After a sheet metal plant in Connecticut ordered its employees to speak only English on the job because of safety concerns, five Spanish-speaking workers decided to take the company to court.
The employees, who are legal immigrants, say the rule amounts to discrimination and actually makes the workplace more hazardous.
"I can think of no good reason for them to institute this policy," said Steven Jacobs, the lawyer for the workers who are suing GC Industries in Deep River, Conn. "It's offensive to people who speak Spanish and is potentially dangerous. It inhibits them from communicating in their native tongue in situations that could put people at risk."
I've had to take numerous safety courses over the years. I've dealt with HAZMAT courses, Commander-level safety courses, and unit level safety courses. I doing so, I've had to deal with scads of federal regulations, and have looked up more OSHA regulations and rules than I care to remember.
So anyone who thinks that not speaking English is just fine, here's what I want you to do: Go find all the HAZMAT used in making sheet metal. Then look up the Material Safety Data Sheets for them. Try to find them in Spanish. Good luck.
Now look up the OSHA regulations relating to a sheet metal factory. I hope you have a spare month or two, because that's about how long you'll need to cover everything. Now try to find them in Spanish, or attempt to translate them. Again, good luck, and I hope you don't mind losing another month or two.
Living in Puerto Rico, I think I'm well versed on the problems caused when two people cannot speak the same language. And although I know some Spanish, and most of the people I work with speak some English, there are still folks who cannot accurately communicate the hazards and dangers of working with chemicals or working around machinery. And I guarantee that my daily work area is ten times safer than any sheet metal plant.
Anyone who claims that not being able to speak English isn't a safety hazard in a major manufacturing plant is an idiot, plain and simple. If nothing else, the time and effort used to communicate safety to someone who can't speak English means that those people are taking up valuable resources and manhours that could be used on actual production. It could also put people's lives at risk. If I as the foreman want to correct something happening on the floor, I need to be able to go straight to the person and communicate with them. When lives are at stake, or when the entire plant is at stake, I cannot afford to waste time with a translator!
If these people want to come into our country and work, fine. If they want to start a new life here, fine. But they need to adjust to us, not the other way around. I would not move to Germany and demand that everyone speak English to me. I'd learn German. BECAUSE IT'S GERMANY, AND THEY SPEAK GERMAN! If I were to move to any other country that spoke a different language, I would have to learn that language. Period, end of story. Well, immigrants here had damn well better learn English.
The plant as set a policy of speaking English at work. The workers need to comply with that policy. If they don't like it, they can find another job, or go back to where they came from. Their choice.
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