Issue 1: October
By LASA Diversity Council
Welcome!
Welcome to Diversity Council’s newsletter! We’re so glad you’re here :)
Our Picks
Photography: Olivia Lifungula
Artist Olivia Lifungula is a Congo-born, Belgium-raised, photographer and filmmaker. Her work explores Black femininity, beauty, and intimacy. Her photography can be found on Instagram @olivialifungula. Lifungula’s work has been featured in Vogue List of 20 female photographers to watch as well as the New Black Vanguard: Photography between Art and Fashion exhibition.
Show: “Black-ish” Ending with Season 8
The ABC family sitcom, “Black-ish,” has finally come to an end after eight years of airing on streaming services and cable television. At its height, the series won over 25 awards from various film academies like the Golden Globes, People’s Choice Awards, and the Emmys. Including Best American Story, Outstanding Achievement in Comedy, and Top 10 TV Shows.
The show revolves around Dre, his wife, Rainbow, and their five kids: Zoey, Junior, Diane, Jack, and Devante. The ABC comedy has a direct approach to difficult topics, covering pressing issues like police brutality, the presidential elections, and COVID-19, while making sure viewers have an enjoyable time. According to the the creator, Kenya Barris, “90% of the show is based on real life.”
In the series finale, Dre, a successful ad-man, and Rainbow, a nationally recognized anesthesiologist, decide if it’s finally time to move out of their white Sherman Oaks home to another black neighborhood. For most of his career, Dre had the idea that the only way to be successful was if he lived in an expensive neighborhood, but he finally figured out that there was more to life than that.So after gathering up the family one last time and throwing their house of 17 years a New Orleans-style funeral, the family said their last farewell.
Until Barris aired the pilot episode, the American Sitcom industry was predominantly comprised of white families. The show melds entertainment and education seamlessly — from in one episode addressing how to talk to children about police brutality to another episode’s quick history lesson on how white flight as a result of desegregation led to urban public facilities being defunded and closed.
Book/Movie: Wonder by R.J. Palacio
The book Wonder, recently adapted as a movie, is about a young boy with facial deformities entering middle school for the very first time. The movie has been nominated for several awards, such as the Academy Awards and Critic’s Choice Awards.
Many young adolescents struggle with their appearance in this day and age and this movie addresses those issues with the main character, August Pullman. He was shunned his entire life by strangers because of the way he looked. Throughout the movie, he learned to accept who he was and made new friends that accepted him too.
Current Event Spotlight
Amazon’s Mistreatment of its Workers in Mexico
In Mexico, 15 former workers for Amazon.com told the Thomson Reuters Foundation that they were unfairly treated or dismissed after being recruited through labor agencies to work in the corporation’s warehouses. For example, interviews with workers, copies of pay slips, and Whatsapp messages from Amazon HR divulge that many workers had to work overtime beyond legal limits or had been let go without severance, forced to resign, or were laid off due to becoming ill from COVID-19.
Additionally, Amazon didn’t address individual worker accounts but said that it had complied with labor laws in all countries where it operates. However, 3 labor lawyers claim that Amazon has broken several of Mexico’s labor laws including but not limited to forced overtime of contractors for non-specialized work and layoffs without severance. Yet, Alejandro Salafranca, the head of Mexico’s Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare’s Decent Work Unit, said that there have been no complaints about Amazon or any federal inspections of Amazon in recent years, but the former workers’ accounts may prove grounds for a federal inspection.
In response to Salafranca's comments, Amazon said it was proud to provide jobs while complying with Mexican legislation. Recently, a Mexican law largely prohibiting subcontracting was passed, and supporters believe that it will improve labor rights, forcing Amazon to hire most of their workers directly as staff. The legislation prohibits the subcontracting of jobs to third-party agencies, which employ at least 4.5 million workers across Mexico, except for specialized services outside a company's main business.
Since opening its first Mexico warehouse in 2015, Amazon has grown rapidly by relying on subcontracted workers. In fact, Mexico's workforce is mostly informal and low-paid and the coronavirus pandemic has cost millions of jobs, leaving more people competing for fewer positions. However, it has announced further expansion in line with a global spree in which 500,000 more people were hired in 2020, hitting 1.3 million workers. Amazon told the Thomson Reuters Foundation it had created at least 10,000 direct and indirect jobs since starting operations in Mexico, including both year-round and temporary workers.
Prospective Amazon warehouse workers in Mexico find adverts on Facebook or stands on the street and are usually contracted for four 12-hour shifts a week. Many workers are paid about 25 pesos ($1.25) an hour plus bonuses, which is above minimum wage of around 18 pesos, but they said that they were often forced to do overtime under the threat of losing pay, being fired, or being laid off. More than two-thirds of Amazon's Mexico warehouse workforce is estimated to be outsourced to contractors (informally known as a "shadow workforce"). Amazon does not publish any such data and declined to give a figure when questioned, and government oversight is hobbled by few resources and data.
Overtime is often mandatory in the warehouses where the Amazon workers regularly work 60 hours weeks illegally even though labor law allows a 48-hour week with up to nine hours obligatory overtime only in extraordinary circumstances. Anything beyond that 57-hour limit must be agreed with workers. Failing to show up for obligatory overtime meant they lost punctuality and attendance bonuses and allowances for paid time-off worth more than 400 pesos ($20).
Many of the interviewed workers said they endured the difficult working conditions and long hours in order to potentially obtain an Amazon blue badge and staff status. But only two of the 16 workers received the badge, which entails benefits such as a company savings scheme. Four other workers who contracted COVID-19 said they were let go while off sick or soon after returning to work whereas Amazon said all workers who contracted COVID-19 were given two weeks of paid sick leave. Additionally, other former workers described regular mass layoffs of dozens of staff, thought to be a tactic to prevent people building up the years of service that entitle them to larger severance payments. Most said they received no severance pay, and several believed they were owed money but never received a copy of paperwork to dispute it.
Unfortunately, workers across Mexico who have been mistreated or unfairly fired during the pandemic face years before their complaints are resolved due to a huge buildup of cases at labor tribunals. Often, those companies leave no paper trail that could leave them liable for compensation or face sanctions.which makes winning such cases difficult since labor tribunals rely on paperwork rather than testimony. And, many workers are reluctant to risk losing their jobs to seek compensation.
Amazon's founder and chief executive officer Jeff Bezos said in a letter to shareholders that the company had to do more for its employees while pushing back at criticism that workers were treated "as robots". But any labor reforms, whether imposed by the Mexican government under the new law or led by Amazon itself, might be too late for the workers who said they were mistreated at Amazon.
Diversity Council Report
The council met with Principal Crescenzi to discuss incorporating the missions of Equity Council with Diversity Council. Currently, the plan is to raise issues of equity to the principal on a monthly basis during our weekly meetings.
The monthly team is working on an end-of-October event to be held on October 22nd to highlight the different cultural traditions that happen around this time of year. Details to come! (There will be candy).
Keep an eye out for the Diversity Council bulletin board; the monthly team will be decorating it soon.