Advocates to look into plight of Pinoy Louisiana workers

By Henni Espinosa, ABS-CBN North America Bureau

SAN FRANCISCO - A group of San Francisco-based Filipino advocates from the National Alliance for Filipino Concerns (NAFCON) will travel to New Orleans, Louisiana from February 22-25 to reach out to hundreds of alleged victims of human trafficking, through a fact-finding mission.
This is part of the “Justice for Grand Isle Shipyard Filipino Workers campaign”, initiated by NAFCON, the Philippine Forum in New York, the Fellowship for Filipino Migrants in Chicago, the Filipino Community Center in San Francisco, the International Migrants Alliance-USA and the National Guest workers Alliance based in New Orleans.
Since 2008, they said more than 500 immigrant workers have been staffed by Grand Isle Shipyard.
Grand Isle Shipyard is the same company involved in the November 2012 oil rig explosion owned by Black Elk that claimed the lives of three Filipino migrant workers, not far from New Orleans.
NAFCON said highly-skilled workers have been trafficked by Grand Isle Shipyard from the Philippines, with promises of visas, wages above $16 an hour, and quality jobs as welders, scaffolders and pipe-fitters.
They say most of the promises were not kept for the GIS workers in Louisiana.
Terry Valen, chair of NAFCON said, “These conditions are happening to Filipino guest workers, migrant workers coming from the Philippines. So it’s important that we go there to find out about their stories. We’ve heard from many workers now.”
NAFCON said the companies involved need to be held accountable for the deplorable and harmful conditions these workers have faced. They are supporting over a hundred former employees of Grand Isle Shipyard, who filed a class action lawsuit against the corporation.
These advocates also want the Philippine government to step up and protect these immigrant workers.
NAFCON also plan to bring their stories to US lawmakers and the Obama administration to ensure the protection of migrant workers in the passage of a comprehensive immigration reform bill this year.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PCG: China’s bullying in West Philippine Sea undermines international law --- Ghio Ong - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — Letting China sustain its aggression in the West Philippine Sea would make other countries doubt the strength of international law currently being asserted by the Philippines, Commodore Jay Tarriela of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said. “Allowing China to blatantly disregard the established rules-based order threatens the very foundation that we all depend on,” he wrote in a post on X last Tuesday. He added, “If we permit this, countries worldwide may forget why this order was created in the first place. Nations could begin to doubt the significance of adhering to international law if powerful bullies can easily violate it.” Tarriela also said defiance of other countries to a rules-based order would result in the prevalence of cruelty. He wrote, “This could lead us back to a time when might makes right, undermining the global structures that keep human greed, savagery and barbarism in check. Such a scenario would not only invite challenges from aggressive ...
Read more

China ships maintain presence in key West Philippine Sea areas --- Michael Punongbayan - The Philippine Star

STAR / Michael Varcas MANILA, Philippines — While Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) have decreased in number, they have maintained a presence in three key land features where naval and coast guard ships have intensified operations in the past seven days, according to the Philippine Navy. Latest monitoring by the Philippine Navy showed armed ships of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) maintaining a menacing presence around the grounded BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal, Panatag Shoal and Escoda Shoal. According to the Philippine Navy, there are 17 Chinese military vessels and 28 China Coast Guard (CCG) boats spotted inside the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) between Sept. 23 and 30, or one vessel more than in the previous week Sept.17-23. Five of the warships were seen roaming around the vicinity of Escoda Shoal, along with 10 CCG vessels and 12 maritime militia vessels (MMVs). There are also two PLAN ships in Ayungin Shoal as well as 10 CCG boats and 12...
Read more

Social media seen as cause of rising intermarriages --- Helen Flores - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) sees social media as the main reason for the rising number of Filipinos marrying or becoming partners of foreign nationals. In 2022, the CFO recorded 6,854 marriages or partnerships with foreign nationals, a 40.1 percent increase from the 4,891 “intermarriages” recorded in 2021. “First of all, what we see in the increase in the marriage rate of Filipinos or Filipinos with foreign partners is because of social media, (that) is number one; matchings; letters, introduction of their friends,” CFO chairperson Romulo Arugay said at the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon public briefing yesterday. Arugay said the agency has been registering a high number of intermarriages since 2007, but the figures went down during the COVID-19 pandemic. From over 6,500 Filipinos who married foreign nationals, only 600 are men, he said. Most of them are married to Americans, Japanese, Germans, Canadians and Australians, Arugay said. Arugay warned Fi...
Read more