800 Jamaicans to take up warehouse jobs in America

[Tuff Gong]

Re: 800 Jamaicans to take up warehouse jobs in America


<span style='font-size: 17pt'>Case in point</span>!

Protest at hotel site
Monday, 12 November 2007
The workers walked off the job to protest against what they claim are low wages and poor working conditions.

When the RJR news team arrived at the Fiesta site Friday morning, scores of workers were seen armed with their buckets, levels, squares and other tools. Some walked in the pouring rain towards Lucea, while others huddled at a shed near the main gate.

They all had one aim, no work resumption until their wages are increased.

"We are been victimized down here. We have been working for a $1,000 from ever since and since the rate was raised, we have not received any increase. This morning we decide to strike for an increase and what they have done is ask to us to leave the property, those who do not want to work for the $1,000 a day, police will be called in to remove them from the property," an employee at the Fiesta Hotel site in point Hanover.

The workers add that there are no proper toilet facilities and that they have to pay $1,200 for water boots to work on the murky site which is deducted form their wages.

Attempts to speak to a project manager proved futile as we were told that he had already left the site.

http://www.radiojamaica.com/content/view/2911/26/

[BlessedLadyOfZion]

Re: 800 Jamaicans to take up warehouse jobs in America

$1000/day for 5days/wk?? [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/whistle.gif[/img]

[bee_bop]

Re: 800 Jamaicans to take up warehouse jobs in America

<span style="color: #FF0000">Dr. Dudd said:"Littleman I read every news article available on Jamaica on a daily basis for as long as they ahve been on the internet. Pernel charles dod not say that."</span>

Pearnel Charles quotation:
<span style="color: #FFCC00">Mr. Charles said he would be addressing the problem by working with HEART/NTA.

"We are making plans with HEART Trust and with other institutions to see if we can upgrade the literacy part of them so they can fit in and then they can be certified," he said.( Retrieved on 11/12/2007 from http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/glean...ad/lead1.html)</span>

<span style="color: #009900">Littleman says:You were right about Pearnel Charles, but I do remember about an article in the news paper, probably in September, which spoke of some Jamaicans going to Canada and being rejected because they were not computer literate. Anyway the Gleaner only allows a search to September 28th 2007, no earlier, or you have to pay, so I won't challenge you on that one, it would be too expensive.</span>

[bee_bop]

Re: 800 Jamaicans to take up warehouse jobs in America

<span style="color: #CC0000">Quotation: "This morning we decide to strike for an increase and what they have done is ask to us to leave the property, those who do not want to work for the $1,000 a day, police will be called in to remove them from the property," an employee at the Fiesta Hotel site in point Hanover."</span>

<span style="color: #009900">I don't blame them, $1,000.00 a day is ridiculous, they ought to strike...good ol' Collective Bargaining.</span>

[Dr.Dudd]

Re: 800 Jamaicans to take up warehouse jobs in America

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Littleman</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><span style="color: #FF0000">Dr. Dudd said:"Littleman I read every news article available on Jamaica on a daily basis for as long as they ahve been on the internet. Pernel charles dod not say that."</span>

Pearnel Charles quotation:
<span style="color: #FFCC00">Mr. Charles said he would be addressing the problem by working with HEART/NTA.

"We are making plans with HEART Trust and with other institutions to see if we can upgrade the literacy part of them so they can fit in and then they can be certified," he said.( Retrieved on 11/12/2007 from http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/glean...ad/lead1.html)</span>

