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For the past 21 years, The Filipino Express has provided the Filipino American community the best news, arts and entertainment coverage from around the United States and the Philippines.
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New York --- Filipino nurses filed Friday a motion at Superior Court of Riverhead to dismiss the criminal cases against them, asserting that they had no official contract in the hospital facility in New York and their work contract was violated.
The nurses 27 nurses and a physical therapist were charged at the Suffolk County Courthouse with five counts of endangering the welfare of a child and six counts of endangering the welfare of a physically disabled person.
"There is no basis on the case. There was no abandonment of patients. There are grounds to dismiss the case, " said lawyer Emeritu Salud, who is helping the Filipino nurses through NAFCON group.
NAFCON, a nationwide coalition of Filipino-American organizations spanning 23 US cities said it wouldl work closely with the Sentosa 27 to help them meet their basic demands- including dropping of all criminal and civil charges against them in the State of New York, seeking compensation for all backwages including unpaid overtime wages, re-suspension of the Sentosa recruitment license by the POEA, and investigation by the State of New York on Sentosa Care LLC operations against existing anti-human trafficking law and the thirteenth amendment outlawing slavery.
Filipino nurses interviewed, earlier, complained that they were recruited to work for Sentosa on a contract, but ended up working with other nursing facilities. They complained of delayed pay, non payment of overtime and night differential, threats if they join a union and deception by the management. The management ignored their complaints.
The 27 nurses resigned en masse from Sentosa Care Group after few months on the job.
Mark de la Cruz, one of the nurses said his contract showed that he and other nurses had to work 40 hours, but the nursing facility cut back their hours to 35, that lessen their income. There was one week that De la Cruz was not paid for 35 hours work. When he complained, a supervisor of the facility slammed the door on his face.
Sentosa group allegedly witheld the green cards or permanent resident cards of the 27 nurses, their wage rate was greatly reduced, and backwages were not paid.
The nurses said there was no abandonment of work because their work shift had ended when they resigned.
Majority of nursing graduates in the Philippines opt to work abroad to seek for greener pasture , many work in nursing homes in the U.S. to serve the graying population of America.
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NEW YORK – There was never a time in history when Filipinos have had an influence in the election of American presidents and government officials.
Not until the 2000 presidential elections, when the US government started using computerized voting machines that are made in Manila sweatshops and built by Filipino hands.
In a compelling investigative piece, which aired last Tuesday on HDVnet, veteran journalist Dan Rather uncovered the harrowing truth about these voting machines and punch cards assembled by Filipino workers earning $2.50 a day in a Manila sweatshop.
According to Rather, an American firm called Election System & Software, one of the top manufacturers of voting machines in the country, has its machines assembled in the Philippines.
Apparently, ES&S contracts the production of these voting machines to two companies The touch-screens themselves are made here in the U.S. by Minnesota-based Berquist before they are sent to the Manila to be assembled with other parts made in Taiwan and Mainland China at Teletech, a sweatshop factory connected to Pivot international. Pinot is a contract-engineering firm based in Kansas that is controlled by the Ching family, a Filipino family with “strong connections in top political circles” that has been investigated for suspect business practices and possible tax evasion.
Filipino workers at Teletech told Rather that they rushed production of the ES&S machines to meet quotas. They also said that they only do minimal testing on the machines before they ship them back to the US.
Rather’s voting machines have figured in many voting disputes, most notably in Florida during the highly controversial 2000 US national elections. In that state, more than 50,000 punch cards were invalidated because voters appeared to have voted for more than one presidential candidate
According to seven former employees of the company that made punch cards used in Florida, they agree that after decades of maintaining high production standards, their company in 2000 began opting for cheap, even defective, paper.
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