As you crest a rise on Mississippi’s Highway 63, just north of Pascagoula and the Gulf coast, the vista unfolds. A calm brown waterway flows beneath the bridge, interlaced with palm-treed fingers of land; a chaos of water towers, cranes and derricks is revealed in the distance. The near view gives the region its charm; the distant one sustains it. The oil industry and shipbuilding both thrive along the coast. (41)
Signal International, a marine-fabrication firm, brought around 500 welders and pipe fitters from India—most of them from the southern state of Kerala, many of whom had laboured in various Arab Gulf states—to work in its shipyards in Pascagoula and Orange, Texas. The workers allege that they paid exorbitant sums to recruiters in India (up to $20,000), who promised them green cards. But once they arrived, they were harassed, intimidated and kept in cramped and isolated conditions. (42)
(43) They, like the Indians, were brought to America on H-2B visas, given for temporary employment in non-agricultural fields.
Like much of America’s rickety immigration system, the H-2B programme draws scorn from all sides. Companies in such industries as forestry and fisheries depend heavily on guest workers. But since 1990 the H-2B has been capped at a paltry 66,000 a year. Even with exemptions for workers who extend their visas, that cap has been hit every year but one. In 2008 American companies requested nearly 294,000 H-2Bs. Unions, for their part, fret that guest workers take jobs from willing Americans, as well as driving down wages and benefits. And immigrant-rights advocates point to the potential for abuse inherent in the programme. (44) Their visas are tied to their jobs, which deters complaint.
Mary Bauer, the legal director of the Southern Poverty Law Centre, a civil-rights programme that has represented numerous H-2B plaintiffs (including the Indian workers suing Signal), says that temporary workers appeal to employers because "they cannot work for anybody else. They have to accept any terms imposed on them. They have to borrow a substantial amount of money to get here, and almost anything asked of them they feel obligated to tolerate and do. "
Things may be getting better. In February Superior Forestry Service, which provides the forest industry with immigrant workers, agreed to a $2.75m settlement in a suit brought by 2,200 workers who claimed they were short-changed on wages (the company denies malfeasance). (45) It won’t make everyone happy, but at least it should make some people a bit less unhappy.
A. Although temporary agricultural workers are guaranteed housing, travel expenses, firm hours of work and access to lawyers, H-2B visa-holders are promised only prevailing local wages.
B. They are now suing both Signal and the recruiters, who are also being sued by Signal—which claims that they misled the company as well as the workers.
C. Furthermore, for American corporations, the more workers from overseas they possess, the more benefits they get.
D. But the population has waned, displaced by hurricanes, so companies must look elsewhere for their workers. The results are not always happy ones.
E. However, less workers are needed in some corporations, such as forestry and fisheries that have enough staff from immigrants.
F. And in December 2009 Bernie Sanders, a senator from Vermont, introduced a bill that would provide guest workers with travel expenses and access to lawyers, regulate foreign recruiters and pr companies that have massively laid off local staff from hiring immigrants.
G. Just west of Pascagoula, in Gulfport, a group of Brazilian welders and pipe fitters have made similar allegations against another marine-fabrication firm.
41（）
As you crest a rise on Mississippi’s Highway 63, just north of Pascagoula and the Gulf coast, the vista unfolds. A calm brown waterway flows beneath the bridge, interlaced with palm-treed fingers of land; a chaos of water towers, cranes and derricks is revealed in the distance. The near view gives the region its charm; the distant one sustains it. The oil industry and shipbuilding both thrive along the coast. (41)
Signal International, a marine-fabrication firm, brought around 500 welders and pipe fitters from India—most of them from the southern state of Kerala, many of whom had laboured in various Arab Gulf states—to work in its shipyards in Pascagoula and Orange, Texas. The workers allege that they paid exorbitant sums to recruiters in India (up to $20,000), who promised them green cards. But once they arrived, they were harassed, intimidated and kept in cramped and isolated conditions. (42)
(43) They, like the Indians, were brought to America on H-2B visas, given for temporary employment in non-agricultural fields.
Like much of America’s rickety immigration system, the H-2B programme draws scorn from all sides. Companies in such industries as forestry and fisheries depend heavily on guest workers. But since 1990 the H-2B has been capped at a paltry 66,000 a year. Even with exemptions for workers who extend their visas, that cap has been hit every year but one. In 2008 American companies requested nearly 294,000 H-2Bs. Unions, for their part, fret that guest workers take jobs from willing Americans, as well as driving down wages and benefits. And immigrant-rights advocates point to the potential for abuse inherent in the programme. (44) Their visas are tied to their jobs, which deters complaint.
Mary Bauer, the legal director of the Southern Poverty Law Centre, a civil-rights programme that has represented numerous H-2B plaintiffs (including the Indian workers suing Signal), says that temporary workers appeal to employers because "they cannot work for anybody else. They have to accept any terms imposed on them. They have to borrow a substantial amount of money to get here, and almost anything asked of them they feel obligated to tolerate and do. "
Things may be getting better. In February Superior Forestry Service, which provides the forest industry with immigrant workers, agreed to a $2.75m settlement in a suit brought by 2,200 workers who claimed they were short-changed on wages (the company denies malfeasance). (45) It won’t make everyone happy, but at least it should make some people a bit less unhappy.
A. Although temporary agricultural workers are guaranteed housing, travel expenses, firm hours of work and access to lawyers, H-2B visa-holders are promised only prevailing local wages.
B. They are now suing both Signal and the recruiters, who are also being sued by Signal—which claims that they misled the company as well as the workers.
C. Furthermore, for American corporations, the more workers from overseas they possess, the more benefits they get.
D. But the population has waned, displaced by hurricanes, so companies must look elsewhere for their workers. The results are not always happy ones.
E. However, less workers are needed in some corporations, such as forestry and fisheries that have enough staff from immigrants.
F. And in December 2009 Bernie Sanders, a senator from Vermont, introduced a bill that would provide guest workers with travel expenses and access to lawyers, regulate foreign recruiters and pr companies that have massively laid off local staff from hiring immigrants.
G. Just west of Pascagoula, in Gulfport, a group of Brazilian welders and pipe fitters have made similar allegations against another marine-fabrication firm.
