VOA标准英语2010年-Mexican Guest Workers Take Jobs Few Am

About 66,000 migrants enter the United States legally as H2B Guest Workers each year.

 

Raquel Trejo Rubio has a job few Americans apparently¹ want.

The 28-year-old Mexican migrant picks crab² meat. "I came because there is no work or money in Mexico," says Trejo. "I have a daughter and I have to support her."

Guest worker

Trejo is among the 66,000 migrants who enter the United States legally as H2B Guest Workers.

H2B is a visa program that gives  workers access to minimum-wage, non-agricultural jobs that, employers say, would otherwise go unfilled because the pay is low, the employment seasonal³ and the work often back breaking and tedious.

 

Trejo's employer is G. W. Hall & Son, a major seafood⁴ supplier on Hoopers Island, a remote community on Maryland's eastern shore.  For eight hours a day, five or six days a week Trejo works at a long table where the hard-shelled crabs⁵, caught that morning and then steamed, are piled high and ready for her to pick apart.  

She makes a minimum hourly wage of $7.25, sometimes more if she picks quickly.  Risking injury Trejo works at a rapid pace tossing empty shells into large waste cans. The job is not difficult. It's a matter of practice.

"What's difficult is to be separated from my family and 10-year-old daughter for much of the year," she says.

VOA - A. Greenbaum
Raquel Trejo Rubio is in her fourth season as a Maryland crab picker with G.W. Hall & Son.

Jobs Americans don't want

G.W. Hall & Son once employed American workers. No more. The company says seasonal tedious jobs don't appeal to Americans anymore.

So owner Brian Hall says he does everything he can to keep his Mexican workers happy. "We provide transportation to and from Mexico. They've got a house, a satellite TV, air conditioning.  Anything they want, we get it for them."

Ninety percent of Hall's business is picking crab meat.  Without the women, he says, "I'm out of business and every other plant [around here] is too." Crab is a $30 million a year industry in Maryland.

Trejo rents the three-bedroom ranch⁶ house she shares with co-workers from G.W. Hall & Son.

It is the money that keeps her here for the season, which can last between eight and nine months.  "In Mexico, I earned 1,400 pesos  [$110] every two weeks. Here I can earn that in three days."

VOA - A. Greenbaum
Blanca Aguilar, Raquel Trejo and Sandra Garcia [left to right] relax after an eight hour day that begins as early as 4:30am.

Exploited workers

Despite that, a new report finds that crab workers like Trejo are isolated⁷ and exploited by their employers. The report, based on interviews with 40 former crab pickers, was published by the American University Washington College of Law and the Centro de los Derechos Del Migrante, or Center for Migrant Rights.

Crab picker Elisa Martinez Tovar told her story at a news conference that coincided with the report's release. "When we don't know this country, we imagine that everything is beautiful, but once we get here, we see in truth is that it's another reality."

Martinez says she suffered a string of abuses, from a dishonest recruiter and rat-infested living conditions to not enough work.

"When we wanted to change jobs my boss said,  You came to work for me.  You can't go elsewhere.  I paid 1,000 dollars for you and you are obligated to stay.  And if you go, I'll report you to immigration and you won't be able to return."

VOA - A. Greenbaum
G.W. Hall & Son owner Brian Hall receives up to 700 bushels of crabs daily at his Maryland processing plant.

Troubling allegations

Those allegations trouble Brian Hall at G.W. Hall & Son Seafood.

"Anybody who treated their girls that badly should be kicked out of the [H2B] program. It makes me look bad and I don't like that."

Bill Sieling, executive director of the Chesapeake Bay Seafood Industries Association also disputes the claims in the report.

"We had no inkling that such a report was being worked on," he says. "And, many of the things in there are not accurate. Certainly by our standards and by present day conditions most of the report does not stand up to the conditions that they are today."

Lead author Jayesh Rathod, an assistant professor of law at American University says the report seeks to give the migrant perspective.  It calls for reforms in recruitment in Mexico and improved working conditions in the United States - not for the elimination⁸ of a popular program.

"The women told us the program is critical to their livelihoods⁹." Rathod says. "It's made a huge difference in the lives and education of their children. They don't want the program to go away. They just want to make sure that they have flexibility¹⁰ and rights to make changes of employers and to earn enough under the program without going back to Mexico remaining in debt."

That's what Trejo wants too. She's already earned enough to open a small shop in Mexico, but until it can support her family and help build a better future for her daughter, she will have to continue returning to her job shelling crabs in America.

1 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

2 crab   

n.螃蟹，偏航，脾气乖戾的人，酸苹果；vi.捕蟹，偏航，发牢骚；vt.使偏航，发脾气

参考例句：

• I can't remember when I last had crab.我不记得上次吃蟹是什么时候了。
• The skin on my face felt as hard as a crab's back.我脸上的皮仿佛僵硬了，就象螃蟹的壳似的。

3 seasonal   

adj.季节的，季节性的

参考例句：

• The town relies on the seasonal tourist industry for jobs.这个城镇依靠季节性旅游业提供就业机会。
• The hors d'oeuvre is seasonal vegetables.餐前小吃是应时蔬菜。

4 seafood   

n.海产食品，海味，海鲜

参考例句：

• There's an excellent seafood restaurant near here.离这儿不远有家非常不错的海鲜馆。
• Shrimps are a popular type of seafood.小虾是比较普遍的一种海味。

5 crabs   

n.蟹( crab的名词复数 )；阴虱寄生病；蟹肉v.捕蟹( crab的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• As we walked along the seashore we saw lots of tiny crabs. 我们在海岸上散步时看到很多小蟹。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The fish and crabs scavenge for decaying tissue. 鱼和蟹搜寻腐烂的组织为食。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 ranch   

n.大牧场，大农场

参考例句：

• He went to work on a ranch.他去一个大农场干活。
• The ranch is in the middle of a large plateau.该牧场位于一个辽阔高原的中部。

7 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。

8 elimination   

n.排除，消除，消灭

参考例句：

• Their elimination from the competition was a great surprise.他们在比赛中遭到淘汰是个很大的意外。
• I was eliminated from the 400 metres in the semi-finals.我在400米半决赛中被淘汰。

9 livelihoods   

生计，谋生之道( livelihood的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• First came the earliest individualistic pioneers who depended on hunting and fishing for their livelihoods. 走在最前面的是早期的个人主义先驱者，他们靠狩猎捕鱼为生。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• With little influence over policies, their traditional livelihoods are threatened. 因为马赛族人对政策的影响力太小，他们的传统生计受到了威胁。

10 flexibility   

n.柔韧性，弹性，（光的）折射性，灵活性

参考例句：

• Her great strength lies in her flexibility.她的优势在于她灵活变通。
• The flexibility of a man's muscles will lessen as he becomes old.人老了肌肉的柔韧性将降低。