Comments by lcountyvictim
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Posted on April 11 at 3:17 p.m.
This is obviously a PR nightmare for Westar, but it's mainly the problem of Overland Contracting Inc and Black & Veatch.
Gazette: I'm curious to know if Overland posted an advertisement seeking welders and pipefitters? Federal law states that before H2B workers can come in, the company placing these workers needs to run a 3 day consecutive advertisement in a "newspaper of general circulation" (there are some exceptions to this as determined by the State Workforce Agency, however I can't believe that any of those exceptions would apply here). Federal procedures further state that "If the job opportunity is located in a rural area that does not have a newspaper with a daily edition, the employer shall use a daily edition with the widest circulation in the nearest urban area."
If anyone wants to find out more on procedures for H2B workers here is a source dated June 24, 2007:
http://www.foreignlaborcert.doleta.gov/p...
Posted on April 11 at 11:40 a.m.
Sounds like there are too many middle men in this, making money at the expense of our local workers. Who's to say that going through InServ is any cheaper than hiring locally? Of course they're not going to say that - instead they'll just say that there is a shortage of qualified worker here, which is a complete falsehood.
Westar...Black & Veatch...Intergrated Service Inc (InServ)...Filipino workers...hmmm
It looks as if this buddy system was in place long before they even "analyzed" the local job force available. Take a look at the article in the Omaha Word-Herald. The article titled 'Welders' job status examinied in Kansas' was published April 5th.
Posted on April 10 at 3:20 p.m.
lloveemporia
I question your authority/experience regarding the quality and benefits of available workers for this project. I have a father and a brother who are pipefitters commuting to Junction City and Topeka daily, when they live within 5 miles of the plant. FYI - neither of them get vacations, unless you consider unemployement vacation. Regardless of your claims of these H2B workers being "hard fast", you may want to consider how efficient this is when their work needs replaced later by quality American workmanship.
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Posted on April 11 at 3:50 p.m.
Incredible timing! To think that the need for these workers is coincidently over. I'm sure it has absolutely nothing to do with the recent revelations.
On Westar: Filipino workers being released