Picking Crabs Over People: Dems Join GOP in Stifling H-2B Wages, Working Conditions

[Omaha Steve]

http://wepartypatriots.com/wp/2012/06/15/picking-crabs-over-people-h-2b/



Leading crab cake enthusiast, Sen. Barbara Mikulski


When the story of dozens of Louisiana crawfish pickers being forced to work 24 hour shifts began to make the rounds online late last week, two things happened: 1) the labor and progressive communities were outraged 2) people had to Google “H-2B guest worker.”

See, the temporary foreign workers being threatened by C.J.’s Seafood (a Wal-Mart supplier) with shovels and deportation wound up on the Gulf Coast through a hard-to-monitor Department of Labor program that “allows U.S. employers to bring foreign nationals to the United States to fill temporary nonagricultural jobs” when an employer can “demonstrate that there are not sufficient U.S. workers who are able, willing, qualified, and available to do the temporary work.” The program is well-known for creating unsafe, low-wage jobs that are filled through devious hiring practices including misrepresentation of skills requirements and absurd application processeses:

For years, employers have rigged the H-2B recruitment process against U.S. workers. By misrepresenting the work hours or openings actually offered, or rejecting U.S. workers for other than lawful, job-related reasons, employers have often cut corners and skipped over U.S. job candidates so they can take on foreign guest workers for less pay. In one case, for example, a company tried to discourage applications by scheduling interviews for 6 p.m. Christmas Eve.

In fall 2010, undercover investigators from the U.S. Government Accountability Office actually captured recruiters advising employers on how to circumvent rules on worker recruitment to weed out U.S. workers. Similarly, DOL’s own recent audit discovered that almost half of H-2B employers that attested compliance with regulatory obligations were not, in fact, compliant.

FULL story at link.

About the Author: Steve Cooper
Steve Cooper is the editor of We Party Patriots. He educates union members on the benefits of social media, offering instruction on engaging on Facebook and Twitter. When not ruining his posture and finger muscles through endless computer use, Cooper is an avid chef and musician. The Chopped Pork and Mustard Slaw pictured is his own.

[robinlynne]

1. how bout simply ending H2b visas? there are plenty of people looking for jobs. So the employers

may have to pay minimum wage. (violin)

[Egalitarian Thug]

2. The intellectual disconnect that dominates this whole area remains impressive.

The blatant dishonesty of employers and legislators just keeps rolling along. Every time the lies are exposed, we collectively shrug and turn on the TV.

[Laelth]

3. My favorite quote from the article:

This vote was an absolute forfeiture by the party, one that represents the exact kind of anti-worker tendency that labor groups and human rights advocates have witnessed with disturbing regularity from so-called “progressives.”

I would be outraged if this weren't so common.

-Laelth