Tag: workers

Why I no longer work at the Department of Labor

It is far worse than you could possibly imagine. This just scratches the surface:

The New York Times 
July 18, 2008
EDITORIAL

No Friend of the Workers

It should surprise no one, at this point, that an arm of the Bush administration charged with protecting Americans’ rights or safety is not doing its job. Even so, a government report and a Congressional hearing this week painted a disturbing picture of a Labor Department that simply is not standing up for workers.

President Bush has filled top posts across his administration with people who do not agree with the missions of their organizations. His Environmental Protection Agency has failed to protect the environment; his Justice Department has promoted injustice.

To lead the Department of Labor, Mr. Bush appointed Elaine Chao, who took office in 2001 arguing that states should be able to opt out of the federal minimum wage — a terrible idea that would drive down wages for the lowest-paid employees. For more than seven years, Ms. Chao has run a department that has tilted toward employers and failed to properly enforce labor laws.

In a report released this week, the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office took a close look at a sampling of cases handled — or, rather, mishandled — by the Wage and Hour Division of the Labor Department. It found that the division failed to adequately investigate complaints that workers were not paid the minimum wage, were denied mandatory overtime or were not paid their last paychecks.

In one case, a delivery truck driver complained that he was not being paid for overtime that he had earned. The complaint languished for more than 17 months before an investigator was assigned. Then, the case was soon closed because the statute of limitations was about to run out.

The division dropped another case, in which disabled children were allegedly being paid cash by a trucking company to operate large machinery in violation of child-labor laws, because its investigators could not locate the employer. The G.A.O. had little trouble finding a company that appears to be the one cited in the complaint.

The G.A.O.’s findings suggest that the government is not doing its job of going after employers who “cheat their employees out of their hard-earned wages,” said Representative George Miller, the California Democrat who chairs the committee that held this week’s hearing.

The Labor Department responded, as The Times’s Steven Greenhouse reported, that the “Wage and Hour Division is delivering pay for workers, not a payday for trial lawyers.” The department has it exactly backward. By failing to enforce the law, it is creating more work for trial lawyers, who can turn what should be simple administrative procedures into full-blown lawsuits.

Attacking trial lawyers is a classic Republican talking point. Its use in response to complaints from hard-working Americans that they are being cheated is a giveaway that the real problem at the department is not one of competence, but of ideology.

The first step in getting the nation’s laws enforced again will be entrusting enforcement to people who believe in them. We hope the next president will do that.

Day 29 – Hunger strike suspended after huge political gains

From http://nolaworkerscenter.wordpress.com

Congressman Dennis Kucinich speaks before an audience of 150  workers and supporters today at the Department of Justice rally. Details here:

NEW ORLEANS WORKERS’ CENTER FOR RACIAL JUSTICE

www.neworleansworkerjustice.org

*** JUNE 11, 2008 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ***

Indian trafficking survivors suspend hunger strike on Day 29 after huge political gains

Workers celebrate support, vow to fight on as allies hold solidarity rallies in 10 US cities

WASHINGTON, DC – On Wednesday, June 11, 2008, about 150Indian labor trafficking survivors and supporters rallied at the US Department of Justice headquarters, where the workers suspended their hunger strike on Day 29 after an unprecedented outpouring of support from US Congressmen and leaders from labor, civil rights, and religious communities.

“Congress passed the Trafficking Victims Protection Act because we recognized that modern day slavery exists and that workers trafficked into the United States should be able to place their faith in the United States justice system,” US Congressman Dennis Kucinich said at the rally, one week after he and 17 Congressional colleagues sent a letter to the Department of Justice urging legal protections for the workers while it investigates their case. “Today, we must make sure we don’t betray their faith in us.”

Indian Member of Parliament S.K. Kharventhan (Tamil Nadu, Congress Party) also pledged his support to the workers after flying from India to meet with them and attend the rally, saying:“This issue needs to be taken up as an international crime in India. I pledge my support to you. Meeting with you personally has opened my eyes to the seriousness of the problem and the fact that the Indian government should help you bring the traffickers to justice.”

“After 29 days, we are suspending a hunger strike that has brought us more power than any group of H2B guest workers in the United States has ever had,” said Sabulal Vijayan, an organizer with the Indian Workers’ Congress. “We have the confidence to suspend our hunger strike today because we have faith in these allies to fight alongside us until the traffickers are brought to justice.”

The vast support for the workers’ fight for justice against the labor trafficking chain of Signal International and its recruiters was clear from the speakers at Wednesday’s rally, which included:

 

  • US Congressman Dennis Kucinich
  • Indian Member of Parliament S.K. Kharventhan, Tamil Nadu, Congress Party
  • Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickeled and Dimed
  • Rev. Graylan Hagler, Senior Minister, Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ
  • Jon Hiatt, General Counsel, AFL-CIO
  • John Cavanagh, director, Institute of Policy Studies
  • John Flynn, President, International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers
  • Sarita Gupta, Executive Director, Jobs With Justice
  • Indian Workers’ Congress organizer Sabulal Vijayan
  • Saket Soni, director, New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice

In addition, labor rights group Jobs With Justice held solidarity actions in 10 cities across the US on Wednesday: Atlanta, GA;Boston, MA; Portland, OR; Knoxville, TN; Richmond, VA; Chicago, IL; Salt Lake City, UT; New York, NY; Los Angeles, CA; and San Francisco, CA. Last week, Jobs With Justice members wrote over 9,000 letters to US Congress in support of the workers.

