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hi n dry

Beach Lover
Sep 12, 2005
205
28
The H-2B work visa program allows U.S. companies to bring in guest workers from abroad .

Supporters say temporary guest workers reduce illegal immigration, critics say they take jobs from Americans.

Over the past decade, federal data shows companies have requested H-2B visas for more than 1.3 million jobs ? from landscape workers to hotel housekeepers, stable hands to soccer coaches.

What kinds of businesses in our area are applying for foreign guest workers? What kind of jobs are they unable to fill with domestic workers? What do these jobs pay?

Below is a source to find out the H-2B application data obtained from two of these agencies: the Foreign Labor Certification Data Center in the Dept. of Labor (FY2000-2009) and U.S. Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services in the Dept. of Homeland Security (FY 2006- June 2010).

H2-B Temporary Guest Workers: Search Labor Certification Applications

It is interesting how many foreign guest workers are being hired when we have such a high unemployment.

Many of the workers will be difficult to trace to a specific employers because they hire them from a front company that contracts them out.

In addition although these are suppose to be "temporary workers" there are ways that companies can keep the same workers indefinitely by using different front companies to do the hiring.

Below is only a partial list of local businesses hiring foreign workers:

LABORER, LANDSCAPE
Employer Info:pROFESSIONAL OUTDOOR SERVICES, SANTA ROSA BEACH, Florida
Actual Work State:Florida
Workers:25
Case Status:CERTIFIED
Certification Duration:2/17/2009 to 12/15/2009 (10 mo.)
Pay Rate:$8.03/Hourly
Prevailing Wage:$8.03/Hourly
Employer Agent/Attorney:LAURA CHRISTIANSEN/LABOR CONSULTANTS INTERNATIONAL


AMUSEMENT PARK WORKER
Employer Info: RECREATION INVESTMENTS OF FLORIDA, INC. DBA THE TR, DESTIN, Florida
Actual Work State: Florida
Workers: 40
Case Status: CERTIFIED
Certification Duration: 2/15/2009 to 11/30/2009 (9 mo.)
Pay Rate: $7.50/Hourly
Prevailing Wage: $6.98/Hourly
Employer Agent/Attorney: PRACTICAL EMPLOYEE SOLUTIONS, VERONICA T STRICKLAN



BEACH LIFEGUARD
Employer Info: DESTIN FIRE CONTROL DISTRICT, DESTIN, Florida
Actual Work State: Florida
Workers: 3
Case Status: CERTIFIED
Certification Duration: 2/15/2008 to 10/31/2009 (20 mo.)
Pay Rate: $14.17/Hourly
Prevailing Wage: $10.48/Hourly
Employer Agent/Attorney: KENDRA S. KEMBEL, ESQ

CLEANER, HOUSEKEEPING
Employer Info: CLEAN UP CLEANING SERVICES, LLC, DESTIN, Florida
Actual Work State: Florida
Workers: 20
Case Status: CERTIFIED
Certification Duration: 2/15/2009 to 11/30/2009 (9 mo.)
Pay Rate: $7.50/Hourly
Prevailing Wage: $7.22/Hourly
Employer Agent/Attorney: DIANA D CARLI, ESQ.

CLEANER, HOUSEKEEPING
Employer Info: EMERALD COAST RESORTS, LLC, DESTIN, Florida
Actual Work State: Florida
Workers: 35
Case Status: CERTIFIED
Certification Duration: 10/1/2009 to 5/30/2010 (7 mo.)
Pay Rate: $7.50/Hourly
Prevailing Wage: $7.25/Hourly
Employer Agent/Attorney: KERRYANNE SCHULTZ


CLEANER, HOUSEKEEPING
Employer Info: FRONT TO BACK CLEANING SERVICES, DESTIN, Florida
Actual Work State: Florida
Workers: 39
Case Status: CERTIFIED
Certification Duration: 9/15/2009 to 7/15/2010 (10 mo.)
Pay Rate: $7.50/Hourly
Prevailing Wage: $7.50/Hourly
Employer Agent/Attorney: N/A

