Victory for Workers Rebuiling Gulf Coast

Congratulations to Victoria & the Mississippi Immigrant Rights Alliance

Immigrant workers on Coast get $141,000 in back pay

By Lora Hines lohines@jackson.gannett.com

BILOXI - No one had to be fluent in Spanish on Thursday to understand Jose Jimenez.

"Excelente," he said as he waved his long-overdue $2,300 paycheck.

Jimenez is one of 106 immigrant workers who got a total of $141,887 in back wages after a subcontractor working under KBR, a subsidiary of the U.S. contractor Halliburton, failed to fairly compensate them. KTC Services of Seven Springs, N.C., hired the workers after Hurricane Katrina hit Aug. 29 to clean the Navy's Seabee Center in Gulfport.

Victoria Cintra, an emergency outreach coordinator for the Mississippi Immigrants Rights Alliance, said she started investigating in October after hearing about workers' complaints. She reported the allegations to the U.S. Department of Labor, which recently got payment from KBR's immediate subcontractor, identified as Tipton Friend Rowland.

The workers' checks ranged from $400 to $2,800, Cintra said. "Daily, we get calls about employers not paying what they owe," she said. "These guys called us to death."

The investigation started with Jimenez's complaint. The Labor Department's investigation led to more unpaid workers.

KTC Services verbally promised to pay workers $13 per hour, plus provide food and housing during their service, Cintra said. Instead, workers got $7 per hour, poor housing and little food.

Workers said KTC owner Karen Tovar threatened to report them to immigration officials after she didn't pay them all the money she owed.

Tovar couldn't be reached for comment.

Oliver Peebles of the Labor Department said officials were able to help the workers because of the government's service contract act. The act specifies how much government contractors and subcontractors must pay workers. The department subpoenaed records and relied on makeshift records the workers kept.

Cintra said she has helped workers get a total of $214,000 in back pay since October.