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Timeline: Reports of Wage Theft & Worker Trafficking at First Solar developments: 

Documenting the influx of unskilled workers from Eastern Europe to First Solar factories in Northwest Ohio and First Solar’s history of worker exploitation:

1990s – early 2000s
1990s – early 2000s

First Solar develops initial facilities at Cedar Industrial Park in Perrysburg, OH. Local workers report workers who only speak German on the site.

2018 – 2019
2018 – 2019

First Solar develops PTG-2 site, a 1 million square-foot facility located in Lake Township, OH. Local workers report workers who only speak German on the site.

NW Ohio workers contact Democratic Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur reporting their concerns. Congresswoman Kaptur’s office does not respond.

2021 – 2022
2021 – 2022

First Solar develops PGT-3 site to the south of PGT-2 in Lake Township, OH.

June – August 2022
June – August 2022

Worker representatives visits First Solar construction sites several times weekly. They observe an increasing number of foreign workers doing routine construction work. They speak a variety of foreign languages.

At this time, highly skilled Northwest Ohio tradespeople are being laid off from the First Solar construction site.

 

July 27, 2022
July 27, 2022

Worker representative on the First Solar PGT-3 site meets a 19-year-old Croatian who speaks some English and can’t make calls on his mobile phone in the U.S. He and other workers can only talk through messaging apps or email over WiFi.

Workers live together in local apartments or hotels. They report being paid untaxed wages that are far below the Davis-Bacon wages and benefits required on this publicly funded construction project

 

July 28, 2022
July 28, 2022
July 28, 2022

Senator Portman’s office was notified of immigration concerns on First Solar PGT-3 site.

Senator recommends filing a Labor Abuse Complaint with United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. Complaint filed. No action is taken by USCIS.

August 3, 2022
August 3, 2022

Formal complaint filed with the U.S. Department of Labor Wage & Hour Division.

No action is taken by the U.S. Department of Labor.



Aug. 23, 2022
Aug. 23, 2022
  • Worker representative visits Croatian worker at Waterstone Landing Apartments in Perrysburg, OH. At least 8 adult male workers are living in the apartment unit.
  • WORKER TESTIMONY: Grenzebach construction contractor picked him up from the Czech Republic and transported him to Ohio for construction work on the First Solar PGT-3 site. Before coming to America to work, his only work experience was as a machine operator in a factory in Croatia.
  • Worker explains he is in the United States on a passport only, not a work visa, and that he and other workers at the First Solar PGT-3 site are only allowed to be in the U.S. for 6 months before their passports expire.
  • Worker is paid ~$500 USD every 2 weeks for working 10 hours/ day, 6 days a week at First Solar PGT-3 site. This money is paid by direct deposit to his Croatian bank account and that he receives this money tax-free.



 

Local residents have the power to protect local jobs and prevent immigration violations on taxpayer-funded construction projects in Northwest Ohio.

We’ve done everything in our power to get the federal government and Ohio politicians to DO THEIR JOBS & KEEP THEIR ELECTION PROMISES. After years of wage-theft and immigration complaints, THEY REFUSE TO TAKE ACTION to enforce immigration and human-trafficking laws and protect local jobs in Northwest Ohio!

Now it’s up to YOU – the residents who live near government-subsidized corporate developments – to call on elected officials and First Solar to enforce and follow the laws that ensure:

  • NO FOREIGN NATIONALS ARE TRAFFICKED to work and live in NW Ohio by wage-thieving contractors and the global corporations that hire them;
  • ALL WORKERS are paid the AMERICAN-SCALE WAGES due on taxpayer-funded construction projects; and
  • Workers from foreign countries who DON’T QUALIFY FOR LEGAL WORK VISAS aren’t trafficked into NW Ohio, so contractors can LAY-OFF SKILLED TRADESPEOPLE on taxpayer-funded projects!

THESE POLITICIANS KNOW AND DO NOT CARE.

Tell Them It’s Time to Stop Outsourcing NW Ohio Jobs to Exploited Foreign Workers!

 

Tell First Solar NW OH boss: Stop Worker Trafficking In NW Ohio!

Tell Congresswoman Kaptur: Stop Worker Trafficking In NW Ohio!

Tell Senator Brown: Stop Worker Trafficking In NW Ohio!

Tell Senator Vance: Stop Worker Trafficking In NW Ohio!