Group of foreign workers wants chance to stay

[peejay 327]

Group of foreign workers wants chance to stay

By PURVA PATEL 2009 Houston Chronicle

March 10, 2009, 10:42PM

Thang Hong Luu pledged his parents’ house in Vietnam as collateral to raise enough money to take advantage of a job opportunity in America.

He says he paid a $10,000 fee to be chosen for a 2½ -year stint as a welder that he thought would earn him more than $100,000 — money that seemed out of reach in Vietnam.

But in February, eight months into his work contract, he was told he’d have to go home, he said.

“There is a lot of injustice and deception that I don’t understand,” he said through an interpreter, Tammy Tran, who is also one of his attorneys.

On Tuesday, he was the first of about 20 workers Tran represents to file a lawsuit claiming Coast to Coast Resources, a Port Aransas-based staffing agency for skilled laborers, and ILP Agency, a Louisiana-based labor firm, promised work for 30 months at $15 per hour but reneged months into the contract.

Luu says the companies charged him and his fellow workers a fee of between $6,500 and $15,000 to be chosen for the U.S. jobs; told them not to speak to outsiders because Americans disliked citizens of communist countries; and overcharged them for housing and transportation.

Hung Quoc Vu, chairman of ILP, didn’t return e-mail or phone requests for comment.

Scott Funk, a Houston attorney for Coast to Coast, said the company denies the allegations and will aggressively defend itself in court.

The company never collected the alleged fee, never told workers to keep quiet and often collected less than what it incurred in housing and transportation costs, he said.

The workers were told they had to return to Vietnam because their visas had expired and extension applications had been denied, Funk said.

The workers were here on H-2B visas that allow foreign workers to take positions, generally for up to 10 months, that U.S. companies cannot fill.

“It is ironic and a shame that Coast to Coast is being punished and disparaged for actually complying with U.S. immigration laws,” he said.

‘Good workers’

Luu and the others worked in Channelview at Southwest Shipyard, which was not named in the lawsuit.

“These are good workers,” said Sanjay Rao, president. “We were told by the subcontractor that their visas had expired.”

If Coast to Coast knew the visas could expire and not be renewed, it shouldn’t have promised workers jobs for 30 months, Tran said.

“If you don’t know if the visa will be attainable, how can you promise it? How would the workers know? They don’t speak English. All they know is they were promised work,” she said.

Funk said Coast to Coast did not promise visas, and if ILP did, it did so without Coast to Coast’s knowledge or consent.

The workers knew only the government could approve the visas and extend the visas, and that issue was beyond Coast to Coast’s control, he said.

“Their agreements all require them to comply with U.S. law, and if they can’t work here lawfully, they would not be in compliance,” he said.

He added that Coast to Coast wouldn’t be contractually obligated to employ them because the workers wouldn’t be in compliance with the contract or U.S. law.

$15 an hour

Luu’s contract with Coast to Coast notes he would earn $15 an hour for the first 40 hours and an additional $22.50 an hour for overtime.

He also agreed to pay Coast to Coast $500 a month in rent, $85 a month for transportation and a management fee of $2 per hour worked, according to a copy of his contract.

He said he didn’t know when he signed the contract that he’d be sharing an apartment with three other workers.

Coast to Coast’s attorney said the management fee was never charged but the various other charges were often lower than the contract allowed.

The charges covered expenses the company incurred for the workers, including assisting them with housing, food, transportation, medical needs, tools, electricity, furniture, a full-time apartment supervisor and a registered nurse, he said.

Luu netted an average $13 an hour, according to Funk.

Afraid to go home

Jobless and afraid to return home without the funds to pay off debt he took on to come to America, Luu remains in limbo.

He and the other workers are relying on the local Vietnamese community for help.

On another legal front, immigration attorneys at Foster Quan said they plan to seek visas for the workers that will let them stay in the U.S. as victims of a crime or of human trafficking during an ongoing investigation.

Luu said he wants to stay in America long enough to earn what he needs to pay off the loan on his parents’ home and help educate his six nieces and nephews.

“I’d like to stay here legally for two to three years,” he said. “I am very scared for my family.”

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headli...iz/6304338.html

[justucia 0]

ugh

this new injustice gives the whole H2B visa program a bad name

i bet the southern poverty law center will be involved with this case soon enough

in 2007 there was something similar that happened in LA (i believe) with Indian welders

they paid mucho $$$ to get here, upon arrival they were told they didnt have the 'first-class' welding skills they said they did

so their pay was reduced or they were fired

[justashooter 430]

Sounds like a bunch of vietnamese taking advantage of vietnamese. I would bet a thousand dollars that the company that recruited these guys is owned by VN who immigrated to the States in the late 70's. Having lived in the gulf coast and knowing many welders during that time, I saw similar scams. The management company is taking more than $2 an hour from these guys. Going rate for a welder in the gulf is about $45 an hour.

[peejay 327]

Sounds like a bunch of vietnamese taking advantage of vietnamese. I would bet a thousand dollars that the company that recruited these guys is owned by VN who immigrated to the States in the late 70's. Having lived in the gulf coast and knowing many welders during that time, I saw similar scams. The management company is taking more than $2 an hour from these guys. Going rate for a welder in the gulf is about $45 an hour.

I think you hit the nail on the head. Yes, the going rate a construction company charges another company for contracting a welder for a job is $45/hr. Of course the welder doesn't get the $45/hr. The welder might see less than half of that per hour and get some benefits through his employer. That is acceptable business practice. No beef with that.

Clearly this H2B and some of these other foreign worker visas are total rip offs. The foreign worker is getting exploited by crooks and the unemployed American worker looking for a job is being stabbed in the back by our own government. This is just another example of the few getting over the many at the many's expense. Why this sh*t is even continuing in these economic times in the USA is beyond comprehension. Every American worker should be hopping mad.

The bottom line is that foreign nationals are being ripped off by crooks and unemployed American workers are being stabbed in the back by their own government to the delight of corrupt and unscrupulous business types. Where is the "change". Same old sh*t...different toilet.

With US unemployment closing in on the official 10% (much higher when unemployed that have exhausted unemployment and are off the books), our government should not be importing workers. But, then again, illegal aliens should not be getting stimulus jobs, but the Dim leadership continues to pander to the usual suspects at the expense of the unemployed American worker. Same old sh*t, different party.

Edited March 12, 2009 by peejay