Speech #830132648

Therefore. our .Government protested the closing at Monterrey. but. as I have said. to no avail. Another development had to do with wages. Article 15 of the last migrantlabor agreement. which expired on January 15. provided: The employer shall pay the Mexican worker not less than the prevailing wage rate paid to a domestic worker for similar work at the time the work was performed and in the manner paid within the area of employment. or at the rate prevalent in the work contract. whichever is higher. Determination of the prevailing wage rate shall be made by the Secretary of Labor. Despite the provision in the agreement to the effect that wages paid to Mexican workers had to be the prevailing wage. determined by our Secretary of Labor. on May 8. 1953. the Mexican Government announced a scale of minimum wages for all workers contracted in the future. That was directly contrary to the international agreement. which I have quoted. Here is the wording. a pertinent part of the announcement made in a note from -the Mexican Government: In view of the foregoing and based on the statistical data and salary graphs of the wages received in the year 1952 by the Mexican contract laborers. compared to the averages of the prevailing wages in those regions where American laborers are employed for the same agricultural task. the Government of Mexico has arrived at the following conclusions. First. every request from employers who wish to engage Mexican workers must be refused when the offered salary is lower than the minimum initial rates of $2.75 for the first hand picking of 100 pounds of cotton. the minimum wage rates being proportionately adjusted for picking under different conditions as well as for other types of agricultural laborers. and. second. that as a general rule it is proper to establish for all agricultural regions which employ Mexican laborers an increase of the hourly wage fixing an Initial minimum of not less than 65 cents for the States of the Southeast. of 75 cents for the Middle West. and of 60 cents for the Western States. That quotation Is from an official translation by the Foreign Office of the Mexican note.