Mexican Guest Workers, Laid Off, Want BP’s Help

New York Times ^ | August 6, 2010 | Tamar Lewin

[La Lydia]

NEW ORLEANS — Soon after the oil from the Deepwater Horizon began gushing into the Gulf of Mexico, business at the Ramada Plaza Beach Resort in Fort Walton Beach, Fla., dried up — and so did the jobs of five Mexican housekeepers who were guest workers at the hotel under contracts guaranteeing them work until Nov. 1. “On June 30, they told us our jobs were over, and that we had to leave our housing and go back to Mexico,” Salvador Luna Espinoza, one of the housekeepers, said in a telephone interview conducted with a translator. “I’m staying with friends now, but I don’t know how long they’ll put up with me...”

With the help of ( Alliance of Guestworkers for Dignity) Luna Espinoza filed a BP claim for lost wages of $5,498.63, backed up by a letter from Ramada saying that his layoff was due to the oil spill. He has not yet received compensation, though. On July 9, the alliance filed a petition with the Labor Department, asking that it issue a formal policy directing those in the spill zone who employ guest workers to pay all the wages due under the contract, as well as the guest workers’ fare home... While thousands have lost their jobs as a result of the oil spill, the layoffs present special hardships for guest workers, mostly hotel workers and those working in shellfish processing.

Under their H-2B visas, they are allowed to work only for the employer who arranged their visa, and they must leave the United States within 10 days of losing their job...

[Sacajaweau]

Pretty cut and dry...They get bus fare to get back home.

[KeyLargo]

A 36 second video. You won’t believe what you hear.

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=53737255

[La Lydia]

"Language is always the companion of Empire" - Antonio de Nebrija, Spain, 1492

Siempre la lengua fue compañera del imperio.

[patriot08]

Help Texas watch her borders.
Watch live on 14 cameras and report illegal alien invaders.
Night cams in operation

http://www.blueservo.net/index.php?error=nlg

Does it work? Yes.
Recently caught on cam and reported:
String of illegals running through brush with backpacks
Numerous sightings of boats crossing the river
Numerous vehicles late at night in isolated areas
IMMENSELY satisfying.

.

[HiJinx]

Ping!

[Vigilanteman]

When I worked in Japan, part of the cost of sponsoring a foreign worker was the cost of repatriation when the contract ended. The company was responsible for moving them back home unless the worker was the one who opted to end or not renew the contract.

The visas were also based on set time periods (usually one or three years) based on the government's perceived need for the particular skill set, not on the contract terms between the worker and the company. Thus, a worker could terminate the contract and go to work for another company for any reason, as long as the new company was willing to assume the responsibilities of visa sponsorship.

If our immigration policy had any sense, we would be doing the same here.