BP hires the unemployed for clean-up

[Robbien]

Source: CNN

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Embattled oil giant BP is amassing a small army of 4,500 unemployed workers in Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida to be ready on short notice to clean oil off the Gulf coast beaches. The workers will rake and shovel debris, operate front-end loaders or power washers to clean rocks and beach areas, wipe and wash oil-covered items, and take away trash.

. . .

The first 400 workers were deployed to Florida and Alabama beaches on Saturday, according to the Joint Information Center in Louisiana, a government and industry group coordinating spill crisis efforts.

. . .

Workers, who will be paid for their training, will be on-call and waiting for BP to call. The company will "try to give them a 12-to-18-hour notification," said Witmer. "In some cases it is less notification. We are asking them to remain flexible and be ready to go to work."

. . .

Waiting, waiting on BP: While the army of 4,500 beach cleaners wait for BP's call to work, tens of thousands of paralyzed Gulf coast workers are waiting for BP to cut them a check for lost income.

As of Monday, BP had received 37,000 claims for compensation, but it had only made payments -- and in some cases only partial payments -- on 18,000 of those requests,

Read more: http://money.cnn.com/2010/06/08/smallbusiness/bp_hiring_unemployed/

[NYC_SKP]

1. Relieved to read that it's not going to be at minimum wage.

I would be fucking livid if that was the case...

"...Beach cleaners will be paid $18 and hour and supervisors $32 and hour, according to Deb Witmer, BP public affairs officer...."

:patriot:

[dixiegrrrrl]

3. Uh, will these be contract workers who are expected

to do their own withholding and taxes?

[TwilightGardener]

2. This is good.

[Robbien]

4. They were hired and trained in May, the first to go to work was Saturday

So, yes it is good the unemployed were the ones hired. But why make them wait so long to go to work?

[stubtoe]

5. Give them props for that.

[denverbill]

6. I don't know why they don't hire the unemployed fishermen to pilot skimmers too.

They are losing their livelihoods because of the spill. I'm sure most would love to help speed the recovery.

[Fearless]

7. And when they all get cancer from the dispersants...

Do we finally get to sue BP for damages?

[Karenina]

8. They also need to provide HAZMAT gear and training unless their goal is to

kill off the already powerless and marginalized.

[jxnmsdemguy65]

9. Exxon paid people $45 an hour to scrub rocks after the Valdez spill...

seems like BP is low balling these folks...

[Lone_Star_Dem]

10. What kind of a release on future health issues do they have to sign?

I've read where this is a popular idea with many. However, since these are three "right to work states" it makes me a bit nervous as to how they'll be treated.

[wordpix]

11. oh, how kind of them---are they supplying respirators & other gear?

or are they saying it's safe with your beach hat on?