Breaking The Chains Of Armenian Slavery

[Teutonic Knight]

BREAKING THE CHAINS OF ARMENIAN SLAVERY

 

"The sun's ferocious beam could be felt upon our backs as our tenth hour working straight came. The gallon of water we had brought with us now completely used up, we were going into a state of hallucinatory fever. The boss yelled at us to continue work and not stop for breaks." Sounds like an excerpt from a slave's accounts in a plantation in the 1800's? In fact it does, however, this excerpt is from my own experiences working for a "fellow Armenian" in Los Angeles in the year 2003.

 

Coming to America as an immigrant, I had moved here for a brighter future, and a feeling that In California, Armenians cared for each other and wanted to move forward and progress together. I came with the belief that Armenians stuck together, and worked hard to help each other out in times of hardship. What I found was that there is no Armenian pride left. Armenian Business owners see their Armenian compatriots who have come to America with no documents, and in need of jobs, as a way to profit from their disadvantageous position. They hire fellow Armenians at below minimum wages, and subject them to excruciatingly brutal work conditions, and long hours of heavy work. They are not poor businessmen, who cannot afford to pay higher wages. They are in fact, very wealthy and own several homes and expensive cars; all due to their high profits obtained from tax evasion, and low wages paid to their workers. These businessmen have become wealthy by the blood and sweat of other Armenians. I am compelled to tell the truth and expose these sick bastards, as they have no care towards the livelihood of other Armenians and only wish to become wealthy and approach their mind conceived "godliness".

 

One such shop I worked in was a marble and granite shop. When entering this dark and dusty shop, pockets of the sun's rays glistened off the dilapidated machinery. The rat infested "sweat shop" was truly a grotesque sight in itself. Within the shop, there were as many as 10 employees at one time. Later, many had left, but the most there had ever been was about 10 workers. About 5 of the ten workers, would be working within the shop while the other 5 or so would be working outside the shop in homes laying tiles or installing counter tops. One man was appointed to cutting the huge slabs of marble or granite with a massive saw that was operated electrically. The other men would glue edges onto the counter tops while others grinded the edges round and polished them. The team I was appointed to would then load the huge counter tops onto a truck, and head out to homes where we installed them. Now it is easy to imagine the extreme weight of these counter tops, as they are made of rock. The boss would only send two guys to transport and install these counter tops. One time my partner and I were sent to this job where the counter top was this L-shaped mammoth of slab, and the location where we were to install it was down these flight of stairs. Despite numerous protests to the boss to bring more helpers to move the slab, he refused and forced us to go alone. Now, he knew that it took 5 guys to barely load the slab onto the truck. So how did he expect two guys to move it down a flight of stairs? Well it wouldn't have been profitable for him to send 5 guys to a job where he was charging so little. You see, he didn't have the business sense of making customers happy by quality service which most people would happily pay more for. The way he made profits was like this. He would charge customers half the market price for such services that any other legitimate company would have charged. How then does he make a profit? Well, he would pay us very low wages, a daily rate. Now he didn't care about the hours we worked. Our normal day should have been from 8am to 5pm. But when he paid us daily, he meant daily. He would want us to work 18 hours just so he could get his job done and make more. The more days it takes us to get a job done, the more he would have to pay us the less he would make. But it is inhuman to work such long hours and at such a heavy job. Well, my partner and I were lucky enough to find two other construction workers that day, and the 4 of us barely made it down those stairs. Given a normal 8 hour work day, people have to take a 30 min break at least and a lot of places also a 15 min coffee break. Now the days we worked until 11pm, (sometimes 1 am) we had only taken a 15 min break. If the boss ever saw us resting for 5 min, he would yell at us and tell us to get to work. We were lucky that he wouldn't always be at the work sites, so then we could have taken longer breaks, but sometimes he would drive over to check up on us. Many days he would stay watching over us and force us to work longer hours. By law, you are allowed to work overtime but no more than 4 hours. Also, the wage you receive for over time is one and a half times your normal hourly wage. We would get the same daily amount no matter how long we worked. I for example, started working at 40 dollars a day. After 4 months, I was making 50 dollars a day. Many times I had come home dead tired at 12 am, too tired to cook my dinner or even enjoy a nice evening with friends. This slave driver of a boss, also made people work Sundays, (normal work week was 6 days for us) but I took a stand and refused. I was punished indirectly by other worse duty jobs.

 

In terms of health and human rights issues, we were abused under all the factions. Some days I would work in the shop, where the boss wanted us to get into a garbage bin that was dangerously over filled, and was too heavy to transport by the dump trucks. This garbage bin was full of the decomposing remains of haunta virus infested rats, and when I refused to come near any rat without a respirator, the boss just made a joke and called me a chicken. It took every nerve in my body not to frag (abbr. verb for “fragmentation grenade”) this evil man, but I didn't want to be caught by the police after and put in jail then deported. Eventually I left this job however, and found other jobs with Armenians.

 

The next job I took while working in California, was at a dry cleaners. This was a well-established business that brought many affluent customers. The business was owned and operated by an old Armenian couple. This seemed like a heaven sent job, since I didn't have to contend with harmful dust or back breaking labor. I was wrong. They had me working at this job for the whole week. I'd arrive at 10am and leave the store at 9pm. I would have to sort the clothes according to these numbers and colors attached to them. Seems light enough a job doesn't it? Well it would be if you only worked 8 hours at it. But the job was an assembly line job and breaks were a joke. The flow of clothes to be sorted kept me on my feet at all times and I constantly had to run from one position on the line to another. The man's wife was a crazy cross eyed woman who always yelled in a high pitched shrill that would awaken the dead. She would never talk in a normal voice. She would only yell. After my first week on the job I went to the boss to discuss my hours and work out a schedule and wage. He started talking to me very rudely and said, "Look here. This is a 24-hour business, and you are going to work here everyday. You will work here for two months straight every single day until 9pm. After two months, you will get every third Sunday off."

 

I was surprised by the tone he conveyed especially since he was trying to impose slavery in the 21st century! I told him I could not work such hours, and every single day since I have to study. I take college at home since I cannot attend a university here nor do I have enough money to. I study from the Internet based colleges. I still will receive a nationally accredited degree, so the prestige of an expensive college doesn't make a difference to me since I will be working in a good job once I become a citizen. I tried to reason with him as to why I couldn't work a normal shift. He just grunted over and over again how this is a 24 hour business and such. The concept of rationale did not reach his mindset. I wasn't even asking to work part time, I was just asking to work a normal 40 hour work week. Well the reason why he wanted to have me working there every day was again a matter of personal gain. Him and his wife didn't care that I was a young fellow Armenian new to this country looking for a start to my life. They just saw me as a way to save money on wages and become rich. Might I note that everyone there was receiving sub standard wages and working brutally long hours.

 

To conclude this writing, I would like to say that I have lost a lot of faith in the Armenian brotherhood. I feel the old honorable ways of the Armenians I was brought up to believe, were all washed away by the capitalist greed embedded within these business owners. They will stop at nothing to become rich, and even use their own people who are in need of a hand, to gain the riches they so desire. The nationalism I used to feel for being Armenian has changed drastically. I still feel that I am Armenian, but I seriously doubt the motives of most of the business owners out there. This wasn't an isolated incident. Just go to Glendale and North Hollywood and see all the Armenian shops there. See how many hours a day the poor Armenian immigrants work, and the miniscule wages they receive. They have families to support but little do their bosses care. We are led to believe that slavery was abolished more than a century ago. Why then, does the use of slavery drive the American economy forward from the shadows of horrific sweatshops?

 

Armen Garabedian

 

http://azg.am/start.pl?lang=EN&num=2003110101

[gamavor]

Well it would be if you only worked 8 hours at it. But the job was an assembly line job and breaks were a joke. The flow of clothes to be sorted kept me on my feet at all times and I constantly had to run from one position on the line to another. The man's wife was a crazy cross eyed woman who always yelled in a high pitched shrill that would awaken the dead. She would never talk in a normal voice. She would only yell. After my first week on the job I went to the boss to discuss my hours and work out a schedule and wage. He started talking to me very rudely and said, "Look here. This is a 24-hour business, and you are going to work here everyday. You will work here for two months straight every single day until 9pm. After two months, you will get every third Sunday off."

 

Welcome to America, the land of unlimited opportunities and happiness. The land of free and bold! Long live the American Dream!

[Accelerated]

The fact that some business owners take advantage of illegal (armenian) immigrants is a given, but:

 

a) Numerous references to 'slavery'. He is not a slave he can leave (the job) at any time

 

b ) Not one comment on being lucky enough to have a steady/full-time job

 

c) Ones fate is in their own hands, he doesnt like it, can move back to Armenia.

 

d) It is not the DUTY of other Armenians to help out their fellows, most do as much as they can anyway....

 

e) we as a nation must learn self-reliance and expect less from others/government in order to succeed.

