Posted on 10/31/2013 2:21:01 PM PDT by BenLurkin
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — A coalition of community groups gathered Thursday outside the offices of a Chinese electric bus manufacturer in downtown Los Angeles to protest alleged labor law violations.
The California Department of Industrial Relations fined Build Your Dreams (BYD) Electronic Company nearly $80,000 on Oct. 10 for violating labor laws in Los Angeles and Lancaster.
BYD was also ordered to pay nearly $20,000 in back wages for violations involving 22 employees, including some workers at the company’s Lancaster facility, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The Times reports BYD paid some Chinese workers at its Los Angeles site just $1.50 an hour.
In response, community, labor, faith, and immigrant groups gathered at the company’s office office, 1800 S. Figueroa, to call on public agencies — including the L.A. Metropolitan Transit Authority and Long Beach Public Transportation Authority — to sever economic ties with BYD for its alleged “rotten treatment of workers and hollow promises of good jobs for Angelenos.”
Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE) protest organizer Rachele Huennekens told KNX 1070 NEWSRADIO the company has a civic responsibility to both its workers and the city at large.
“We’re saying, ‘BYD, we know what treatment you have of your workers, and we want you to hold up to these promises you’ve made of creating good jobs for Los Angeles residents,” Huennekens said.
Many workers at BYD are Chinese nationals and therefore are not subject to California labor laws, according to BYD officials.
BYD opened a defunct RV plant in Lancaster after Long Beach transit officials voted in March to award the Shenzhen-based firm with a $14 million project to build a fleet of ten electric buses aimed at providing zero-emission public transportation.
$1.50/hour.
If the Rubio/Schumer mass amnesty bill passes, market forces may drive that down to $0.65/hour.
Oh yeah, the liberals in California will let that one slide.
Not.
wow, this is crazy
If they worked in China that might be one thing
That’s an interesting situation.
So theoretically they could set up all kinds of factories, staff them with Chinese imported employees, and pay them Chinese wages?
I think we need some immigration laws in this country, the ones we have apparently are far too libertarian
Yup. That's the madness of the Leftist obsession with race and immigration.
They're willing to sacrifice every gain that the working class got in the last 100 years on the altar of race diversity and preferences, married to Open Borders and mass immigration of any flavor, legal or illegal.
And the Race Crazed Madmen of the California "Democrat" party are all for this crap. Because...they aren't white. They aren't American. So they can do...ANYTHING THEY WANT.
Including flushing the labor codes down the toilet.
It's the law, right? Isn't that what they've been chanting the last few weeks about CommieCare?
Doesn't matter. If you're a Victim Minority (anyone who isn't white qualfies), then you can do anything you want.
Including victimizing your own race!
No point in pointing out the breathtaking hypocrisy of the whole damn spectacle. Won't even make them pause.
It's a good thing the Unionistas are doing this; maybe remind everyone why we had the damn laws in the first place.
I hope Chinese tour buses/motor coaches are safe. We may have to ride one to visit the Great Wall next year.. Or on a bingo run to an Indian casino or Reno. :-)
This is amazing to me, and frankly I’m surprised there isn’t more of it. I’d assume young Chinese would think they were in heaven in California, even working for slave wages, and by collecting all the govt bennies be far ahead of their China existence. Just the promise of maybe being able to spot Kim Kardashian in her Land Rover one day would bring them by the thousands...
zero emision transportation??? Unless they are solar powered, or unless the electrical supply needed to recharge their batteries is water or nuclear generated, they will rely on a power source which emits something....
No, not legally. US and state law trumps Chinese law in the USA.
Coolie labor. It's how the railroads were built.
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