Here's an interesting article that was in Thursday's Atlanta Urinal and Constipation.
Refugees want airport jobs back English-only test unfair, Somalis say
WTF?
A move to tighten airport security by requiring that workers read enough English to pass a written test has cost a group of Somali refugees their jobs at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.
Tap. Tap. Nope. Sympathy meter reading zero here. This is the United States of America. We speak English here.
The workers claim the rule has been inconsistently applied and that they were blindsided when they had to take tests on security procedures without a translator last month.
You shouldn't need a translator. If you live and work here, you should learn the language. If I moved to Italy or (God forbid!) France and planned to get a job, my first priority would be to learn to read and write Italian or French.
Ten Somalis --- nine women and one man --- failed the test and were fired from their jobs as airplane cleaners. They had held the jobs for up to seven years.
So let me get this straight. Some of them have lived here for seven years and they still can not speak or read English? And I'm supposed to feel sorry for these nitwits?
"We'd love to go back to our job," said Safio Mohamed, 40, one of the Somali women and an American citizen.
Let me get this straight. She's an American citizen and she can not speak or read English? Huh? What is wrong woth this picture?
"We know the rules and regulations of homeland security," she said through an interpreter.
Because she was too stupid or too lazy to learn English.
"We didn't have any security problems at all. This is discrimination because of a language barrier."
Boo fucking hoo! There is an easy fix for that. Learn fucking English! That's the language we speak here.
"Our signage out here, all of our signs, are in English," airport spokesman Robert Kennedy said. "If something happens, they have to be able to react and direct passengers in case there's an emergency."Everyone who has a badge has the responsibility to help if something happens," he said. "What if there were a fire? How could they warn people of the danger?"
Quick! Find me an interpreter! Or maybe if people saw a bunch of screaming Somalis running through the terminal they could guess that sumpin' was wrong.
The Somali women claim they were able to use a translator when they took a test to renew their badges in March 2002. At the renewal last month, they said, were they told they could not use a translator to read them the test questions and multiple-choice answers. They also blame internal politics at Aramark, claiming their supervisor set them up to fail while helping others pass the test.
No, you set yourselves up because you were too lazy to learn English. Were there opportunities to learn English you may be asking yourselves?
Aramark has workers from Africa, Vietnam and Central America, Panell said. The company has offered English classes, and some Vietnamese workers took them and later passed their tests, he said.
So why didn't the Somalis?
Ali Omar, executive director of the Georgia Somali Community Center in Clarkston, said most of the fired women have three or four children. Between work on the night shift and family obligations during the day, they don't have time for English classes, he said. He served as translator for the fired workers in a recent interview that he arranged to call attention to their situation.
But somehow the Vietnamese workers, who probably also had family obligations, somehow found the time to attend the classes.
The Somali women said through their translator they are grateful America rescued them from the civil war in their country. But they are upset about the way they lost their jobs. They earn $8.10 per hour and still support relatives in refugee camps. Omar is helping them fill out unemployment paperwork."There are other Somalis who work over there, and they are worried they're going to be out of a job soon," Omar said.
Now that they are unemployed they will have plenty of time to learn English. I bet they won't.