“But our victory today is not yet complete,” Vijayan added, referring to the Department of Justice’s failure to release the labor trafficking survivors from the terror of deportation by granting them continued presence in the US, as requested by Rep. Kucinich and his 17 colleagues.

“We live in constant terror of deportation. We cannot work. We cannot see our families. We cannot provide for our families. We are listening to our children grow up over long distance phone calls. Because of the DOJ’s inaction, our lives are in limbo,” Vijayan said.

After the workers broke the fast in a ceremony blessed by Rev. Graylan Hagler and other faith leaders, a delegation of ten workers’ allies went into the Department of Justice and met with Constituent Relations Associate Director Julie Warren, who agreed to set a meeting between the workers and the DoJ Civil Rights Division for the week of June 16th.

“Scripture says: ‘Is this not the fast which I choose to loose the bonds of wickedness, and to let the oppressed go free?’” Rev. Hagland said, before he and other clergy distributed pieces of bread to the workers. “That is what we’re standing here to do, to loose the bonds of wickedness, and to let the oppressed go free.”

The hunger strike followed nearly 18 months of organizing by the workers, who paid US and Indian recruiters up to $20,000 apiece for false promises of permanent residency and green cards. Instead they received 10-month temporary H2B guest worker visas and worked at Signal’s Gulf Coast shipyards under deplorable conditions. A total of 20 workers participated in the strike, five of whom were hospitalized. One of them, Paul Konar, fasted for 23 straight days before being stopped by health problems.

The workers escaped Signal’s labor camps in March 2008 and made a 10-day “journey for justice,” largely on foot, from New Orleans to Washington, DC. They launched their hunger strike on May 14 to demand temporary legal status in the US, Congressional hearings into abuses of guest workers, and talks between the US and Indian governments to protect future guest workers.

“The Department of Justice, like the Indian government, has remained cold while these workers have taken extraordinary risks to open the world’s eyes to the reality of guest worker programs,” said Saket Soni, workers’ advocate and director of the New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice. “This suspension of the hunger strike gives them both one last chance to fulfill their responsibility to combat the brutal reality of human trafficking.”

The Indian Workers’ Congress is an affiliate of the New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice.

H2B hunger strike update

I have been unable to follow the progress of the H2B workers from India. However, updates can be found at these sites:

http://www.neworleansworkerjustice.org/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nolaworkerscenter/

Very good video clip at:
http://newsproject.org/node/52

I believe the Indian H2B workers are on day 21 of their hunger strike.

So far, on Regulations.gov I see no comments yet
submitted on DOL’s recently published proposal to amend and streamline the H2B process which can be found here: http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/pdf/E8-11214.pdf.
The period for public comment will close July 7..

A Tale of Two Jobseekers (video)

For wider screen video playback (without obstruction) click here!

Video (dramatization) response to U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) policy and rule changes. More information below: In a nutshell DOL is mandating that the State Workforce Agencies (SWAs) not refer farmworkers to jobs without doing employment eligibility verification screening. SWAs are revolting against this requirement, because it requires them to single out predominantly Hispanic customers for added scrutiny. Other job seekers are not treated this way and SWAs do not have the resources or the desire to do this. DOL is threatening to withhold appropriations due to the SWAs if they do not cooperate.

Disclaimer: I created this work on my own time in my individual capacity and it does not represent the opinion of anyone other than myself.

The E-Verify tentative non-confirmation in the dramatization should not have caused a delay in the referral, but such delays will probably occur if there is not adequate training (so I inserted a practical lesson regarding what not to do), but in reality there are so many steps in the process that could cause substantial delay and inconvenience to farmworkers that I decided not to re-shoot that part and left it as a teachable moment. I should have made the two week delay occur when the job seeker was sent away the first time. Perhaps he could have come back with a receipt for a replacement SS card and/or LPR card, and Mr. Smith could have told him that SWAs can not accept
receipts and that he needed to come back when he received a replacement SS card or LPR card. Then if the new regulations were in effect (and the 50% rule was no more), the farmer would have been able to refuse the referral as occurring after the start date.

This dramatization highlights only a few of the many changes that DOL is proposing to the H-2A regulations that will have a negative impact on MSFWs. Click Here for more detailed comments I submitted to DOL in opposition to the proposed rule.

Comments on the U.S. Department of Labor’s proposed rule changes on the H-2A program are due by April 14, 2008.

Add your own comments & See comments already submitted:
http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/component/main?main=DocketDetail&d=ETA-2008-0001

See also:
From Farmwoker Justice Website:

http://www.fwjustice.org/Immigration_Labor/h2anews.htm#F