This is an update to this story.
This raises multiple ethical problems, which are situations that require a person or organization to choose between alternatives that must be evaluated as right or wrong. The obvious ethical issue is the working conditions of the Mexican farmworkers. If the working environment is “slave-like,” that goes against the decent working conditions labor law. This is putting money before the health and protection of your farmworkers. This ethical issue has stemmed from the world revolving around money.
Another ethical issue raised by this article includes the hours, and backbreaking labor these people have to endure. No one in the United States is allowed to work HALF of those hours/number of days in a row unless they are paid under the table. It is a violation of labor laws in the U.S. Not only are United States farmworkers not allowed to work that many hours and days in a row, nobody even does the back breaking labor the Mexicans do in the fields! (Unless they happen to be illegal Mexican immigrants being exploited in the U.S. as they are in Mexico.)
Further, Mexican farmworkers aren’t even getting paid nearly enough for the work they do. They get paid $8.05 an hour, which is less than the minimum wage for U.S. farmworkers. With the hours they work and the type of work they do, they deserve to make six figures annually. This is disrespect to the farmworkers. They work more than a U.S. full time job with absolutely no benefits, terrible working conditions, and terrible wages. Such exploitation violates universal human rights.
Perhaps the worst violation of human rights comes from the sexual assaults WHILE at work. People know about this and see it happening and do nothing about it! The Mexican government has gotten reports on it and yet refuses to respond so that their country can continue to make money.
This story has not been covered adequately by corporate media in the U.S. because the government doesn’t want the people to know about it. As long as the Mexican farmworkers get paid little amounts for the amount of work they do, the U.S. corporations increase their bottom lines through the exploitation. The U.S. government needs to take an active role in stopping the exploitation of Mexican farmworkers by U.S. corporations. They need to put pressure on the Mexican government to assure better working conditions, wages, and labor laws for these people.