<span style="color: #009900">Littleman says:You were right about Pearnel Charles, but I do remember about an article in the news paper, probably in September, which spoke of some Jamaicans going to Canada and being rejected because they were not computer literate. Anyway the Gleaner only allows a search to September 28th 2007, no earlier, or you have to pay, so I won't challenge you on that one, it would be too expensive.</span> </div></div>
Littleman you may remember that,but it did not happen. the reason is that no farm worker leaves on any contract without first being tested and assigned their specific job. this is not a new program . It is over 50 years old and there is a sysyem that has been in place,and it still function stoiday. Yoy don't realize that the employers have to paay for the return airfair and ground transportation. the air fair and transport cost cannot be taken out of the workers income. neither can they take housing or fiid. Si the employers eother vosot Jamaica or have theor representatives vis and qualify the wirkers in Jamaica beforec they leave. I am aware that recently there has been a need for computer literate farm workers,which has been filled by white South Africans,but Jamaicans have not been involved in it due the lack of computer skills. Or I should say the computer literate Jamaican workers are not intrested in farm work in great enough numbers.
I also know that some farmers would like to use Jamaicans, in thes epositions,but the type Jamaicans who are intrested farm work has always been those with poor or noinexistent reading skills. As a matter of fact once they use to use the condition of their hands as a means of qualification. If you hands are not really rough ypoufail physical inspection. It is only recently literacy has been a requirement.

[bee_bop]

Re: 800 Jamaicans to take up warehouse jobs in America

<span style="color: #FF0000">Well what I mean is, that they had been rejected for Canadian farm work on the basis that they were not computer literate, I can't retrieve the article so I'm going by memory. </span>

[Wahalla]

Re: 800 Jamaicans to take up warehouse jobs in America

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Dr.Dudd</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Littleman</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><span style="color: #FF0000">Dr. Dudd said:"Littleman I read every news article available on Jamaica on a daily basis for as long as they ahve been on the internet. Pernel charles dod not say that."</span>

Pearnel Charles quotation:
<span style="color: #FFCC00">Mr. Charles said he would be addressing the problem by working with HEART/NTA.

"We are making plans with HEART Trust and with other institutions to see if we can upgrade the literacy part of them so they can fit in and then they can be certified," he said.( Retrieved on 11/12/2007 from http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/glean...ad/lead1.html)</span>

<span style="color: #009900">Littleman says:You were right about Pearnel Charles, but I do remember about an article in the news paper, probably in September, which spoke of some Jamaicans going to Canada and being rejected because they were not computer literate. Anyway the Gleaner only allows a search to September 28th 2007, no earlier, or you have to pay, so I won't challenge you on that one, it would be too expensive.</span> </div></div>
Littleman you may remember that,but it did not happen. the reason is that no farm worker leaves on any contract without first being tested and assigned their specific job. this is not a new program . It is over 50 years old and there is a sysyem that has been in place,and it still function stoiday. Yoy don't realize that the employers have to paay for the return airfair and ground transportation. the air fair and transport cost cannot be taken out of the workers income. neither can they take housing or fiid. Si the employers eother vosot Jamaica or have theor representatives vis and qualify the wirkers in Jamaica beforec they leave. I am aware that recently there has been a need for computer literate farm workers,which has been filled by white South Africans,but Jamaicans have not been involved in it due the lack of computer skills. Or I should say the computer literate Jamaican workers are not intrested in farm work in great enough numbers.
I also know that some farmers would like to use Jamaicans, in thes epositions,but the type Jamaicans who are intrested farm work has always been those with poor or noinexistent reading skills. As a matter of fact once they use to use the condition of their hands as a means of qualification. If you hands are not really rough ypoufail physical inspection. It is only recently literacy has been a requirement. </div></div>

Doc when I went for Farm work we had to do a literasy test....But this was back way ehen. I did not qualify because I was too young... I went in another direction.... And one of the other things I recall was always from my neck of the woods a lot of guys went for the jobs cutting cane or apple picking and they were rejected if they could not read...

One of the incentives for guys to do Jamal was they could read and write thus had a chance to get farm work...

[Dr.Dudd]

Re: 800 Jamaicans to take up warehouse jobs in America

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Wahalla</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Dr.Dudd</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Littleman</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><span style="color: #FF0000">Dr. Dudd said:"Littleman I read every news article available on Jamaica on a daily basis for as long as they ahve been on the internet. Pernel charles dod not say that."</span>

Pearnel Charles quotation:
<span style="color: #FFCC00">Mr. Charles said he would be addressing the problem by working with HEART/NTA.

