BP stiffs fishermen of paychecks

Over 500 Gulf Coast fishermen involved in cleanup operations who were supposed to get their checks from BP on Wednesday did not receive them. Not only that, but the company refuses to give an explanation.

All they know is that BP decided to change its payment process—which requires checks to be issued every 30 days—without a warning or reason. The fishermen’s representative said the company has been giving them conflicting information about the payment system.

On June 11th, BP issued a statement that said cleanup workers were allowed to speak with the media. However, two days later, they tried to block a New Orleans TV station from doing just that.

Fishermen from St. Bernard Parish say that BP has low balled them with poor pay as well as outsourcing work to people from out of the area.

In the meantime, workers are waiting for word on when their payments will resume.

Source: WDSU-TV