Post-Katrina Corporate Rebuilding Fraud Mimics Iraq Abuses

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Post-Katrina Corporate Rebuilding Fraud Mimics Iraq Abuses

Postby StarmanSkye » Wed Feb 22, 2006 5:03 am

It would seem big corporations linked to the Federal Corporate Welfare system are adopting the same kind of parasitical reconstruction fraud and exploitation scams that US contractors in Iraq have become so proficient at -- a major Bush Inc. neoliberal export 'grifter' concept now apparently being worked right here in the states, in the 'perfect' opportunity presented in the aftermath of Katrina to take advantage of bureaucratic boondoggles, poor accountability, little or no oversight, and vulnerable worker-victims who tend to lack organization and labor protections and collective bargaining clout.<br><br>How is it POSSIBLE that FEMA can be so grossly derelict and malfeasant by accident? Like the US in Iraq, it would seem that the US via FEMA and other Federal Agencies in New Orleans have become partners in corruption and fraud not thru mismanagement, but according to plan. This perpetuates the public perception that government is just 'naturally' evil and bungling and corrupt -- so there's nothing really wrong with stealing what you can from it (since someone else will get it anyway if you don't). This is essentially destroying the government of We, The People from within -- and via very specific kinds of treason, abuse of public trust and abuse of authority, and undermining public confidence in governmental institutions. Decades of career corporate-political criminals would have a keen interest in covering-up their crimes thru such a novel 'solution', obscuring their perfidy by diluting public responsibility and spreading the guilt.<br><br>I can't help thinking that this and most other widespread 'failures' re: Katrina planning, post-response and rebuilding etc. were all part of the PTB's carefully-considered plan -- to be exploited and used for their very narrow purposes. Just looking at the paramilitary's intricate psyops to keep people off-balance and uninformed, helpless and frustrated, provoking distrust and preventing folks from organizing to be more self-reliant and helping each other -- this could NOT have been unintended.<br><br>As in Iraq, now here at 'home'. Future generations of middle and lower-class taxpayers are the ones being saddled with trillions of dollars of debt -- that's beyond the many present-day victims who have directly suffered the immense failure of leadership.<br><br>And, so it goes ...<br>Starman<br>******<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.splcenter.org/legal/news/article.jsp?site_area=2&aid=160">www.splcenter.org/legal/n...=2&aid=160</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>Center seeks justice for Katrina's migrant workers<br>Lawyers challenge government's inadequate response to rampant abuse<br><br> <br> <image> Immigrant workers clean debris left behind by Hurricane Katrina. Thousands have been cheated out of their wages.<br><br>February 2, 2006 | NEW ORLEANS -- Two cases filed in federal court here yesterday charge that thousands of immigrant laborers involved in the reconstruction of New Orleans have been cheated out of their wages by major U.S. companies. <br><br>The lawyers who filed the class actions are scheduled to meet today in Washington, D.C., with U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) officials and other advocates to complain about the agency's failure to fulfill its obligation to protect workers involved in the reconstruction process. <br><br>"Lawsuits alone won't stop the widespread exploitation of workers that's going on in New Orleans," said J.J. Rosenbaum, an attorney with the Center's Immigrant Justice Project (IJP), which filed the lawsuits. "The people working in New Orleans to rebuild its schools, hospitals and university buildings need and deserve the protection of the federal government." <br><br>IJP attorneys, who have interviewed hundreds of immigrant workers in the New Orleans area since October, report that the overwhelming majority have been cheated on hours, overtime or both. <br><br>Although a DOL press release issued on December 1 announced that five Spanish-speaking investigators had been dispatched to the Gulf region, none of the workers interviewed by the IJP report ever having met with or heard of the investigators in New Orleans. According to IJP's lawyers, the DOL's efforts in New Orleans are completely ineffective. <br><br>The first case, Xavier v. Belfor USA Group Inc., was brought on behalf of potentially thousands of workers who were employed by Belfor USA Group, Inc., a major natural disaster reconstruction firm, and its subcontractors. Restoring key public services to the city, including Tulane Hospital and Tulane University, these workers often worked seven days a week, 12 hours a day to remove mold, mud, and other toxic contamination from the flooded buildings. <br><br>The lawsuit alleges that Belfor has unlawfully used a subcontractor system to avoid paying any overtime wages to workers on its massive reconstruction projects. Federal law says that employers like Belfor are jointly responsible for ensuring that their workers earn basic minimum wage and overtime. <br><br>The second case, Navarrete-Cruz v. LVI Environmental Services of New Orleans, Inc., et al. involves another large contractor, LVI Environmental Services of New Orleans, Inc. LVI also used a subcontractor system to avoid paying workers the wages owed to them. One of the large subcontractors used by LVI, defendant D&L, Environmental, Inc., failed to pay many of its migrant workers anything for much of their labor. The plaintiffs were employed cleaning public elementary and high schools. <br><br>"When we weren't paid, we didn't even have money for food," says plaintiff Sergio de Leon, who worked during October cleaning toxic mud and mold from St. Bernard Parish schools. "These companies are robbing us of our money after we worked so hard." <br><br>The lawsuits highlight the appalling exploitation of immigrant workers in the Gulf reconstruction. Many of the plaintiffs, and other workers like them, worked on public reconstruction projects and yet were dramatically underpaid or not paid at all. Huge companies, many with direct FEMA or other government contracts, hide behind the subcontracting system in order to cheat workers and make as much profit as possible. <br><br>"While these contracts are worth millions to companies like LVI and Belfor," says Rosenbaum, "unpaid workers can't even afford food and shelter." <br><br>The lawsuits are intended to send a strong message to companies doing post-Katrina reconstruction that federal and state employment laws must be followed and that hiring immigrant workers through subcontractors does not give companies a free pass to exploit those workers. <br><br>"We've heard that employers are telling the workers that there is no law in New Orleans that they must follow," says Rosenbaum. "With the Center's help, workers in New Orleans are demanding that the city be built with equal justice for all who work and live there." <br> <br> <br> <p></p><i></i>
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Re: Post-Katrina Corporate Rebuilding Fraud Mimics Iraq Abus

Postby Gouda » Wed Feb 22, 2006 7:36 am

I had give myself a few minutes before replying to this one to cool down my blood. It's on simmer now. <br><br>I have been closely following the ruling class' moves in the Katrina aftermath. This puts me at high altitude, thus faster blood-boiling. One can easily see why the unconservative drive to encourage cheap, imported labor is useful to these sociopaths. Hopefully these lawsuits will be succesful, have an impact and set a precedent. <br><br>The corpoliticians in office have no interest in a well-run government because a) they are revolving right back to their boardroom after it is over; and b) when they arrive, they will see their company better positioned than before, with outsourced contracts to take over, for profit, what the government was tragically "unable" to do while they were, coincidentally, at the helm. Public office for these jerks is a business trip. And they expense it. They emerge more powerful, in better position to run the country, and also profit from it. Hey, a much better deal than public office! And they could care less about their historical legacy as a national public servant (cheney, top example, not to mention the transglobal character of this national hollowing) as long as their golden parachute is a-glitter and their landing in a more powerful, wealthier place is secured. For all their friends/collaborators too. <br><br>More ominous is that this is not a republican thing, or a few bad apples - it is a steady trend. I still suspect "the Nine" may be envisioned, in some way, to be nine world-ruling occult-fueled corporations. <br><br><!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>on edit: comparative adjective change</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=gouda@rigorousintuition>Gouda</A> at: 2/22/06 4:47 am<br></i>
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