My brother-in-law was over today to watch the Ohio State game. He works at a plant in Twinsburg, OH that makes parts for cars. His shop must have a poor union because he frequently gets coerced into a lot of overtime hours. They threaten him whenever he tries to turn it down. He likes the extra money, but for a guy in his mid-50s, it wears him out working 7 days a lot of weeks sometimes getting in 70 to 80 hours.

This week, it completely turned around. He got his 40, the weekend off, making him available to come over. He told me that the reason for the change was the recent hiring of a lot of workers who obviously just came from a foreign country. This week they were introduced to this workplace and only did low skill labor. By Thursday, some were picked out to start training on the more complex machinery. My brother-in-law told me that some were Hispanic and worked in one part of the shop, and the rest were Asian and worked in another portion. He estimates that there are about 40 or 50 in all. He told me that they all arrive in a fleet of vans before their shift and leave in the same fleet after. He has no idea where they are living nor how much they are getting paid.

Has anyone else experienced stories like this about workplaces in their community?