Thread: Immigrant workers protest treatment

http://www.norwichbulletin.com/apps/pbc ... 30335/1002

Immigrant workers protest treatment
By GREG SMITH
Norwich Bulletin


GROTON -- Benigno Rodriguez said his place in a picket line outside a Navy housing construction site on Gungywamp Road was a matter of dignity and respect.

He was among two dozen Mexican immigrants, employees of Gargiulo Construction, waving American flags and holding signs to protest alleged unfair treatment by the subcontractors.

With the national spotlight recently focused on immigration issues, the workers walked off the site Tuesday in protest of eight fellow workers allegedly fired for talking to "CBS Nightly News."

Picketing employees have enlisted the aid of the New England Regional Council of Carpenters, who said it plans to file an unfair labor practices complaint with the National Labor Board.

Union spokesman Miguel A. Fuentes said the company is using undocumented workers. Because of their status, he said, employees had realized normal standards -- wage scales, break times and overall treatment -- did not apply to them.

"The vast majority are being paid as laborers when, in fact, they are performing the work of carpenters and steel workers," Fuentes said. "They've had enough."

"We're not against migrant workers, we're against companies that exploit migrant workers," he said.

Gene Gargiulo, owner of Gargiulo Construction, denied he fired anyone and said no one that works for him is undocumented. In an interview Tuesday, he said workers are slated to be laid off at the end of the week because construction is nearly completed.

Rodriguez Wednesday carried a sign reading "We Love America, Will She Ever Love Us." Through a translator, the Mexican immigrant said the protest was a culmination of unfair treatment.

The workers, all Mexican, are hard workers, raising families and only wanted what they deserved, Rodriguez said. He said workers were, at times, told they could be replaced easily if they complained about work conditions.

Because of their status in the United States, the workers agreed they were taking a risk Wednesday by their public display of solidarity.

Another worker, Juan Abrego, said, despite the attention, he believed it was the right thing to do.

"They're not going to stay in the shadows any longer. It's the lesser of two evils in their minds," Fuentes said.

Centex Construction, the project's general contractor, issued a statement Tuesday that said it supported the union's mission, but there was no evidence to support the union claims.

"Centex awards subcontracts on the basis of best value, and does not discriminate in any way," the statement said.

The company said all subcontractors must provide a letter for each employee working on site that conforms to minimum federal requirements.

GMH Limited signed a $600 million lease to manage build and renovate Navy housing in five Northeastern states. The project in Groton includes 2,039 units.

Reach Greg Smith at 425-4219 or gasmith@ norwichbulletin.com


Originally published April 13, 2006

I wish they'd understand that we are more on there side with the illegal immigrants than they think. I don't want to see anybody used for cheap labor. It may seem like so much....for awhile....but nobody wants to be at the bottom. It may be alot from where they came but it's sure lacking compared to here. This was the land of oppertunity and I don't know what it's ended up as now. But bringing us down isn't going to help them. In the short term maybe......but not in the long run. They are fighting to go right back to where they came from.

Benigno Rodriguez said his place in a picket line outside a Navy housing construction site on Gungywamp Road was a matter of dignity and respect.

Then be dignified enough to respect our laws, quit the whining and LEAVE our country!

See - there's consequences to lawlessness. What goes around come around. You come here illegally and get exploited. But it's not OUR fault!

By being here illegally, these aliens set themselves up for potential exploitation, IMHO.

http://www.wtnh.com/Global/story.asp?S=4766196&nav=3YeX

Click Here to Watch Video

Workers protest wage discrepancies and exploitation of immigrant workers

(Groton-WTNH, Apr. 13, 2006 Updated 6:05 PM ) _ A construction company is facing some tough questions about labor practices. Illegal immigrant workers at a Groton construction site say they've been mistreated and they rallied for change Thursday.

by News Channel 8's Tina Detelj
The Carpenters Union led the rally outside the sub base in Groton. Members claim undocumented immigrant workers are being unfairly treated by Gargiulo Construction and other construction companies hired to build the new navy housing.

"Workers are claiming they've worked as iron workers, they've worked as carpenters," says union member Miguel Fuentes.

"Anybody that pulls a hammer out or wears a hammer more or less can be claimed as a carpenter," says Eugene Gargiulo of Gargiulo Construction.

Gargiulo says he pays the workers a laborers wage because that is the majority of the work they do. He also denies allegations he fired any of the workers for speaking out about their pay or trying to join the carpenters union.

"The unions are involved. I don't know, but I have a feeling they're prompting these guys what to say. They're calling themselves undocumented workers which we have their documentation," says Gargiulo.

"Everybody thinks it's a union/non-union issue and it really isn't," says union member Michael Mizzone. "It's about fair wages and benefits for the work they were doing. These undocumented workers are being unfairly discriminated against."

Union members say whether these immigrant workers are documented or undocumented is not their concern. Their beef is with the companies who hire them.

"These people are going to go somewhere else to work and they're gonna get caught up in the system," says union member Chuck Appleby. "There needs to be something nationwide that corrects that issue. I don't have that answer."

"If they are undocumented workers, but I do have their documents, is anybody gonna check and see if they are undocumented, and will they follow through with moving them out of the area or get them off of government property," asks Gargiulo.

This is pathetic. The company lies and says they do not hire illegal aliens, the workers lie by being in our country illegally.

In the long run who gets hurt most by it ? The American family. And no one is talking about them !! Not EVEN the president of the United States !!

I have no pity for the company which hires illegal aliens or the illegal worker. Get out of this country NOW. Take the President of the United States with you !!

Every company that is now in the news because of the fuss these illegals are making.....need to be arrested... but since we know that won't happen...they need to be flooded with emails from us.

This whole article is about who is breaking the law the worst. So illegal aliens seriously expects an employer that illegally hired them to pay them a legal wage with benifits to boot. The employer, working on a goverment contract, can't seem to hire an American on atleast this one job. I hope they deport both parties and take the union rep too. If not for their criminal activity, then at least for their stupidity.

So in other words, these people didn't KNOW they were slave labor until we started trying to get our legislators to deport them?

I think that is a crock, don't you?

People crossed the border illegally, took jobs for less money than all the people around them and all of a sudden they think that because they are illegal aliens they should be paid the going rate?

And the people who ARE legal who feel sorry for them and/or protest on their behalf are just as ignorant as they are if you ask me. All they are doing is cutting their own throats when the next wave comes in to take away their jobs.

(by the way, one guy I know of who came in from Mexico complained that he didn't get the same pay as the guys around him who have worked for the same company for more than 20 years! In the first place, he had no business snooping into other people's paystubs to look at how much they made and in the second place, he'd only been there for three or four months and didn't know a tenth of what he needed to know to do the job when this incident occurred!)

I say get the illegals out of there tomorrow and figure out what to do about the vacant jobs the next day. This is total foolishness!

People crossed the border illegally, took jobs for less money than all the people around them and all of a sudden they think that because they are illegal aliens they should be paid the going rate?

Actually, I hope ALL these illegals start loudly demanding fair wages! Wouldn't take long for that lame rhetoric (excuse) "they work twice as hard as American workers" to dry up. If an employer is made to pay, say 20.00 and hour for constuction workers, the preferred workers are going to be the ones he/she can easily communicate with.

Not only that, they will start seeing the value in having workers who don't stay out of work to go protest every other day.