Pinoy teachers protest in front of US Labor dept

Hundreds of Filipino teachers protested in front of the United States Department of Labor (DOL) in Washington DC after the agency banned Maryland’s Prince George’s County Public Schools (PGCPS) from hiring foreign teachers.

The US DOL reaffirmed its decision that the PGCPS willfully violation H-1B visa rules by requiring around 800 Filipino teachers to pay visa and other fees instead of shouldering it. Teachers paid various fees ranging from $190 to $320 filing fees, a $500 anti-fraud filing fee and $1,000 to $3,500 immigration attorney fees.

The PGCPS has already agreed to pay back $4.2 million in backwages but will still be debarred for two years from “filing new petitions, requests for extensions or requests for permanent residency of foreign workers.”

Labor Secretary Hilda Solis said “the Labor Department has the responsibility for ensuring that employers who use the H-1B program follow the law and do not place U.S. workers at a disadvantage to H-1B workers.”

According to Inquirer’s Jun Medina, “the seemingly unintended damage to teachers will start to be felt by some teachers whose contracts are expiring this month.”

US-Based Philippine Educators Network secretary Millet Panga said, “Unless we are able to find legal relief, the affected teachers have no choice but to return to the Philippines or to look for other sponsors, which is not easy.”

“Obviously, this is not the outcome we had hoped for as these employees have provided an exceptional service to our school district. PGCPS did everything possible to retain these excellent and valued employees,” stated the Prince George’s Public Schools in a statement.

The PGCPS explained that the shrinking school budget and mounting legal fees forced them to discontinue the program and take no further action on pending labor certification and green card applications of teachers.

The Filipino teachers complained that they are unjustly penalized by a wrong committed by the school employer.

Panga said they are determined to make noise and fight back.

“We’re calling on the Filipino American community and labor unions to stand with us against this injustice,” she said.

Philippine embassy labor attaché Luzviminda Padilla already met with the teachers and other community leaders last Thursday to discuss options.

The Filipino American Legal Defense and Education Fund had already pledged legal assistance.

The Inquirer report said, “Those to be displaced, especially those who have brought their families with them or bought real properties, could end up losing most of their investments once they lose their legal status because their contract could not be renewed or their projected green applications could no longer be processed.”

If the DOL decision is upheld, only those that have gained legal permanent residency status will be saved.

Maryland schools opted to hire teachers from the Philippines to fill vacancies and meet federally-mandated “No Child Left Behind” standards.

Teachers fear that this will lead to another exodus back to the Philippines. –Angeli Sabillo, http://thepoc.net/breaking-news/world/12873-pinoy-teachers-protests-in-front-of-us-labor-dept.html