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It finds English-only job-skills assessment was valid way to test workers.
By Pablo Lopez / The Fresno Bee11/26/08 22:05
A Fresno manufacturing plant did not discriminate when it laid off workers who couldn't get a perfect score on a skills test that was only offered in English, a federal jury found Wednesday.
The unanimous verdict ended a nine-year legal journey for NIBCO Inc., an Indiana-based irrigation-systems manufacturer. The company's lawyers successfully argued that the test was needed to make the plant safer for workers, and to be more competitive.
The jury found that the exam was "a business necessity" and a valid way to test job skills. They also found that the test did not cause the workers to get laid off, and that there was no better alternative to the test.
But...but how can this be? Immigrants only have the desire to learn English!!! It's just that, there are no classes and if there are classes they are too expensive and if they offered free by your company it is because...well....um....
At Judge Oliver Wanger's invitation after the verdict was read, jurors told attorneys how they came to their decision. They said the workers should have learned English -- especially since NIBCO had offered to pay for the classes.
I guess the answer would be they were brainwashed into believing that the US owes them a living, owes them interpreters and owes them anything to make their lives more like their lives at home. Which would include the refusal to learn English.
Yes a victory for America. Finally a jury with at least some common sense.
The only signs in Spanish in the factory I work are on the crapper stall doors. Only human waste and or toilet paper is to be flushed in the toilet.
We had some Temps spanish only speakers flushing paper towels and and Napkins resulting in plugged up toilets. Irony of Irony the company we used for temps was caught using illegals. Gee I wonder who one of the people were that made the call to ICE?
Safety. A factory is a dangerous enviroment Massive fork trucks carrying heavy loads don't stop on a dime. You better be able to read the signs and speak the language. I myself rescued an asian woman from Indonesia. She was lost and walking in the truck aisles. I couldn't speak her language and she didn't speak english. She was a legal however because I asked for her ID and she handed me her green card. Every employee has a company ID card every temp has an ID card that also calls out contact numbers. That was what I was after. I needed to call her supervisor and let them know I found a lost sheep. The factory I work in is 1 mile long and 1/2 mile wide. After 17 years I still can get lost. Make no mistake had she been an Illegal I would have made the call about her also.
But...but how can this be? Immigrants only have the desire to learn English!!! It's just that, there are no classes and if there are classes they are too expensive and if they offered free by your company it is because...well....um....
At Judge Oliver Wanger's invitation after the verdict was read, jurors told attorneys how they came to their decision. They said the workers should have learned English -- especially since NIBCO had offered to pay for the classes.
I guess the answer would be they were brainwashed into believing that the US owes them a living, owes them interpreters and owes them anything to make their lives more like their lives at home. Which would include the refusal to learn English.
I guess they were wrong...
Hoping that their bruised delusional arrogance was further deflated, I truly hope the verdict was read in English.
But...but how can this be? Immigrants only have the desire to learn English!!! It's just that, there are no classes and if there are classes they are too expensive and if they offered free by your company it is because...well....um....
At Judge Oliver Wanger's invitation after the verdict was read, jurors told attorneys how they came to their decision. They said the workers should have learned English -- especially since NIBCO had offered to pay for the classes.
I guess the answer would be they were brainwashed into believing that the US owes them a living, owes them interpreters and owes them anything to make their lives more like their lives at home. Which would include the refusal to learn English.
I guess they were wrong...
The majority of immigrants do want to learn English. You never had to take ESL, have you? It is A LOT of money (during the summers my father taught ESL at UC Riverside). When my parents first came here, they were poor. My mother knew no English...my father just finished up his Masters degree. They could not afford the tuition and my mother worked at least 10 hours a day. She could learn on weekends and at night. Even then, she had to take care of my older brother (before I was born). Fortunately, my dad had a pay increase and my mother could attend classes. There was on site childcare. Most people are not so lucky. Even offered free by your company, certain questions of logistics arise. How many hours a day are you working? Are your children going to be taken care of while you are out? Is it cutting time out of a second job? So you see, it's not that easy.