Edited November 3, 2003 by Accelerated

[Accelerated]

And probably the most important point I would make is the mentality many Armenians (particularly Hayastantsis) have. The fact that the notion of a fair deal does not exist in their thinking. Hence it seems that if they arnt swindling someone, then its them being swindled!

[Teutonic Knight]

Note that his name is spelled as "Garabedian", so he's not from Armenia.

 

Accelerated, self reliance? That's good, but then again if an immigrant dropped the "Armenian" label altogether they would be better off in the long run.

 

[MJ]

Could someone explain who has given the right to this "pchan" Tuetuenik to come here and use derogatory expressions towards Armenians?

[Arpa]

Could someone explain who has given the right to this "pchan" Tuetuenik to come here and use derogatory expressions towards Armenians?

Could he be a supremacist and racist bigot masquerading as a Armo-chuvinist? You may not have seen this my post of some time ago.

 

http://armenians.com/forum/index.php?showt...7&hl=tevtonakan

[MJ]

Could he be a supremacist and racist bigot masquerading as a Armo-chuvinist? You may not have seen this my post of some time ago.

 

http://armenians.com/forum/index.php?showt...7&hl=tevtonakan

 

That he is a masquerading "chernosotenetc" racist bigot (of neo-Nazi / Bolshevik orientation), I have no doubts. It only qualifies him as a clown, though. Btw, in the last few years, Russian neo-Nazis and communists have merged under the banner of the "healthy forces of Russia."

 

It would just be nice if he may find it possible to tone down a little bit and keep his head where it belongs to.

Edited November 4, 2003 by MJ

[poghosyan]

I don't know where all this negativity is coming from. I can't help wondering if you people don't feel at all sorry for the author of this article, armenian or not. You came up with all differnet reasons trying to make fun and to put down the person who has encountered such horrible experiences. Why? Are you really on the side of the evil businessmen described in this article?

 

I am not saying this to contradict any of you and I don't want this whole thing turning against me, I just was very surprised to see the reaction of all of you.

[564312]

This is not only true for Los Angeles but also in Armenia where everything is privatized now and working conditions are more hard and for much lesser money. So long good old Soviet Days. How many people I know with no jobs and no money for bread and they are all good hard working people but no one gives them a chance.

 

It is a sad situation how most Armenians threat each other. It is very sad.

[Anoushik]

Welcome to America, the land of unlimited opportunities and happiness. The land of free and bold! Long live the American Dream!

When it doesn't suit us we can find all kinds of faults in America and the American culture. But when we think we can get something out of cheating and using other people then so be it. Suddenly we say this is America.

 

This is extremely sad. Where have our morals gone?

[sev-mard]

This is extremely sad. Where have our morals gone?

Into the "melting pot" of America.....

[Anoushik]

It is always hard to hear criticisms about us, our culture, our country. And the first response is to get defensive and deny all the accusations even though deep in our hearts we know that it is the truth. But instead of hiding cowardly behind lies we need to face the problems, acknowledge them, try to figure out what we can do so that the same cycle of problems doesn't continue to future generations.

 

I applaud Teutonic Knight for bringing attention to one of the most disgusting and disturbing traits happening in the Armenian community in LA - the rich Armenian businessmen exploiting and using the new Armenian immigrants so that they can get richer and honestly say that they didn't work hard for it.

 

When we came five years ago my father, in need of a job, went to work in an Armenian jewelry factory. He was legal and therefore I think he was getting minimum wage. But almost all the other workers were illegal and were only earning two, three, or four dollars an hour! Seeing the unfair work atmosphere and the constant humiliation of the workers by the rich, fat Armenian owners my father sunk into a big depression. He quit after just a month. But he knew that while he had the luxury to quit and search for better jobs the other workers did not have a choice and had to stay under those horrible conditions.

 

Let's not discuss that the Armenians shouldn't have come or if they don't like it they should go back to Armenia. This is a different issue. But the issue here is first and foremost the lack of humanity in these business owners. Second, while we always cry how happy we are to be Armenian we seem to forget that we also have to support each other. What does the future hold for us if we, Armenians, just look at each other as a means for profit and constantly think of new ways we can exploit each other?

[Sasun]

Anoushik, I see your point and agree. A lot of Armenian businessmen don't have any conscience or human feelings towards their workers. But that is also true about other, non-Armenian capitalists. Let's not forget, greed is the basis of capitalism. For a lot of business owners, the feeling of greed is much more important than the feeling of compassion to compatriots (the latter may not even exist).

[poghosyan]

That`s exactly what the Turks tried to achieve in 1915, to seperate the armenians and to devide them in different groups.

