[OccupyCU] Fwd: Potential Hiring Discrimination | Flex n' Gate

[Rachel Storm]

Please read.



---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Storm, Rachel Lauren <rstorm2 at illinois.edu>
Date: Mon, Mar 19, 2012 at 1:14 PM
Subject: FW: Potential Hiring Discrimination
To: "rachelstrm at gmail.com" <rachelstrm at gmail.com>


 ** **

** **

*From:* Chris Schwartz [mailto:cschwartz at uaw.net]
*Sent:* Friday, March 16, 2012 10:44 AM
*To:* odell.campbell at gmail.com; stephseawell at gmail.com; walkiewicz at gmail.com;
dlj725 at hughes.net; Storm, Rachel Lauren; rbaldwin at seiu73.org;
aaron at uigeo.org; francisco at universityymca.org
*Subject:* Potential Hiring Discrimination****

** **

Good morning everyone -

I just wanted to follow up on this issue of hiring discrimination at
Flex-N-Gate. Since Congolese workers started standing up to fight the
health and safety issues at Guardian West, it appears that the company has
stopped hiring Congolese people at the plant. This bit of retaliation, as
you heard at Saturday's event, is starting to take some toll in the
community and re-introduce some fear. Four Congolese individuals applied
for jobs yesterday at Spherion, the temp agency where almost all new
Flex-N-Gate workers come through, and told that Guardian West was not
hiring. When they went to the plant gate, they were told the company was
hiring -- but this could be part of a strategy (taking applications at the
plant, but not actually processing those applications because the real way
they hire is through Spherion, which is one way they keep a level of
distance from hiring practices).

It is really important that either today or Monday we get a few people who
aren't Congolese over to Spherion to ask for an application. The most
important thing is to document whether the Spherion people tell those who
are not Congolese that Guardian West is hiring. That would be a pretty
clear case if Latino, African-American, or white people are told the plant
is hiring but Congolese are not. Peter Campbell has volunteered, but we
need three or so more.

Since Saturday and Tuesday's rally, the company has taken retaliation to a
new level. On Wednesday, the company held captive audience meetings passed
out a letter that claimed that OSHA had completed its investigation of
Guardian West and found no safety issues in the plant. When we showed the
letter to the OSHA office in Peoria, they said that they had only completed
one of the many tests they had planned for the plant, and that the
investigation was on hold because the principal investigator is on
bereavement leave. We have a plan to get OSHA to hopefully issue a
clarification to workers, but you can see the lengths that the company will
go to (this letter may actually constitute fraud) to intimidate people.

To make sure we are consistent in documenting a potential EEOC claim, we're
asking people to do the following:

1) Go to the offices of Spherion Staffing Services, 701Devonshire Drive,
Suite C2, Champaign, and say. "I am interested in working at Guardian West.
Are you hiring?" Many, if not most, of the workers at Guardian West,
originally come through Spherion.

2) If they give you an application, fill it out truthfully and turn it in.

3) Then go to the guard shack in front of Guardian West (where the front
gates to the plant are located) and repeat the process. Guardian West is at
601 Guardian Dr., Urbana (just off University).

4) Write down what happened in each case, including the time and date you
went to each location, and any other comments or questions made by company
employees. Also, please note how you identify yourself in terms of race
and/or ethnic background. Please sign and date the statement.

5) If you are offered a job, please make a note of the time and date you
receive the offer, the name of the individual who made the offer, the title
of the job you were offered, and what the starting pay rate would be. Sign
and date that statement as well. You are under no obligation to accept the
job.

6) On a separate piece of paper, make sure we have your contact information
(address, phone, email).

7) If the case goes forward, in addition to your signed statement, you
might be asked to talk to a representative of the EEOC.

Many thanks for any help!****
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/occupycu/attachments/20120319/d3190ea4/attachment-0001.html>