HispanicBusiness

LOS ANGELES, July 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Mexican Federal Senator Adrian Alanis Quinones, Chairman of the Mexican Senate's Commission on Community and Development, will discuss compensation for "braceros," Mexican farm workers who worked in the U.S. in the 1950s, at a news event co-hosted by the Consejo de Latinos Unidos, a non-profit organization that assists and educates Latinos and others, tomorrow, Saturday, July 30, 2005 at 2:00 p.m. PDT, at the Casa Durango, located in the Plaza Mexico, 11225 Long Beach Blvd., Suite 205, Lynwood.

According to labor expert David Bacon, "The bracero program was the U.S.'s first big experiment in using guest workers. Thousands of Mexicans were recruited to come to the U.S. as farm workers from 1942 to 1964. Workers were housed in military-style barracks, and generally treated in an abusive way. If they complained or tried to strike or stop work, they were sent back to Mexico. Money was deducted from each worker's paycheck, to create an incentive to them to return to Mexico at the end of their contracts. Most of this money disappeared. Since then former braceros in the U.S. and Mexico have been trying to force the Mexican government to pay the money owed them."

The Consejo is co-hosting the event with the Federacion Duranguense de California, which operates the Casa Durango, a community service center for Latinos in Southern California. In April, the Governor of the Mexican State of Durango, Ismael Hernandez Deras, inaugurated the Casa Durango at a ribbon- cutting ceremony. Consejo de Latinos Unidos