Uplift has ALWAYS been a HUGE issue with KBR/SEII Employees.
Uplift is a percentage in addition to the base pay. When I worked for KBR the uplift was 55% on the first 40 hours. Then in the fall of 2006 it was raised to 75%. Again, only on the first 40 hours.
Current uplift for Iraq and Afghanistan consist of the following:
International Bonus 5%
Area Differential 35%
Hazardous Conditions 35%
Evidently KBR does not feel the last 44+ hours in your work week are as hazardous as the first 40 because they DON’T pay Uplift and they don’t pay overtime.
There have been many lawsuits against KBR over uplift and overtime. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe that all cases have been dismissed. One of the big issues is, you don’t actually work for KBR. You work for SEII or OAS, offshore shell companies of KBR. US laws don’t apply. Plus…you signed that damn contract.
I have several questions:
1. Who approves uplift increases? When I worked for KBR we were always told it was the “Client” (DoD/DoS) that would NOT increase our uplift. Is it the “Client” or is it KBR?
2. What is KBR charging the “Client”? Have they been charging uplift for every hour worked? If so what percentage are they charging? 100%? I think it’s time for an audit! I have all my pay stubs if anyone in DoD or Congress wants to compare what KBR charged for me to what I actually got paid.
3. Is there a planned uplift increase in the near future? If so…who approved it, the “Client” or KBR? Is it only on the first 40 hours or on every hour worked? How much will it be? 100%?
Personally, I think every person over there deserves 100% uplift on EVERY hour worked!
Health concerns » An environmental report on the burn pit at Balad Air Base now is classified for ‘national security’
Matthew D. Laplante
The Salt Lake Tribune
Updated: 11/21/2008 09:01:12 AM MST
Military officials insist there’s no problem.
But veterans’ advocates are calling for full transparency about the health risks faced by service members who have been stationed at the largest U.S. air base in Iraq, where one inspector called an open-air burn pit “the worst environmental site I have ever personally visited.”
But for the moment, that quote — found in a memo from a military environmental engineer from Utah — is all that is publicly known from a 2006 Environmental Health Site Assessment on the situation at Balad Air Base. That’s because the U.S. Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventative Medicine is refusing to make the document public, saying that the information it contains “would damage our national security.”
How could a health assessment damage national security? For veteran Paul Rieckhoff, the situation smells as bad as Iraq’s foul air.
“It’s troubling,” said Rieckhoff, an Iraq combat veteran and director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, which lobbies on behalf of vets who have served in the nation’s ongoing conflicts. “Just saying ‘everything is fine’ is not going to fly.”
The Army insists that it is doing more. Michael Kilpatrick, a spokesman for the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, said the military has done extensive sampling of the air in Balad and other bases where burn pits are used to get rid of garbage — including weapons, chemicals, plastics, and even amputated limbs. (Read more HERE)
Unbelievable!! This is the DoD’s answer to the problem? Just classify it and it goes away? Alrighty then…how stupid do they think we are?
Time to call your Senators and Congresspersons. Maybe the new administration can fix this.
Iraq-U.S. Accord Wipes Out Contractor Immunity (Update1)
By Gopal Ratnam and Viola Gienger
Nov. 20 (Bloomberg) — U.S. government contractors in Iraq are balking at a new agreement that eliminates their immunity from local laws, saying thousands of Americans would be subject to a legal system that still fails international standards.
“This agreement throws the DoD contractors under the bus,” said Doug Brooks, president of the International Peace Operations Association, a trade group that represents 57 firms that provide services including security, development and military support. Pretrial detention and incarceration in Iraq are “way below” global standards, he said.
The Defense Department and State Department briefed their private contractors today on a provision of the so-called status- of-forces accord that eliminates contractors’ immunity from prosecution under Iraqi law. While the agreement applies to U.S. military operations, the State Department told its contractors today that Iraq will make them subject to the same rules.
