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" Lost in all the Gentle Fiscal Incline palaver, and the warm-up to the holidays, is the story that another oil rig blew up in the Gulf Of Mexico, killing some people who don&amp;#039;t really count in the calculations of the Very Serious People who are handling the great issues of the day, and once again giving us another unpleasant look into the corporate culture that we, through our politics, have allowed to flourish. Grand Isle Shipyard Inc., the company whose workers were aboard the West Delta Block 32 platform Friday morning when an explosion and fire killed one worker, left another missing and injured 11 more, is facing charges of abusive and exploitative working conditions akin to slavery in a federal lawsuit filed by former workers from the Philippines. The allegations surfaced as the federal Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, which regulates the oil and gas industry, began its investigation into Grand Isle Shipyard and Black Elk, the Houston-based owner of the oil platform that caught fire 18 miles southeast of Grand Isle. The lawsuit itself is a cornucopia of horrors. According to court papers, the Filipino workers originally responded to job offers from Industrial Personnel and Management Services Inc., a recruiting firm based in Quezon City, Philippines, and a second company. The workers had to pass skill tests showing they could perform the trades required by Grand Isle Shipyard, including welding and pipe fitting, and were told they would be paid $16.25 an hour for regular time and $24.37 an hour for overtime, along with transportation to the United States, housing and food. Actual pay was as low as $5.50 an hour, the lawsuit said. The lawsuit alleges that the workers were required to sign two different contracts, containing differing rates, with the contract containing higher wages complying with federal law filed with the U.S. Embassy in Manila, and a second contract, with lower wages, filed with the companies. &amp;quot;Plaintiffs executed the contracts because they believed that, in order to work in the United States, they had no choice,&amp;quot; according to the suit. &amp;quot;Further, they were deceived and/or otherwise fraudulently induced to sign the contracts with the promise that (Grand Isle Shipyard) would sponsor them for E-2 visas, making them eligible for permanent resident status.&amp;quot; When they got to Louisiana, the workers allege they were housed in substandard facilities and charged exorbitant rates for the living quarters. They also were charged fees for equipment used during their work, the suit said, even though the companies &amp;quot;ultimately retained, and clearly benefited from, these work-related tools and equipment.&amp;quot; And Jim Crow came calling, too, in his new disguise. &amp;quot;Once plaintiffs and other Filipino workers arrived in the United States, however, defendants forced them into involuntary servitude and subjected them to insufferable and inhumane living and work conditions,&amp;quot; said a memorandum filed with the court by the workers in support of a motion \u2014 granted Monday by Englehardt \u2014 to block Grand Isle and DNR employees from intimidating them for being involved in the lawsuit. That memorandum charges that the two companies threatened to deport at least one worker, and also offered the same worker and his family &amp;quot;financial assistance&amp;quot; if he dismissed the lawsuit. Another was told to withdraw an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint against the companies &amp;quot;for the future of [his] kids.&amp;quot; The lawsuit also alleges that American employees weren&amp;#039;t billed for housing and were given preference for sleeping accommodations. &amp;quot;If a Philippine national were assigned to the lower bunk, he would be required to relinquish to an American worker, if he requested it,&amp;quot; the suit said. The employees were kept from leaving the crew quarters during their off hours through use of curfews, gates and security cameras, according to the memorandum. Other than for work, Mince said the workers were allowed to leave the crew area for only one hour on one day a week, to travel to a local Walmart. They were accompanied to and from the store by company employees, she said. (Extra points, by the way, for hauling Wal-Mart into yet another tale of corporate barbarism, however tangentially.) I guarantee you that, somewhere in a boardroom, people are slapping themselves high-fives for how profitable this inhumanity was. Somewhere, business consultants are congratulating themselves for devising such a clever strategy, and they are giving seminars on how to apply these principles to other businesses. Some day soon, it will be taught in our finest business schools to the sleek children of people who never will know the people on whom it is practiced. We are inculcating in our lives an acceptance of serfdom. We are investing in our economy a foundation of outright sociopathy. This seems like it should be a matter of some concern. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a16774/grand-isle-shipyard-lawsuit-112112/>