Friday, September 16, 2011

Blog #3-Foreign Workers Can't Leave or Get Paid

Since January, these workers have sat half a block from the Prime Minister's palace, stuck with little food, water, and electricity. These workers came from Eastern Europe and Asia in January to Baghdad seeking better labor wages. They were given the task of building about a dozen villas to house heads of state for an important meeting set to take place here. But after the meetings were placed on hold for unapparent reasons, the 27 workers are now stuck living in one of the hottest, most inhospitable cities in the world. They are stuck living in an abandoned building, lacking the necessary documents to return to their countries. The building has little running water, no air condition and they spend most of their days sitting outside in their underwear. They workers were supposed to make $2,500 a month and live in an air conditioned building that even had internet access. But when they showed up, after taking out loans to pay the recruiters to get here, were told they would only make $1,500 and were forced to live in the abandoned building. The company was supposed to pay them montly and provide them with work visas, but neither have happened.

These workers are a good example of the global problem of mistreated labor workers around the world. They are often deceived by companys into horrible situations, all to help the company maximize profits and pay the workers the lowest possible wages. These workers have yet to receive any pay for their work and are stuck in a country without the option of getting home. They live in horrible conditions, with rats and right in the danger of the war between insurgents and the U.S. troops in the area. The workers around the world who are mistreated today are part of a global social problem that needs to be addressed.

http://nytimes.com/2011/08/26/world/middleeast/26iraq.html?_r=1&ref=migrantlabor

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