Filipino slave teachers’ recruiter sued for exploitation by AFT, SPLC

[maryf]

http://www.nwasianweekly.com/2010/08/filipino-teachers%E2%80%99-recruiter-sued-for-exploitation/


Filipino teachers’ recruiter sued for exploitation
Posted on 12 August 2010
Tags: Filipino, teachers
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By Melinda Deslatte
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana (AP) — A class-action lawsuit filed Thursday accuses a Los Angeles-based company of a human trafficking scheme to bring hundreds of Filipino teachers to Louisiana public schools using exploitative contracts that charged them excessive, illegal fees. Universal Placement International Inc. and its owner Lourdes Navarro are accused of racketeering and fraud in a lawsuit that the American Federation of Teachers and the Southern Poverty Law Center said they filed in a California federal court on behalf of 350 teachers.

“We were herded onto a path, a slowly constricting path, where the moment you realize that something is not right, you were already past the point of no return,” said Ingrid Cruz, one of the teachers named as a plaintiff in the case, reading from a prepared statement. Cruz teaches science and robotics classes at a Baton Rouge-area middle school.

The lawsuit says the company illegally required the teachers to pay thousands of dollars in fees to be hired for jobs mainly in East Baton Rouge Parish, but also in Caddo, Jefferson, and other parishes and in state-run schools in New Orleans. Teachers were saddled with crippling debts, placed into shoddy housing, and threatened with deportation if they complained, said Daniel McNeil, a lawyer for the AFT, equating the conditions to forced labor and indentured servitude.

“This is far closer to slavery than we should be willing to tolerate,” said Mary Bauer, legal director of the Southern Poverty Law Center.

much more at link... I hope this isn't a duplicate, first I've heard of it, this is beyond egregious...

[LiberalFighter]

1. Who is involved with this company?

I'm guessing Arne Duncan might be one of them.

[maryf]

3. Nothing would surprise me...

your guess especially...

[proud2BlibKansan]

6. Damn. You beat me to it.

LOL

[maryf]

8. I'm going to try to find more background...

IF I do I'll post it or pm you with it!

[Starry Messenger]

7. I'd like to know too.

k & r

[TBF]

12. The class action suit has been filed on behalf the the teachers -

by the Southern Poverty Law Center. They are VERY thorough and do exceptional work. They'll get to the bottom of it.

[maryf]

2. LA AFT article here:

http://la.aft.org/index.cfm?action=article&articleID=10eb3402-7a5e-4b02-8102-a9ec058333a0

Louisiana Federation of Teachers
Lawsuit: Filipino teachers defrauded in international labor trafficking scheme


Hundreds of Filipino guestworkers lured to teach in Louisiana public schools were cheated out of tens of thousands of dollars and forced into exploitative contracts by an international trafficking ring run by labor contractors, according to a class action lawsuit filed August 5 by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and Covington & Burling LLP.

The federal lawsuit was filed on behalf of more than 350 Filipino teachers working in Louisiana under the federal H-1B guestworker program. It accuses officials of two labor contractors – Universal Placement International, based in Los Angeles, and its sister organization, Manila-based PARS International Placement Agency – of human trafficking, racketeering and fraud. The suit also names the East Baton Rouge Public School System, several school district officials and a California lawyer, Robert Silverman, based on their roles in the fraudulent trafficking scheme.

<snip>

“These teachers thought they were buying a piece of the American dream but instead were put in a nightmarish financial bind by labor contractors who operated a fraudulent trafficking scheme,” said Dennis Auerbach, an attorney with Covington & Burling LLP in Washington, D.C. “They’ve bravely come forward to correct this injustice and expose the abuses that many other guestworkers are undoubtedly also facing.”

In a 2009 report, the AFT called on federal, state and local governments to take more vigorous action to monitor the hiring of migrant teachers by U.S. school districts. Among the steps needed is the adoption and enforcement of ethical standards for international recruitment of teachers, as well as better access to government data needed to track and study international hiring trends.

[Hannah Bell]

4. h1b teachers are a growing reality. "cost-savings" you know.

some charters are big users.

http://charterschoolscandals.blogspot.com/2010/07/gulen-schools-and-their-booming-h1b.html


PS: looks like this "placement" company has a history of problems:

experiences and struggles...

Sunday, November 16, 2008
Status of Universal: "Dissolved" (Corrected)
Updated post:

We checked the records at the California Secretary of State website again. We found out that Universal Placement International, Inc. (UPII) is different from Universal Placement, Inc.(UPI), though both used the same business address. The former is still "ACTIVE" while the status of the latter is "DISSOLVED".

The registered agent or offical for UPI was Lourdes Navarro, and the agent for UPII is a third party company named GKL Corporate/Search, Inc. which was obviously hired by Navarro also.

Our hypotheses is that they dissolved UPI and registered UPII so that the name of Lourdes Navarro will be kept from the public. Probably this is because of her conviction on an earlier fraud case. Or probably it is another move to circumvent some legalities.

Here is the record of Universal Placement International, Inc. (Active):
http://kepler.sos.ca.gov/corpdata/ShowAllList?QueryCorpNumber=C2688374

Here again is the record of Universal Placement, Inc. (Dissolved):
http://kepler.sos.ca.gov/corpdata/ShowAllList?QueryCorpNumber=C2319133

http://pinoyteachershub.blogspot.com/2008/11/universal-status-dissolved.html


maybe it was houston tx that was a huge user of h1b's. one of the comments in the link above mentions being recruited for houston.

[maryf]

9. Thanks for this!

I'll try to find time to post more when I get it. School starts next week. unbelievable.

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. Beyond egregious is correct

We can now move on to disgusting and revolting.

[maryf]

14. and inhumane...

:cry:

[maryf]

10. Earlier OP here! Thanks Starry Messenger!!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=219x27390

[Starry Messenger]

15. I hope they get to the bottom of this!

:hi:

[maryf]

16. Me too, it's so sick!

did you feel like a slave today?

[TBF]

11. Here's more -

Suit Alleges Exploitation of Filipino Teachers
By Tanya Roth on August 6, 2010 12:06 PM | No TrackBacks

If you ask, most teachers will tell you their job is much more difficult than it looks. Most will tell you they feel underpaid and under-appreciated. However, a lawsuit filed in California on Thursday, August 5, takes those difficulties and pushes them to the level of exploitation, at least according to the claims of the plaintiffs. This class action suit filed by the Southern Poverty Law Center on behalf of plaintiffs claims that 350 Filipino teachers were lured to the U.S. and forced by debt, high fees and confiscated passports into virtual slavery.

The suit was filed against the Los Angeles-based Universal Placement International Inc., its owner Lourdes Navarro, her husband, Universal's sister operation in the Philippines, and the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board. Charges include racketeering and fraud on behalf of the plaintiff teachers working in schools in New Orleans, according to a report by the Associated Press.

The suit alleges that the teachers were recruited in the Philippines and brought to the U.S. under the H1-B visa. Before ever leaving their country, the teachers were required to pay about $16,000 in fees. Since this amount is close to five times the average income in the Philippines, the teachers often borrowed the money, sometimes from lenders recommend by the recruiting firm and charging huge interest rates, according to the suit... (more at the link)

http://blogs.findlaw.com/law_and_life/2010/08/suit-alleges-exploitation-of-filipino-teachers.html

[maryf]

13. A keeper, thanks!!

:yourock: