of the humanity of those who will be affected if these backwards, anti-immigrant laws are passed in a state in which 1.68 million people are undocumented. We remind everyone that those who help make our community the vibrant and productive societies that they are are immigrants, and deserve to be represented by Texas lawmakers. We hope that this marks one of many events in 2015 in which we stand with immigrants and we encourage you to join us. Contact Fuerza del Valle Workers’ Center at fuerzadelvalle@gmail.com, on Facebook or at (956)283-5650  to find out how you can get involved in the struggle for a dignified life.

The end of November is here once again, in what has become a tradition throughout the United States to gather with family and friends and enjoy pleasant moments, food, smiles and conversations.  Many homes will engage in reflection, some deeper than others, on why they are thankful and warrants their family’s gratitude.

Health, family, a roof over one’s head, jobs; these are just some of the most common things people include of their list of blessings.  Rarely does society focus on the contribution of different sectors in the population to our wellbeing as something for which to give thanks.  We hope to highlight the contribution of working families, especially immigrant working families as a reason warranting our gratitude. Fuerza del Valle Workers’ Center gives thanks to working families on this special day and beyond this holiday by consistently supporting the transformation of our society to achieve more just and equitable communities.  We urge families to reflect on this.

The “Texas Miracle”, a phenomenon many of our politicians are quick to make reference to when speaking of Texas, is in large due to the construction industry with record amounts of projects in every major urban area of the state.   There are close to one million construction workers who build our state.  They labor in the most dangerous state to work in construction, with the most deaths on the job than any other field in any other state.

Construction companies, contractors, subcontractors and society have another reason to be grateful this November. It is thanks to the construction workers the construction industry has managed to grow at the pace it has, making an estimated $54 billion a year.  Without Texan construction workers our state would not flourish as it has.   We should give thanks to the men and women who labor every day to build our state, from roads to schools, government buildings, private businesses and homes.  In giving thanks to Texan construction workers we should acknowledge that about half of them labor in our state without documents. In other words, without immigrant workers our state would be unable to build itself.

Beyond Thanksgiving we should demonstrate our gratitude by supporting and prioritizing the transformation of the construction industry to make it one more accountable to working families, where there is proper safety training, adequate water and water breaks, and try to ensure that the rampant problem of wage theft is no longer embedded with construction work.  Texas worker centers, such as the Workers Defense Project and Fuerza del Valle Workers’ Center will be pushing for new legislation this legislative session to support working families and make the construction industry more accountable to workers.

Many families will not cook their own meals this thanksgiving. Rather they will have domestic workers prepare the meals, the home, and the children for the holiday.  Countless professionals depend on domestic workers to take care of their homes, to cook their meals, to take care of their children and their parents in order to be able to fulfill their own careers and enjoy their free time as they do.  This Thanksgiving let us give thanks to domestic workers who take care of homes and families and allow for vast sectors of society to work.  Let us give thanks beyond this symbolic holiday and support domestic workers struggle to end wage theft, sexual abuse, mistreatments, sub-poverty wages and other rampant labor injustice domestic workers face on a day to day basis.

The National Domestic Workers Alliance has been instrumental in galvanizing workers’ centers and community organizations that focus with domestic workers on these issues and have successfully supported the passage of Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights in California, Hawaii, New York, Connecticut, Illinois and Massachusetts.  The Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights widens labor rights under state law for domestic workers. Fuerza del Valle is committed to support this movement for economic justice.

As we lay out our Thanksgiving spread and eat our meals at this and every holiday, let us remember the men and women who harvest our food in the fields of America. Let us be conscious of the families who work hard to put food on our table and the supply chain that allows for this to happen.   Let us think of the millions of farmworkers, tens of thousands from the Rio Grande Valley, a historical hub for migrant workers, who diligently harvest the fields. Let us think of the warehouse workers and the truck drivers who do their part in this supply chain as well as the retail workers who work at Wal-Marts, HEBs, and other supermarkets of America.  Let us think of all the workers who take part in getting food to our table. We should think of them and thank them for fulfilling such sacred work, and for allowing us to nourish our bodies and the health of our families.

Warehouse workers, retails workers and farmworkers are organizing across the country to fight poverty and exploitation in our supply chain.  Let our gratitude extend from one special holiday and into concrete support of these historic campaigns by showing solidarity with these workers. This means attending their events, respecting picket lines and most importantly listening.

This thanksgiving Fuerza del Valle Workers’ Center recognizes and appreciate the contribution of all working families, documented and undocumented, to society and urges you to acknowledge them in your holiday dinner and to give thanks to them on a day-to-day basis by supporting the movement for economic justice.

The Cement Workers’ Committee of Fuerza del Valle will be protesting at D. Wilson Construction Company on Thursday, September 25 at 3:00 p.m.

Wage theft has plagued various construction sites under D Wilson Construction Company’s management. Dozens of workers have yet to be paid for the construction work completed at our schools in Pharr-SanJuan-Alamo, Sharyland, Los Fresnos, Harlingen and for constructing the Clark Knapp Honda car dealership in Pharr, Texas.

We demand an end to the practice of wage theft and for the workers to be paid their wages. If you work, you should get a decent wage, no question asked.

Stand with the Cement Workers’ Committee and the Workers’ Center on September 25th as we let D Wilson Construction Company and McAllen know that we will fight wage theft and demand human rights for working families.