Union Protests Use of Temporary Foreign Workers at 2013 US Golf Open, In Merion
By Brad Segall
ARDMORE, Pa. (CBS) -- Local union members demonstrated today outside the main entrance of Merion Golf Club, in Delaware County, protesting the use of foreign workers as the club prepares for the prestigious US Open.
Carpenters' Union business manager Ed Coryell says they have had a couple of meetings with the United States Golf Association about the decision to hire foreign workers on temporary, six-month work visas.
Coryell says those workers are being paid substandard wages without benefits. And he says it's an affront to American workers, who would greatly benefit from work assignments for the US Open.
"They are the people that should be working here: the people that pay their taxes here, spend their money in the community, and live in the community. And instead, they're unemployed and they're shipping workers in from a foreign country."
He says the union plans to take its case to the community around Merion, and they hope to meet again with the USGA. But he says it's been more than a week since they've heard from the organization.
