Gulf Clean-Up Workers told they're working for free...

[Joanne98]

Well not really since they are going to get paid, but just that the money they're getting paid now will be subtracted from their eventual settlement claims from the $20B fund BP set aside.

And this isn't coming from the evil minds at BP, though I'm sure they made this very case, but this decision comes from the man President Obama tapped to be in charge of this fund, Kenneth Feinberg.

Jonze's diary :: ::
Thousands of fishermen in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, out of work because federal authorities have closed much of the Gulf to fishing, are working for the Vessels of Opportunity program, skimming oil from the water and protecting coastlines.

Vessels of Opportunity "workers can file a claim, but we will subtract the amount they are paid from BP from their claim. That is how it has to work .... Of course you can file a claim. You must file a claim, but you cannot get paid twice," Feinberg told the meeting.

http://www.reuters.com/...

And the likelihood is that this will be retroactive, meaning these guys have been working for three months now, when they could have sat at home and ended up with the same money. It's creating division in the clean-up workforce as they're working beside out-of-staters and folks without claim that are getting paid and will benefit from the clean-up leading some to complain that these folks are profiting at the expense of those who have lost their livelihoods.

"This (Feinberg's ruling) means I am actually losing money because I have to pay my crew out of the money BP is paying me to clean up this oil," Larry Dossett from Biloxi said.

"If he only pays me the difference, I am in the hole. We are financially dead already."

The loss of livelihood compensation should be completely separate from any clean-up income. Period. This isn't the same as folks all banding together to build sandbag levies or clean up from floods or tornadoes because those are natural disasters with nobody or no company 100% at fault. The loss of livelihood compensation has to be paid out whether they work the clean-up or not. If it was a completely outsider clean-up work force BP would have to pay them their full clean-up wage and still have to pay the loss of livelihood damages from the $20B fund, so I don't understand of Feinberg can decide money earned in the clean-up HAS to be subtracted from claim payouts like that's the only reasonable fair obvious decision to make.

What incentive is there for locals to take part in the clean-up? This is a ludicrous shameful decision by Feinberg.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2010/7/17/885125/-Gulf-Clean-Up-Workers-told-theyre-working-for-free...

[Hydra]

1. *Speechless*

[dkf]

2. Shouldn't the crew get direct payments from BP?

Do only employers get reimbursed? That doesn't make sense.

[ixion]

3. "you cannot get paid twice" (unless you're a well-connected member of the F.I.R.E vertical)

then you get paid on both sides, with bonuses. :grr:

[tblue37]

6. But the clean-up is a job. It is work. The settlement is supposed to be for their losses,

not as payment for contracted work they do for BP. Really big noise needs to be made about this crap!

[ixion]

8. I disagree

They shouldn't be penalized because BP has destroyed the Gulf of Mexico. BP should be penalized. Let them pay their wage AND the settlement. I'm fine with it.

[tblue37]

9. That is what I am saying. You are not disagreeing with me at all.

I am saying that BP owes them REPARATONS for the damage to the Gulf. BP ALSO owes them WAGES for the work they have done.

[ixion]

12. oh, my bad

:toast:

[rzemanfl]

4. Under this half-assed theory people who didn't go to work for

BP and let their boats sit in port should be docked for failure to mitigate their damages. Cleaning up BP's oil has no relationship whatsoever to their fishing losses. Under this rationale, if an Oscar Mayer truck driver hits a fashion model, scarring her up and ruining her career, they should offer her a job shoveling shit on one of their farms for the same money and say things are square.

[blm]

5. Wait till the medical bills for chemical pneumonitis start piling up.

Not to mention the.....PAIN.

[Curmudgeoness]

7. You mean they could sit on their lazy asses, not try to get work,

and they would get the exact same amount of money? Jeez. And if they didn't work, they would probably be in much better shape, since no one has any idea what they are being exposed to out there. I'm pissed. And I am wondering if there will be a lot less people cleaning beaches soon.

[kelly1mm]

10. This is actually the correct way to calculate "lost wages" ONLY.

It actually makes sense if you think about it. Lets say you were going to work 5 days a week and made $1000 per day. Now you are going to work and are making $900 per day because of the actions of another. What are your damages for lost wages? $100 per day. And in addition, the theory of mitigation of damages would say if you could have worked 5 days a week for $900 per day but decided not to, you would not be entitled to that $900 per day, but would still get the $100 per day.

Now they may in fact have other damages that would be separate from a lost wages claim, and we will have to see what comes of those down the road.

[Doctor_J]

11. Most will die soon from contamination anyway

this entire thing has been mismanaged from every aspect.