cerviarborist
Very stable member
- Location
- Florida, USA
All we ever wanted (was an unfair advantage)
- Thread starter cerviarborist
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cerviarborist
Very stable member
- Location
- Florida, USA
About 500 bucket trucks. Give or take. In that context, it doesn't seem to me to be all that harsh to a really big corporate oufit.
Nish
Branched out member
- Location
- North Carolina
Does this make for a more level playing field? I know nothing about Asplundh but I'm guessing that a lot of their competition engages in all sorts of illicit hiring and workplace practices. These smaller companies don't have a $95 million target on them. I'm guessing they decentralized with the aim of letting their underlings compete on more equal terms with their local competition.
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cerviarborist
Very stable member
- Location
- Florida, USA
Asplundh isn't competing with small fish. Their clients are major utility companies and their speciality is utility vegetation management.
Nish
Branched out member
- Location
- North Carolina
If Asplundh is making any gang bangers even slightly productive this ruling is probably a net loss to society. That $95 million probably won't be real well spent by the folks who took it. Philosophically, I'm not strongly opposed to employing aliens. For those of you trying to make decent employees out of U.S. citizens, how's it going? Finding a lot of eligible Americans willing to start from the bottom and work hard for a honest living?
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cerviarborist
Very stable member
- Location
- Florida, USA
Let me see if I'm understanding this correctly. You're saying that institutional dependence upon using undocumented workers, who can be kept over a barrel due to their undocumented status and forced to work where, when and how you want, while being paid substandard wages.. made a tacit part of a national company's corporate culture in order to consistently underbid legitimate competitors is a good thing, and you feel that discouraging this practice will result in a net loss to society?
Nish
Branched out member
- Location
- North Carolina
I know some folks who have given work to undocumented workers; it didn't look like anyone was forced to work or held over a barrel. The people who lose most from this ruling may be the undocumented workers themselves. Naturally there will be cases of abusing vulnerable aliens, but offering a person a job does not of itself constitute abuse. The lawyers and courts who pocketed in $15 million in fees might be congratulating themselves as social justice heroes, but I don't buy it.
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cerviarborist
Very stable member
- Location
- Florida, USA
All I'll say on this is that before you deign to paint Asplundh as some sort of good natured victim in this matter, think this over. They copped a plea. This means they knew the deal was down and that the Department of Justice had ample goods on them to get a more stringent penalty if it went to a jury or to a judge to decide. I invite you to read the full article detailing what they agreed they'd been doing, and why they'd been doing it before comparing them to some kindly and misunderstood salt of the earth mom and pop business. Also I don't think the DOJ attorneys make fees on their cases as they're federal employees....but I'm willing to consider that I may be wrong.
treehumper
Carpal tunnel level member
- Location
- Ridgefield, NJ
Simply put Asplundh used this as a competitive strategy to win bids while still maintaining profit margins and bonuses at the management level. Instead of proper hiring practices, including using work visas they allowed their local shops to casually recruit at the street corner, train station and through existing employees. All that did was suppress wages in the industry and deter better recruitment of eligible workers.
Yes, I know of the difficulties of finding people to develop that are also legally able to work in the US. Using that as justification for hiring illegally is akin to shooting yourself in the foot and admiring the marksmanship.
Yes, I know of the difficulties of finding people to develop that are also legally able to work in the US. Using that as justification for hiring illegally is akin to shooting yourself in the foot and admiring the marksmanship.