I agree obviously some people do not want to learn English. I would imagine that they are the exception, not the rule. If we make it affordable and with childcare options, then it would be easier. It kind of boils down to the greater question of affordable schooling and increased child care in schools. Children do cause a significant amount of people to drop out of college or any programs like ESL, due to the increased cost of a child and lack of child care. A whole shift of mentality would be good for the whole.
The majority of immigrants do want to learn English. You never had to take ESL, have you? It is A LOT of money (during the summers my father taught ESL at UC Riverside). When my parents first came here, they were poor. My mother knew no English...my father just finished up his Masters degree. They could not afford the tuition and my mother worked at least 10 hours a day. She could learn on weekends and at night. Even then, she had to take care of my older brother (before I was born). Fortunately, my dad had a pay increase and my mother could attend classes. There was on site childcare. Most people are not so lucky. Even offered free by your company, certain questions of logistics arise. How many hours a day are you working? Are your children going to be taken care of while you are out? Is it cutting time out of a second job? So you see, it's not that easy.
I agree obviously some people do not want to learn English. I would imagine that they are the exception, not the rule. If we make it affordable and with childcare options, then it would be easier. It kind of boils down to the greater question of affordable schooling and increased child care in schools. Children do cause a significant amount of people to drop out of college or any programs like ESL, due to the increased cost of a child and lack of child care. A whole shift of mentality would be good for the whole.
The majority of immigrants do want to learn English. You never had to take ESL, have you? It is A LOT of money (during the summers my father taught ESL at UC Riverside). When my parents first came here, they were poor. My mother knew no English...my father just finished up his Masters degree. They could not afford the tuition and my mother worked at least 10 hours a day. She could learn on weekends and at night. Even then, she had to take care of my older brother (before I was born). Fortunately, my dad had a pay increase and my mother could attend classes. There was on site childcare. Most people are not so lucky. Even offered free by your company, certain questions of logistics arise. How many hours a day are you working? Are your children going to be taken care of while you are out? Is it cutting time out of a second job? So you see, it's not that easy.
I agree obviously some people do not want to learn English. I would imagine that they are the exception, not the rule. If we make it affordable and with childcare options, then it would be easier. It kind of boils down to the greater question of affordable schooling and increased child care in schools. Children do cause a significant amount of people to drop out of college or any programs like ESL, due to the increased cost of a child and lack of child care. A whole shift of mentality would be good for the whole.
I absolutely agree with you. For our country to suceed, we need to have cohesion, and that would be language. I think we should have ESL classes available for immigrants with the goal to make them at least conversationally fluent. I know that not everybody has a gift for languages, and that for some it will be impossible to learn (particularily for the elderly).
All the same, I have noticed that in my city the Sudanese are fluent in English (of course not right away, but they do become fluent). And these are people who had been living in tents and huts in UN refugee camps. There must be ESL out there, because they are certainly learning despite having entered a new country with no education and no money. Why this group has adapted and others have refused, I don't know......but I do know that it is not to their benefit to remain monolingual in a new country.
I absolutely agree with you. For our country to suceed, we need to have cohesion, and that would be language. I think we should have ESL classes available for immigrants with the goal to make them at least conversationally fluent. I know that not everybody has a gift for languages, and that for some it will be impossible to learn (particularily for the elderly).
All the same, I have noticed that in my city the Sudanese are fluent in English (of course not right away, but they do become fluent). And these are people who had been living in tents and huts in UN refugee camps. There must be ESL out there, because they are certainly learning despite having entered a new country with no education and no money. Why this group has adapted and others have refused, I don't know......but I do know that it is not to their benefit to remain monolingual in a new country.
Re: the Sudanese:
I strongly suspect it is because they have no choice. It is do or die for them (literally)---------they have no homeland to run back to (unlike Mexicans/Central Americans and to a lesser extent the Irish, etc) if things get too rough here
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