The provision is part of an agreement that would govern U.S. military operations in Iraq after a United Nations Security Council resolution expires on Dec. 31. About 28,000 of the 163,500 people employed as Pentagon contractors in Iraq are U.S. citizens. Others are Iraqis or citizens of other countries, according to Defense Department data. About 4,500 of the State Department’s 5,500 contractors in Iraq are U.S. citizens. (Read more HERE)
That’s just damn scary!!! I just can’t imagine being in an Iraqi jail! Oh hell no!
By Kelly Kennedy – Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Nov 20, 2008 16:33:59 EST
A soldier concerned about his tour at Forward Operating Base Hammer near Balad, Iraq, this year sent Military Times a report showing high levels of particulate matter and low levels of manganese, possibly due to materials destroyed in a burn pit.
“The high risk estimate is due to the average (particulate matter) level being at a concentration the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency considers ‘hazardous,’ and is likely to affect the health of all troops,” wrote Jeffrey Kirkpatrick, director of health risk assessment for the U.S. Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine. “Manganese was also detected above its one-year military exposure guidelines.”
It was sent to the command surgeon general’s office for U.S. Central Command.
Particulate matter can lead to coughing, difficulty breathing, decreased lung function, aggravated asthma, chronic bronchitis, irregular heartbeat, nonfatal heart attacks and premature death in people with heart or lung disease, according to the EPA.
Long-term levels of high exposure to manganese can lead to problems in the central nervous system, such as slow visual reaction time, inability to keep the hands steady, and poor eye-hand coordination. It can also lead to feelings of weakness, tremors, a mask-like face and psychological effects. It can also lead to impotence and loss of libido, according to the EPA. (Read more HERE)
Burn pit fallout
Military official: Situation improving; troops report health complications
By Kelly Kennedy – Staff writer
Posted : Sunday Nov 16, 2008 16:27:03 EST
Disabled American Veterans has issued a call to all service members and veterans who think they may have illnesses related to burn pits in Afghanistan and Iraq: Contact DAV so they can collect data and look for trends.
“Anyone out there who thinks they may have had a long-term health effect … needs to file a complaint” with the Department of Veterans Affairs, said Kerry Baker, DAV’s associate national legislative director.
Noting that it took Vietnam veterans 20 years to gain benefits for exposure to the defoliant Agent Orange, Baker said, “We don’t want to see these guys have to wait 20 years. We want to see Congress act right away.”
He said service members should be alert for respiratory-related problems, such as allergies, sleep apnea, trouble breathing, asthma and lymphocytic leukemia, as well as skin diseases. Of the 300 to 400 disability cases Baker said he has personally reviewed since the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan began, he said 30 percent potentially could be linked to the burn pits. He said he’s amazed by the numbers of troops reporting sleep apnea.(Read more HERE)
Senator wants answers on dangers of burn pits
By Kelly Kennedy – Staff writer
Posted : Sunday Nov 9, 2008 10:44:15 EST
Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., has written to Gen. David Petraeus, the new chief of U.S. Central Command, demanding to be informed about any pending investigations into health problems for troops exposed to burn pit smoke in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“After years of helping veterans of the Vietnam and Gulf wars cope with the health effects of toxic battlefields, we have learned that we must take exposures to toxins seriously to ensure that this generation of service members does not face the same difficulties,” Feingold wrote in a letter dated Oct. 31.
“While I appreciate the nearly overwhelming set of challenges we face in Iraq and Afghanistan, there is no excuse for exposing service members and local civilians to preventable hazards.” (Read more HERE)
Cheney, Gonzales indictment in Texas moves ahead
By CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN
RAYMONDVILLE, Texas (AP) — A Texas judge has set a Friday arraignment for Vice President Dick Cheney, former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, a state senator and others named in indictments accusing them of responsibility for prisoner abuse in a South Texas federal detention center.
Presiding Judge Manuel Banales said Wednesday he will allow them to waive arraignment or have their attorneys present rather than appear in person at the hearing.
Banales also said he would issue summonses rather than warrants for the indicted since all have served in some public capacity. That would allow them to avoid arrest and the need to post bond.
After the prosecutor who won the indictments, lame duck Willacy County District Attorney Juan Angel Guerra, was a no-show in court, Banales ordered Texas Rangers to go to his house, check on his well-being and order him to court on Friday. (Click HERE to read more)
