What sort of crazed reasoning could possibly lead Congress to spend tens of billions of dollars and the lives of thousands of U.S. troops to protect the people of Iraq and Afghanistan from harm and then strip ordinary rights and protections of Americans in those risky circumstances?
Of course that seems preposterous. Nevertheless, Congress still could mutilate or kill legislation that would allow overseas U.S. workers to sue their employers in open court for abuses in the workplace—the same rights workers have at home to sue their employers.
It should shock the conscience of most Americans when it dawns on them what happened to Jamie Leigh Jones, an employee of KBR, a one-time subsidiary of giant Halliburton, where Dick Cheney was top man before becoming vice president.
Four days after arriving in Iraq at 19 years old as a KBR employee, Jones was drugged into unconsciousness and gang raped by seven KBR workers, then held by armed guards without food or drink in a large shipping container before she was forcibly released by State Department personnel.
This was only to discover thereafter that her sole legal recourse for damages was restricted to secret arbitration negotiations with KBR lawyers. Yes, she had signed a contract with that stipulation and waived other legal rights. But the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans ruled in September that Jones couldn't be forced to relinquish legal rights where criminal activity is involved.
On Oct. 21, by a whopping 68-30 vote, the U.S. Senate approved a legislative amendment introduced by Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., prohibiting any contractor that denies employees the right to sue from receiving federal funds.
All 30 "nay" votes were cast by Republicans, including Idaho Sens. Mike Crapo and Jim Risch. The Republicans argued that corporations can't be aware of everything that occurs among employees or that the legislation is political payback for GOP-connected KBR, which has received billions of dollars in contracts despite evidence of overcharges and shabby work.
Nonsense. Corporations now can be held responsible for employee misconduct in lawsuits filed in the United States. As for "politics," the 30 Republicans voting against the proposal may be trying to protect one of their favored mega-corporations from the consequences of criminal conduct by its workers.
Defense contractors are strong-arming the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Sen. Daniel Inouye, to strip out or modify Franken's amendment.
That would be an outrageous affront to all American workers, not just overseas workers, who assume their government will prevent corporations from getting a free pass when employees are abused beyond words.
