Puerto Vallarta (PVDN) – Officials from the United States and Mexico reported Tuesday that they will seek to help nearly 13,000 Mexican migrant workers, now living in Mexico, to collect $6.5 million owed to them in unpaid wages from workplaces in the United States.
The US ambassador to Mexico, Ken Salazar, said the effort marks an unprecedented collaboration between the two countries to support workers who have been shortchanged for years.
“In previous governments that would not have happened,” Salazar said at an event in Mexico City along with Mexican labor officials. “Now, because of the relationship we have (…) the workers who have paid with their sweat are going to receive the reward they deserve,” he added.
The US Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division, which enforces labor laws and recovers unpaid wages, determined who was owed back wages through its inspections of workplaces, the Secretary of Labor of Mexico said in a statement.
The office will share a list of names with Mexican officials so they can try to locate the workers, many of whom had not been paid the legal minimum wage or paid overtime.
The officials did not detail the industries or companies that had hired the workers or the period for which they were owed.
Thea Lee, deputy assistant secretary for international affairs at the US Department of Labor, said the effort to help Mexican workers was a pilot program that showed her government’s commitment to working in the country, regardless of their immigration status.
“They deserve protection under our laws,” she said in a video link at the event.
Mexico will also launch a public campaign to encourage workers to come forward if they believe they qualify for the checks.
“The goal ahead is to find the 13,000,” said the Secretary of Labor, Luisa Alcalde.
