The state of California gave the Warren Buffet backed Chinese car company B.Y.D. almost $2 million in tax subsidies in 2010 to locate its North American headquarters in Los Angeles. Since then, the company has gotten contracts worth more than $40 million to build electric city buses for Los Angeles and Long Beach and it has said that it will be creating dozens of new jobs at a manufacturing plant in suburban LA. However, more than three years along, B.Y.D. is employing fewer than 40 workers in California and the company has now been fined almost $100,000 by the state for violating its minimum wage law for how it is paying the Chinese nationals it employs. According to the state, the car company employs at least 5 Chinese nationals here on temporary worker visas, and it apparently has been paying them not in dollars but rather in Chinese yuan and at a rate far below California's $8.00 an hour minimum wage, the equivalent of $1.50/hr.
B.Y.D. has been trying to win contracts across the U.S. for its electric buses, promising some transit authorities that the buses will be manufactured in the United States.
Julie Su, the California state labor commissioner who started the investigation into B.Y.D.'s labor practices said, "You cannot pay people in Chinese dollars with Chinese standards while they are doing work in America. If this is the tip of the iceberg, you could see this ruining all kinds of industries."
B.Y.D. executives say they will appeal the fine, saying that their Chinese employees are here on legal work visas and are not subject to state labor laws, including the minimum wage.
"They are here installing equipment and training people in a factory that is just beginning," said Michael Austin, a company spokesman. "We're bringing in a great Chinese investment — millions of dollars — that is a win for everybody. California is literally begging for these dollars."
Mr. Austin said the Chinese workers are only needed temporarily and are scheduled to leave the United States within a few months. California labor officials say that workers are covered by the minimum wage law regardless of their visa status.
State labor investigators say that Chinese workers told them that their jobs in Los Angeles were for one to six months and that while they were in this country they were living in dormitory style housing. One worker said that they were being paid $1.50 an hour plus a $50 per diem allowance.
The actual amount of the fine was $99,245, for three violations, failing to provide minimum wage, not providing workers' compensation insurance and not providing workers with a second rest break.
"Workers in this kind of underground economy may not know what their rights are," Ms. Su said. "It doesn't matter where a company is based, if an employee is working here, the company has to abide by California law when they're doing work in California. In no scenario is it permissible to cycle people through to get around our state's laws."
In addition to facing the state labor investigation, B.Y.D. is getting sued by Sandra Itkoff, a former vice president for wrongful termination. Ms. Itkoff says that she was a victim of discrimination because she was the only non-Chinese-speaking employee in the office. Her suit also claims that B.Y.D. executives routinely took advantage of Chinese workers. The company has challenged her claims and said that Ms. Itkoff was fired for physically attacking another company executive.
from The Truth About Cars http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com
Put the internet to work for you.
No comments:
Post a Comment