Involve immigrant workers in exercising their safety and workplace rights.
D-1.
Support workers who participate in health and safety programs and exercise their rights.
D-1-a.
Provide training. Train immigrant workers, through labor and community-based organizations, in recognition and control of hazards, legal rights, and resources. Train-the-trainer programs can also be effective in enabling workers to teach other workers. Any training efforts should involve linguistically and culturally appropriate strategies. (See also Recommendations A-1-c, A-2, A-4 and C-1,
B-5.)
D-1-b.
Remove the threat of deportation. Immigrant workers have been threatened with deportation in retaliation for exercising their rights and reporting hazards. Legal and policy strategies to overcome this obstacle should be explored and developed. Efforts to improve whistleblower protection in California should take into account that immigrants are particularly vulnerable to retaliation because of their immigration status. (See also Recommendation A-6.)
D-1-c.
Require employers to involve workers in their safety programs. Workers can take an active role in workplace injury and illness prevention through a health and safety committee or other means. Successful worker involvement will require comprehensive training and full protection against discrimination for all worker representatives participating in these programs. It will also be necessary to specify the representatives' roles, how they will be selected, and the amount of release time and other resources that must be provided to them.
D-1-d.
Learn more about the barriers immigrant workers face. Study the obstacles to advocating for health and safety changes in the workplace, and explore specific solutions to address these obstacles.
D-2.
Involve workers in policy activities. Organizations should provide opportunities for
workers to directly influence public policy efforts.