"We are making plans with HEART Trust and with other institutions to see if we can upgrade the literacy part of them so they can fit in and then they can be certified," he said.( Retrieved on 11/12/2007 from http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/glean...ad/lead1.html)</span>

<span style="color: #009900">Littleman says:You were right about Pearnel Charles, but I do remember about an article in the news paper, probably in September, which spoke of some Jamaicans going to Canada and being rejected because they were not computer literate. Anyway the Gleaner only allows a search to September 28th 2007, no earlier, or you have to pay, so I won't challenge you on that one, it would be too expensive.</span> </div></div>
Littleman you may remember that,but it did not happen. the reason is that no farm worker leaves on any contract without first being tested and assigned their specific job. this is not a new program . It is over 50 years old and there is a sysyem that has been in place,and it still function stoiday. Yoy don't realize that the employers have to paay for the return airfair and ground transportation. the air fair and transport cost cannot be taken out of the workers income. neither can they take housing or fiid. Si the employers eother vosot Jamaica or have theor representatives vis and qualify the wirkers in Jamaica beforec they leave. I am aware that recently there has been a need for computer literate farm workers,which has been filled by white South Africans,but Jamaicans have not been involved in it due the lack of computer skills. Or I should say the computer literate Jamaican workers are not intrested in farm work in great enough numbers.
I also know that some farmers would like to use Jamaicans, in thes epositions,but the type Jamaicans who are intrested farm work has always been those with poor or noinexistent reading skills. As a matter of fact once they use to use the condition of their hands as a means of qualification. If you hands are not really rough ypoufail physical inspection. It is only recently literacy has been a requirement. </div></div>

Doc when I went for Farm work we had to do a literasy test....But this was back way ehen. I did not qualify because I was too young... I went in another direction.... And one of the other things I recall was always from my neck of the woods a lot of guys went for the jobs cutting cane or apple picking and they were rejected if they could not read...

One of the incentives for guys to do Jamal was they could read and write thus had a chance to get farm work... </div></div>
I can assure you that it was not the policy.Otherwise therre would be a higher motivation to be literate among poor males in the country.
Were the rejected on Kingston,or by the local village headman/Jp or whoever get the cards?
I know that one of the highest percentage of illiterate workers are concentrated in the farm work program and it seem to have been almost a requirement.
So much so that they use to have people filling out forms for potential workers at Hanover Street center.
some workers use to have other write hime for them too.
I alsi ise ti visit farms in Connecticut and Massachusettes for Sunday socials where we would cook a goat and celebrate independence and specialoccasion. and i can remember that a very high percentage of owrkers were illiterate.

[Tuff Gong]

Re: 800 Jamaicans to take up warehouse jobs in America

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Littleman</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><span style="color: #CC0000">Quotation: "This morning we decide to strike for an increase and what they have done is ask to us to leave the property, those who do not want to work for the $1,000 a day, police will be called in to remove them from the property," an employee at the Fiesta Hotel site in point Hanover."</span>

<span style="color: #009900">I don't blame them, $1,000.00 a day is ridiculous, they ought to strike...good ol' Collective Bargaining.</span> </div></div>

You see we have to fix yaad as well as the indentured servants program. We cannot sit by and complain about workers sent abroad while Jamaican workers working in their out country is being treated like dogs.

But you know Dr. Clueless one said the young men in his Constituency between the ages of 15-35 are armed, illiterate, unemployable and irredeemable.

He also said Chinese Workers are better and more productive than Jamaican Workers, that is why they were been employed more on the Stadium Project in Trelawney.
Maybe the worth of Jamaican Construction Workers is in fact a mere Ja$1K A Day.

[Tuff Gong]

Ja workers tough reception-Huntsville, Alabama

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Dr.Dudd</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Tuff Gong</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Dr.Dudd</div><div class="ubbcode-body">There are no labour laws in Alabama. </div></div>

Really?
In any case don't Federal Minimum wages and Department of Labor rules apply?
One of the problem with the dumbing down of the Jamaican economy is the glut of uneducated labour around therefore schemes such as these is just one method of finding use for this large pool

The former Administration boasted how Jamaica had it lowest employment in 20 years, it seems as if even that low an unemployment figure let much to be desired….or undesired.
Speaking of which I remember when I had to send care packages consisting of warm gears to some girls on the Hotel Program in New England a few years ago and recently the GOJ was breaking its own Labour Laws in relation to workers @ Riverton Shi!!y .
Not that we should not complain but maybe if we were complaining earlier we would have passed this round of indentured servants sent to earn their bread in a strange and hostile environment.
</div></div>
That would require a federal prosecution,and the feds under George W won't take up any case against busineses,unless is a poloitical ememy. </div></div>

