Schedule for November 2009

    U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders brought two officials from the Department of Labor to St. Albans to answer workers’ questions about the settlements with previous contractors SI International and Computer Services Corporation (CSC). A Department of Labor investigation had determined that the two companies had underpaid workers at the service center and, following negotiations with DOL, the two companies had agreed to pay back wages.

    The current contractor, Stanley Associates, and its subcontractors, are still under investigation. DOL officials declined to answer questions about that investigation.

    Nadine Wetherby, a worker at the center, asked where there would be penalties for Stanley if it is proven they knew they were underpaying workers.

    George Rioux, the head of DOL’s Wage and Hour Division in New England declined to answer the question on the grounds that the investigation is ongoing.

    Kim Lawson, an organizer for United Electrical Workers (UE), which represents Northrop-Grumman employees at the center, called on Stanley Associates to “do the right thing.”

    Workers are doing the same work they did under SI and CSC, but many of them are doing it for lower pay, according to Lawson. Stanley and its subcontractors, Lawson said, “ought to immediately admit that they have underpaid employees and … enter into talks with the DOL regarding payment of back wages from December 2007 to the present.”

    “I don’t think the current set of contractors has any excuse for not doing the right thing,” Lawson said. “They need to pay people properly for the work they’ve done and classify them correctly for the work they are currently doing.”

    The investigations into SI International and CSC began when Stanley was hired to take over the service center contract in the fall of 2007. Stanley reduced wages for a large percentage of workers at the center. Angry workers contacted Sanders, whose staff put them in touch with the DOL. DOL then launched an investigation into SI and CSC. Once Stanley took over the center on Dec. 1, 2007, an investigation was launched into Stanley as well.

    Sanders championed the workers cause, meeting with Labor Secretary Hilda Solis to ask about the negotiations, supporting worker efforts to form a union, and bringing Stanley officials to St. Albans to answer workers’ questions.

    Under the Service Contract Act (SCA), companies who provide services to the federal government are expected to pay workers at the prevailing wage. The DOL periodically issues a wage determination stating what pay should be for each job classification.

    In the case of SI and CSC, the DOL found that workers had been placed in classifications below their actual level of responsibility.

    Workers questioned why companies who had been found taking wages from workers were allowed to continue to receive federal contracts. SI International is a leading government contractor and currently runs USCIS service centers in Nebraska and Texas.

    “Essentially they stole over $3 million from all of us,” a worker who identified herself as Linda said. “They’re still in business… and are probably doing it again,” she said.

    Another worker asked why companies aren’t investigated before they’re allowed to bid on contracts.

    “The low bid typically gets the contract,” Rioux said.

    In 2007 the DOL revealed that in 80 percent of its investigations into possible violations of the Service Contract Act contractors had either underpaid workers or failed to provide required benefits, raising the question of whether the low bidder on a contract is the low bidder precisely because they underpay workers.

    Sanders asked whether companies who have been found to have treated workers improperly or illegally should be allowed to continue to bid on government contracts, drawing parallels to the awarding of defense contracts to companies which have already been found guilty of defrauding the government.

    Sanders also asked for a show of hands of how many workers felt their jobs should be government jobs rather than contracted out. Nearly all of the workers raised their hands.

    Workers at the center process applications for visas and citizenship. Once they’ve determined the application is complete, set-up a file and entered the applicant’s information into a computer, the file is passed on to an adjudicator from CIS.

    The work requires scrupulous attention to detail and substantial knowledge of application requirements, according to workers. Workers are also responsible for the substantial fees paid by applicants.

    George Miller, a worker at the center, asked Sanders if the government wanted the workers to once again be government employees.

    “Well, that depends on who you talk to,” Sanders replied, adding, “There are those who work very closely with large corporations and large corporations and see this as an opportunity to make money.”

    Other legislators believe a professional civil service, Sanders explained, stating, “It’s a political debate”, serves the country

    Sanders also raised the prospect of changing the law to include workers in negotiations between the DOL and contractors.

    Most Service Contract Act violations result in a negotiated settlement, such as the one here.

    In order to determine how much workers were underpaid, DOL estimated how much work was performed by workers at each job classification, when they were doing pure data entry work and when they were doing work that required a higher level of responsibility.

    It was a methodology workers challenged.

    While not every file requires workers to use deeper knowledge and problem solving skills, workers must keep those things in mind at all times, one worker argued. “If a doctor stops to empty his trash bin that doesn’t make him a janitor,” the worker said.

    Carl Smith, Deputy Regional Administrator for the Wage and Hour Division, said he agreed workers keep their skill set regardless of the work they’re doing, but added, “the regulations don’t allow for that.”

    “In all settlements you never get everything,” Smith said, adding, “Are we splitting the baby? No.”

    The process used to determine the amount of money workers received was “the fastest way to get this settlement,” Smith said.

    Laurie Gadouas, a worker at the center, said, “Our best bet with our contractor is to have a union.” UE, which represents some, but not all, of the workers at the center, helped with the investigation. Gadouas said. “If we had tried to do this basically on our own, I don’t think we would’ve gotten what we’ve gotten.”

    “We’d have someone behind us and we wouldn’t be alone,” Gadouas said, receiving applause from her peers.

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