issuing “hostile generalizations and improper, hurting statement.”
Human rights advocate Wendy Doromal is also asking Labor Director Barry Hirshbein if Kaipat’s statement reflect the department’s response and position on issues involving guest workers.
She said the service provided by the “hard-working, disenfranchised guest workers over the last two decades should be lauded and recognized and not demeaned and mocked.”
“I am personally asking you if you actually support the comments she made in the letter,” Doromal said in her letter to Hirsbein regarding the statements of Kaipat.
Kaipat has said that most workers who bring cases of any kind want only to be able to remain in the commonwealth.
She also said that foreign workers decide not to pursue judgments perhaps because they are illegal “overstayers.”
“Many foreign workers who have been in the commonwealth for five years have records of continuous employment, but that employment is not real,” Kaipat said.
Doromal is asking Kaipat to provide statistic, documents and data to support her statements.
She wants to know if the Labor Department will continue to employ Kaipat “who has made as many negative and hostile remarks against the guest workers…and makes important decisions that affect their livelihood and survival.”
Labor, Doromal said, should work in harmony with the federal labor ombudsman, federal agencies, workers’ advocates, workers’ attorneys, and with leaders of the guest workers group.
“I would like to work with your department to make suggestions and give input, but the attitude of your spokesperson has been hostile, anti-worker, and not conducive to productive dialogue,” Doromal said.
She said she will continue to bring the concerns of the guest workers to the Department of Labor and federal officials, adding that guest workers should also seek assistance from the federal labor ombudsman or a private attorney with regards to their problems with Labor.