CLEANER, HOUSEKEEPING
Employer Info: SANDESTIN RESORT AND CLUB INC. DBA SANDESTIN GOLF, DESTIN, Florida
Actual Work State: Florida
Workers: 71
Case Status: CERTIFIED
Certification Duration: 2/16/2009 to 11/15/2009 (9 mo.)
Pay Rate: $8.00/Hourly
Prevailing Wage: $7.12/Hourly
Employer Agent/Attorney: PRACTICAL EMPLOYEE SOLUTIONS, VERONICA T. STRICKLA

CLEANER, HOUSEKEEPING
Employer Info: SANDESTIN RESORT AND CLUB INC. DBA SANDESTIN GOLF, DESTIN, Florida
Actual Work State: Florida
Workers: 37
Case Status: CERTIFIED
Certification Duration: 2/16/2009 to 11/15/2009 (9 mo.)
Pay Rate: $8.00/Hourly
Prevailing Wage: $7.22/Hourly
Employer Agent/Attorney: PRACTICAL EMPLOYEE SOLUTION, VERONICA STRICKLAND

CLEANER, HOUSEKEEPING
Employer Info: SBM SERVICES LLC, DESTIN, Florida
Actual Work State: Florida
Workers: 75
Case Status: CERTIFIED
Certification Duration: 3/1/2009 to 10/31/2009 (7 mo.)
Pay Rate: $7.22/Hourly
Prevailing Wage: $7.22/Hourly
Employer Agent/Attorney: MARTINEZ & SORDO, P.A.
 

scooterbug44

SoWal Expert
May 8, 2007
16,732
3,330
Sowal
Um, the federal minimum wage is $7.25.

So I am wondering how many of those companies are listing pay rates below that.
 

beachmouse

Beach Fanatic
Dec 5, 2004
3,504
741
Bluewater Bay, FL
For a long while, Sandestin hired Jamaicans for seasonal cleaning crews- they'd work summers here and then go back home for the big winter Caribbean tourism season.

A number of the others on the list are probably responsible for the usual Eastern European and Brazilian college students spending the summer here to earn some hard currency and work on good English skills. Most of them go back as scheduled at the end of the summer; some manage to figure out ways to stay here legally for longer.

The worst of them are the ones who don't show up on that list- they'll hire attractive women from Eastern Europe with the promise of a nice retail job, but when they get here, turns out that the job is in a strip club, and it's really hard to get them out of the situation. And when they do, most of the girls, who discover that they were lied to and they don't have a proper work visa here, don't have the money to stay in the USA for long enough to testify against the human trafficers at trial. So getting the scum is a diffu=icult thing.

There was a ring of people out of Destin that got busted a few years back for this, and by all accounts they aren't the only ones who do this. They were just the ones who happened to get caught.
 

Matt J

SWGB
May 9, 2007
24,646
9,496
takes jobs away from full-time residents no matter how you look at it

The fact is they wouldn't be doing that if the locals actually applied for those jobs or qualified for them (i.e. background check, drug screens, etc.)
 

Valerie L

Beach Lover
Jan 31, 2007
113
20
Seacrest Beach
The fact is they wouldn't be doing that if the locals actually applied for those jobs or qualified for them (i.e. background check, drug screens, etc.)


I agree with this and know many locals who wouldn't want to be working for such LOW wages, even without experience. Somewhere along the way, working your way up in jobs has been lost. I for one have always felt the need to provide for my family and was grateful to be hired and given a chance.
On another note, I had heard several years ago that these agencies take quite a cut in the $ made by the hard working visitors. When being paid $7.22/hr, the front company takes money for travel and rent. Many of the foreign workers are crowded into housing made to hold less than the number who are there.
It also makes me think of our forefathers who came from other countries to America and the ones who scraped and worked, made a great contribution to who we are today. I am hopeful that these young folks will do the same for their countries as well.
 

30ashopper

SoWal Insider
Apr 30, 2008
6,846
3,471
56
Right here!
Intrawest had an exchange program for their employees where they could come here and work for a period of time, then move on to another resport in some other country. Talk about a sweet job when you're young. Six months on the beach, six months skiing in Canada, six months in France, six month in Austrailia... Doubt this is going on now though.
 
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