BiTMICRO the latest Silicon Valley firm caught victimizing foreign workers
San Jose Mercury News ^ | 05/16/2016 | Ruth Silver Taube
Posted on 5/17/2016, 5:48:26 AM by artichokegrower
For the third time in as many years, a Silicon Valley tech company has brought workers to the United States and paid them in foreign currency in violation of state and federal law. On April 29, a federal judge ordered Fremont electronics manufacturer BiTMICRO Networks to pay 18 Filipino workers a total of $161, 268 in wages and penalties.
Tesla accused of using cheap foreign labor to build its US factories.
Workers were reportedly paid as little as $5 an hour.
A report by The Mercury News has exposed Tesla’s use of imported foreign labor to help build its Silicon Valley factories. The article describes how a German company, contracted by the automaker to expand its facilities, exploited the visa system to bring in laborers from Eastern Europe. These workers were reportedly paid as little as $5 an hour while American counterparts earned an hourly rate of $52. Responding to the article on Twitter, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said, “Only heard about this today. Sounds like the wrong thing happened on many levels. Will investigate and make it right.”
The Mercury News reports focuses on the story of one Slovenian electrician, Gregor Lesnik, who was hired by contractor Eisenmann to outfit a Tesla paint shop in March 2015. Lesnik suffered numerous injuries — including two broken legs — after falling three stories at work. He was one of 140 foreign laborers hired indirectly by Tesla and was admitted into the US under nonimmigrant visas for tourism and business (called B1/B2s). His visa indicated he would be supervising other workers, but instead, he carried out hands-on labor explicitly not covered by the B1/B2.
http://www.theverge.com/2016/5/16/11682178/tesla-imported-labor-visas