Article
Asian-American Boat Owners Accuse BP of 'Despicable' Racism [USA]
BP "specifically demanded" that the companies overseeing its Vessels of Opportunity oil spill clean-up program not hire Vietnamese- and Cambodian-Americans, a class estimated at 4,000 professional fishermen claims in Federal Court. The fishermen say in their complaint that BP's co-defendants "DRC Emergency Services LLC and Danos and Curole Marine Contractors LLC colluded in this despicable order by limiting the number of Vietnamese and Cambodian Americans that they hired."...The complaint states that "even though over half of all active commercial fishermen affected by the BP Oil Spill were Vietnamese and Cambodian Americans, less than 10 percent of all the vessels hired for the V.o.O program were owned by Vietnamese and Cambodian Americans. It is estimated that of the 5,000 marine vessels hired, only around 350 vessels belonged to Vietnamese and Cambodian Americans." The class claims this was directly attributable to BP's discrimination.