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Posted on 10/21/2011 9:34:17 AM PDT by Qbert
A Labor Department Inspector General report released this week found that $7,140,782 in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds went to four Oregon forestry services firms who hired no U.S. workers. From the report:
Only two Oregonians were listed on the employer recruitment reports, indicating that workers in Oregon were likely unaware these job opportunities were available. In fact, although 146 U.S. workers were contacted by the three employers regarding possible employment, none were hired. Instead, 254 foreign workers were brought into the country for these jobs.
The Labor OIG even interviewed local workers to find out why no Americans were hired. The OIG reports:
We spoke with two workers who reported that the employer used discouraging language, such as references to age and the ability to speak another language, which are not valid conditions of employment.
Reached for comment by The Oregonian, there was bipartisan anger at the what OIG found. "This is a timber area and we hadn't been cutting trees for years," Republican state Sen. Chris Telfer told the paper. "It really ticked off a lot of people here."
Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., who asked the OIG to investigate the program in September 2010, was also displeased: "The goal of the stimulus bill was to put Americans back to work, not foreign nationals. ... Oregonians have been logging for over a century, our workforce is one of the best in the world, and these contracts should have been awarded to companies that hire Oregon loggers."
This is not the first time President Obama's policies have killed Oregonian jobs. In July, the Obama administration rescinded a Bush administration plan to double logging in Western Oregon. “Communities throughout western Oregon are facing extreme economic dislocation that has been compounded by a lack of timber coming from the BLM forests--southwest Oregon has become a sacrifice zone for this Administration,” American Forest Resource Council Tom Partin said in a release.
Timely reminder..LOL!
The fraud,abuse and scandals with this administration are so massive, it’s going to be a couple of scandals exposed every week from here on through next November! I sure hope the RNC is paying attention.
http://www.geforestry.net/?page_id=3 - GE Forestry web page....bet he’s a provider of illegals....er cheap labor...er....whatever...
Swedes, Norwegians, Finlandians? S/
The people who implemented this policy of hiring Mexicans instead of US citizens should be locked up. There is plenty of board feet to be cut here in Oregon. When after begging and pleading to allow some to be cut before it burns, illegal Mexicans reap the benefits. This is sick!
I just sent an email to these maroons telling them what I think...
Maybe they needed to use the Mexicans so that the cutting areas could avoid getting near the MJ grows that permeate our National Forests & Parks. Most of them have Mexican workers growing thousands of plants.
In Silicon Valley it is ASTOUNDING the number of places that stipulate Chinese/Korean/Japanese as a language requirement.
Funny thing —if you’re the odd honkey that DOES speak one or a couple of these, quite mysteeeeeriously you do not get the job.
I think it’s really about hiring someone who’d be viewed as having fewer qualms about using the legal system, if there were a contract dispute.
If only this were a Republican president. It would have people in the streets. It would have wall-to-wall nightly news coverage. The stimulus would have its own “gate” moniker.
**($7M to four Oregon firms who hired no US workers)**
Sickening.
I haven’t read the complete article yet.
Which companies?
Ponderosa Reforestations Inc (I could found in the Sec Of State Business search that shows it as a legitimate business)
Summitt Forestry
Medford Cutting Edge Forestry
GE Forestry (I found this one in Sec of State Biz Search)
You did a lot of digging there. Thanks.
Perpetual Wreckovery Summer...
“I sure hope the RNC is paying attention.”
You and me, both!
It’s good to “see” you!
Hey there! It’s good to be back. I’ve actually been spending lots of time in the Magnolia State. Love that place! Trying to talk hubby into going back to one day to live on some land we own there. Hopefully I can meet some of my Ms. FReeper friends one of these days...like you!
Amazing, but still believable re what happens in left wing Oregone and with our tax $’s in Obama’s distorted America.
By the way, reforestation companies typically don't pay well for tree planting. It is often piece work. But when they go to fire crew mode it is usually federal contract prevailing wage rate with plenty of overtime. Sometimes the tree planting is federal prevailing wage too. It all comes out of our pocket and goes (mostly) to Mexicans.
I just took a drive around the Eureka waterfront where millions of board feet of logs are being exported to China while the Schmidbauer saw mill across the tracks is scrambling to buy enough timber to run this winter...
Distorted, but utterly CALCULATED.
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