GLS interpreters in Iraq threaten to strike over pay cuts

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Interpreter Hassan Benkato, right, translates a conversation Tuesday for Lt. Col. John Vermeesch, center, commander of 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment, at the Kadhamiyah District Council. U.S. interpreters who work for Global Linguist Systems are facing pay cuts because of changes to the company’s contract with the Intelligence and Security Command.


GLS interpreters in Iraq threaten to strike over pay cuts
By James Warden, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Monday, February 2, 2009

BAGHDAD – U.S. interpreters in Iraq are threatening to strike over pay cuts that their employer, Global Linguist Solutions, is imposing because of changes to a contract it signed with the U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command.

The company is requiring its interpreters to sign modifications to their contracts that would cut their pay starting Feb. 27. Linguists United, an Iraq-based group that claims to have 1,800 members, is asking interpreters across the country to conduct a one-day strike on that day to protest the decision. The changes do not apply to interpreters hired locally.

"Linguists want to come to Iraq, and GLS does want to get us out of here and bring cheaper linguists who did not want to put their life in (danger) when Iraq was more dangerous," said interpreter Ameer Yilmaz. "We feel like GLS /Titan used us, and they are done with us. Also, we felt like they were trying to scare linguists to accept the pay cut by using these words."

Douglas Ebner, a spokesman for DynCorp, the majority owner of GLS, said the changes to GLS’ contract required it to cut costs, forcing managers to examine where to make those cuts.

Ebner would not speak about how much the contract was cut or why the cuts were made. However, Stars and Stripes has learned that the changes to the contract involved a nine-figure reduction without any change to the number of interpreters GLS was required to provide.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=60417