Filipino teachers say they were promised jobs

BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) - Last month, the East Baton Rouge School System terminated 30 teachers from the Philippines and many of them who are left without work say they were promised jobs.

They believed an opportunity to teach in America was their ticket to the promised land. They say an agency in California promised them jobs in Louisiana, but EBR says it has no need for more teachers.

East Baton Rouge School System Spokesman Chris Trahan says the system used UPI in California to hire the Filipino teachers. This year, he says the Human Resources Department decided not to hire more because of the state takeovers. However, some teachers say they arrived here last month and were promised jobs by UPI, but are still unemployed.

East Baton Rouge starting hiring teachers from the Philippines to improve district scores. Six women who are scared to be seen believe they are caught in limbo. They say they were recruited to teach in East Baton Rouge when district administrators came to their country last year. One of the women, who asked not to be identified, says she thought she had a job lined up when she moved here. "Oh yes, because the agency told me I'd have my work here," she said. "But unfortunately, I attended a job fair last Thursday, but there's no work for us and no assurance for work."

The woman, whose name means Stairway to Heaven, says her experience in America is anything but heavenly. "Those promises are all lies." She says she pays California-based UPI $300 a month to live at a local apartment complex with three other women. They share a two-bedroom apartment and two of them share the den area as a bedroom. All of them are in the same situation.

Another of the women, who we'll call "Naning" did get a job with EBR, but she was among 30 employees terminated last month for "non-compliance." EBR Spokesman Chris Trahan says the 30 didn't get good evaluations. If that's not enough, before her termination, "Naning's" salary got cut from more than $48,000 to $20,000. She says she was told by UPI they considered her out of the professional field, meaning her visa had to be downgraded.

The women say they paid UPI more than $10,000 to come here to teach. Now, the agency wants them to pay that money back. "It's disgusting, so I do not know what comes next, but it's horrible because I thought this is my dream place. Because this is my dream to come to this country, because this is a promise land, I thought this is, but it's not."

Two of the women who came to Louisiana in May have visas that expire this summer. They say if they are unable to find work specific to the visa they are here on, then they can't pay the agency back or afford to get back to the Philippines. Many of the women are already having trouble finding food and paying rent. EBR says there are still 140 Filipino teachers who are employed in the system, but they do not have a need for anymore and never promised anyone jobs.

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