<span style='font-size: 14pt'>Jamaican workers face tough reception in Huntsville, Alabama</span>

By Mark Thompson
Staff Reporter

The move by Canadian-based Cinram, a DVD manufacturer and distributor in Huntsville, Alabama, to reportedly source 800 unskilled labourers from Jamaica, has drawn the ire of some members of the community there, as well as the wider county area.

According to recent media reports emanating from Huntsville, several community and political leaders have registered their discontent with the influx of workers from Jamaica and other countries, who are being given packing and labelling jobs instead of the local residents.

Cinram’s efforts to recruit foreign workers is supported by US law, since the company maintained that the jobs were first advertised locally and did not attract much interest in Huntsville, which has a low unemployment rate of 2.3 per cent. However, many prominent residents of the city have been quoted as saying that the company should do more to meet the needs of the community and the US$8 (J$568) per hour wage should be made more attractive for the grueling 12-hour shifts.

<span style='font-size: 17pt'>According to the Alabama Department of Labour’s website, in the absence of it’s own minimum wage statute, the state adheres to the federal figure of $5.85 per hour.</span>

Other arguments forwarded by the disgruntled section of the Huntsville populace, include the notion that the community will have to bear social costs, such as healthcare, for the workers. Attempts to contact Huntsville officials for a comment on the situation proved unsuccessful.

The Sunday Herald understands that in addition to the proposed 800 workers from Jamaica, Cinram is reportedly seeking over 500 workers from places such as Bolivia, Nepal, Ukraine and the Dominican Republic. The job contracts will last for eight months, as Cinram attempts to adequately deal with its highest period of demand. According to sources in Alabama, well over 200 Jamaicans have already arrived in Huntsville. Jobquest International Limited, founded by Christine Kelly and operating out of Kingston, is the company responsible for recruiting the Jamaican workers. The Sunday Herald was unable to get a comment from Jobquest officials on its recruitment drive, but understands that persons between the ages of 18 and 40 years were prime candidates to be screened by the US Embassy for H-2B work visas. There is a US$1,400 fee for filing and legal costs, and the potential workers must undergo a medical examination and must have a clean criminal record. According to the Jobquest website, the company is authorised by the Ministry of Labour in Jamaica, to source jobs in areas of “medicine, education, home care, aviation, clerical, communication, technical, transportation, marketing and sales, in almost any country.”

Pearnel Charles, Labour and Social Security Minister, stated that while he was not aware of such a large number of Jamaicans being recruited for a single company in the United States, such an exercise would have gone through the official channels.

<span style='font-size: 14pt'>“In order for them to be there, they would have had to satisfy all the necessary requirements of the United States government, the chief requirement being that American workers cannot be sourced.” He added that his ministry would be looking to foster a closer working relationship with job recruiting agencies in Jamaica, with a view to improving the support offered to workers overseas who are not on government-facilitated work programmes.</span>

[evanovitch]

Re: Ja workers tough reception-Huntsville, Alabama

ahmmmmmm TG, u ha any polish deh mi can barra fi polish mi halo [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif[/img]

[Tuff Gong]

Re: Ja workers tough reception-Huntsville, Alabama

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: evanovitch</div><div class="ubbcode-body">ahmmmmmm TG, u ha any polish deh mi can barra fi polish mi halo [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif[/img]

</div></div>

Well 2 things came out of this it was not a GOJ arrangement as some would like us to believe and I was correct when I said where States don't have a Minimum wage Federal Minimum wage applies.

So it is good story that should rightly have received some airing but we have to be accurate. The Herald too needs to make a distinction about private recruitment for jobs and GOJ efforts.

[evanovitch]

Re: Ja workers tough reception-Huntsville, Alabama

who did seh is govament ting? dem mussi cyan read cause di lady whe arrange it was prominent eena di story....wonda how it ketch a yaad [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/70402-thinking.gif[/img]