Fishermen Sign On to Clean Up Oil

[KeepItReal]

Source: New York Times

VENICE, La. — About 1,000 angry and frustrated fishermen packed an elementary school gymnasium here Friday afternoon. In a cruel occupational twist, they were seeking employment with the company they blame for an oil spill that may wipe out their industry this year and beyond.
...

So the fishermen came to receive training in how to clean up the oil spill that was creeping up on the nearby coastline. They were hoping to be hired by BP, the company blamed for the spill and responsible for cleanup efforts.

“Either the seafood industry or the oil industry — that’s the only jobs down here, so I guess I’m trying to move from seafood to oil today,” said Bernel Prout, 55, a fisherman and Venice native.
...

“We have bills to pay,” said Acy Cooper, the president of a local fishermen’s association. “I don’t care if it’s the federal government or BP, but someone needs to step up and compensate us.”

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/01/us/01marsh.html?hp

[Robbien]

1. Of course BP would rather everyone just volunteer

Civic duty and all that.

Actually having to pay people cuts into profits and bonuses.

[proudohioan]

4. +10,0000! LOL!

[Dappleganger]

2. They should pay them all double the going rate

And give them all free benefits.

[aquart]

3. Especially healthcare since it's toxic waste.

And what a waste.

[JoeyT]

12. That's not quite what's happening.

Most of the cleanup jobs that they'd be capable of doing that I've seen were going for less than ten bucks an hour.
If they've got hazmat training and certification (Which is unlikely) they might break $12.
Contract labor = no benefits.

[Jefferson23]

5. “This is not our fault,” Mr. Prout said. “It’s the fault of the oil company.”

What an understatement that is.

[Bigmack]

6. That may be the last job .....

they have on the water.

How long will it take for the shrimp fishery to recover... or the $1 Billion sports fishery?

What will those guys do while they wait for the fishery to recover? They have boat payments and families to feed.

You suppose they'll accept retraining to be chicken-processors... or lettuce pickers? I think not.

[zeemike]

7. It is kind of like a factory firing all it's workers

and then hiring them to dismantle it for shipment overseas...it is the last job they will get.
The shrimpers and fishermen will be out of work for a long time.

[Crowman1979]

8. If this country were more concerned with labor rights, they would have gone to BPs US HQ and...

...trashed the place, then demand a steep compensation. Right now they are just acting submissive to corporate america like they are told. Of course this is the south, where vast majority think that the owner is always right. While anyone in or attempting to join a union is shunned, blacklisted and several decades ago, had their lives at risk.

[NBachers]

9. Makes me wish for some outrageous French-style militant labor combat

Kick Out The Jams

[swag]

10. A related story on fisheries failure in the wake of the spill

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=arVrjo0djH.Y&pos=9

May 1 (Bloomberg) -- Frank Campo thinks the oil spill approaching the marshes east of New Orleans may destroy his community.

Campo, who runs Campo’s Marina in St. Bernard Parish’s Shell Beach, says the response to the spill is too little and too late to prevent economic disaster for the commercial and recreational fishermen who earn a living from the coast.

“My family’s got over 100 years in this place and we’re liable to lose it because these guys are sitting on their hands,” he said in an interview.

State agencies today closed recreational and commercial fishing and shut down the oyster harvest in most areas east of the Mississippi River. Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindalsent a letter to Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, asking Locke to declare a “commercial fisheries failure” and requesting assistance for both the seafood industry and recreational fishing businesses.

[wordpix]

11. the feds should clean this up? geez, I was hoping BP might donate a few $

[bmbmd]

13. During the Exxon Valdez disaster

a lot of my friends from West Texas signed on with Exxon. They spent the summer in Alaska, cleaning oil off of rocks with paper towels and pressure washers. They ate well, slept well, got there travel expenses paid, and made a boat load of money. Any luck at all and BP will hire these fisherpeople for exorbitant sums of money, help them restore their ecosystem and way of life, and pump new life in to that struggling economy. Best case scenario, I know-but I bet that is how it plays out.