[Marxism] Abuse of Latino Forest Workers

[Brian Shannon <Brian_Shannon@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

"I heard that exploitation of workers is tolerated because of bottom-
line dollars."
_____________________

SENATORS GET EARFUL ON FOREST LABOR ABUSE

By Tom Knudson
Sacramento Bee, March 2, 2006

WASHINGTON - The abuse of Latino forest workers by U.S. Forest
Service contractors emerged from the backwoods of America on
Wednesday and stepped onto the national stage at a Senate
subcommittee hearing that could be a spark for lasting reform.

"Evidence suggests we continue to have great difficulty enforcing
health, safety, immigration and labor laws of this country when it
comes to these contracts," said Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, chairman
of the Senate Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests.

Congress first examined the issue in 1980, then again in 1993
- . . .legislative action might be required to address some problems,
including the mistreatment of forest workers who labor legally here
as H2B guest workers.
. . .

"Exploitation of these workers has devalued (Forest Service)
contracts to ridiculously low levels to where we can't compete," said
Cindy Wood, a forest contractor whose firm, Wood's Fire and Emergency
Services, is located in Plumas County. Wood was the last to testify
at Wednesday's afternoon session.
. . .

Just reporting violations to the Department of Labor is "simply
passing the buck," Wood said in her written testimony. "If the Forest
Service representative knows enough to promptly report the situation,
they should also be stopping all work."
. . .

In her written testimony, Wood told lawmakers about her firsthand
experiences with the mistreatment of laborers on the Plumas National
Forest, where she subcontracted work only to discover conditions
including "unhealthy sleeping conditions for foreign guest workers in
the field when it was freezing or snowing; unacceptable foot attire;
and transport vehicles lacking proper license and other certification
information."

Cassandra Moseley, director of the Ecosystem Workforce Program at the
University of Oregon, [said] "Half of forestry workers in Oregon earn
about $4,400 a year," she said. "And more than 85 percent earn less
than the federal poverty level for a family of four."

In her written testimony, Moseley said problems are rooted in a
Forest Service culture driven by meeting work targets.
. . .

Wood blamed . . .the Forest Service's so-called "best value" bidding
practices, under which the agency says it awards jobs based not on
lowest bid but on the best overall value. . . . "We gleaned a lot of
information from [a] meeting about the pressure ... to get more acres
for the money at any cost, even at (the cost of) small business
survival. How is that best value?

"I heard that exploitation of workers is tolerated because of bottom-
line dollars."

FULL AT http://makeashorterlink.com/?H23D12ABC






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