And they did achieve it. Sad or not, it's our reality. There are many groups of Armenians, and this is not the worst part of it all. The saddest thing is that they 'hate' each other. I don't think this can be changed just by talking about it. In fact, I can't think of any way to change it.

[Yeznig]

I applaud Teutonic Knight for bringing attention to one of the most disgusting and disturbing traits happening in the Armenian community in LA - the rich Armenian businessmen exploiting and using the new Armenian immigrants so that they can get richer and honestly say that they didn't work hard for it.

This alas is an old story. The Armenian rich in Bolis/Istanbul did exactly the same to the impoverished immigrants fleeing repreession and plunder in their historic Armenian homelands in the 19th century.

 

Hrant a 19th century Armenian writer apparently wrote a brilliant book 'Letters from Emmigrants' that unfolds the terrible tragedy of these migrant labourers. I think I read a review of it on Groong.

 

The phenomenon is of course not peculiarly Armenian. In London the well established Turkish and Greek rich do the same to their own impoverished nationals just arriving on these rotten shores.

[Hayeforlife]

1.USA stinks because there are no rights for the workers

2.workers in USA don´t have the right to join the Union/ or to build up a Union

3. Boss in a Company can fire a worker without explanation

4.a American worker have only 1 or 2 weeks vacation.

 

In EU it´s a different way

here the workers have the right to join the Union without fear to lose the Job.

a EU worker have in some countries 8-weeks vacation,

in Sweden we have 5-weeks vacation.

 

To another subject/

we Armenians have many rich Armenians in the US and what are they doing for Armenia? absolutly nothing.

they just like to drive expensive cars, expensive houses, gambling, they don´t give a *** about our beatiful Countrie Armenia.

it´s so ***in sad.

we should do like the Jews, they do anything for Israel.

 

G/Hagob

[MosJan]

i'm going to rename this topic

the name it's self is a insult to many

[Anoushik]

Hayeforlife, can you see from your own post how your dislike for America really doens't apply to the United States' policies but to the faults of humans in general? It is the Armenians' responsibility to help Armenia, America or not. If people don't have it in them then no matter where they live it's not going to make a difference.

[gurgen]

Note that his name is spelled as "Garabedian", so he's not from Armenia.

Couldn't it be that 'Karapetian' was meant?

[Azat]

1.USA stinks because there are no rights for the workers

2.workers in USA don´t have the right to join the Union/ or to build up a Union

3. Boss in a Company can fire a worker without explanation

4.a American worker have only 1 or 2 weeks vacation.

 

In EU it´s a different way

here the workers have the right to join the Union without fear to lose the Job.

a EU worker have in some countries 8-weeks vacation,

in Sweden we have 5-weeks vacation.

 

To another subject/

we Armenians have many rich Armenians in the US and what are they doing for Armenia? absolutly nothing.

they just like to drive expensive cars, expensive houses, gambling, they don´t give a *** about our beatiful Countrie Armenia.

it´s so ***in sad.

we should do like the Jews, they do anything for Israel.

 

G/Hagob

When I reap posts like this my blood starts to boil.

 

dear Hagob, What are your tax rates there is Sweden(and I do love Sweden)? Can you name a single country that allows you to keep more of your earnings that you had to work hard for as much as the US does(and we here complain that we have high taxes)

 

What is the annual productivity of each employee(can be measured by GDP being divided by working population)? Do you think you are anywhere close to that of the US or Japan?

 

Who do you think pays for your 5 weeks of vacation?

 

Why do you think that majority of innovations come out of the US compare to the all of EU which has a combined population much larger than the US?

 

Now let me correct few of your misconceptions.

1. Wrong. US workers have more rights than the employers in most states.

2. Absolutely wrong in all states. Employers may put pressure against unions, but in general shops can unionize if they wish

3. Not true. Although you can come up with a very weak excuse and let go of the person. However that is a good thing. You should be able to let go of the dead beats such that the other workers do not have to suffer by doing all their work and also cover for that deadbeat.

4. wrong once again. Average US employees has between 2-3 weeks of vacation when they start at a company. Over time they can get an additional week every 5-10 years.

 

in regards to US and wealthy Armenian helping Armenia. US government gives some 80-90 million annually in Aid to Armenia, Kirk Krikorian gives another 70-80 million last year. That is close to 35% of Armenian annual budget. This is just between 2 entities they cover 35%. How much more do you want?

 

One last question. Are there wealthy Armenians in EU? What do they do? How much do they give? I am sure much more because people in teh EU are more caring that those a-holes in the US right?