BP still handing out contracts struck down by federal court

In signing up fishermen and volunteers to assist in the oil leak cleanup, BP was issuing contracts that required the full indemnity of BP, that BP be listed on the volunteers' insurance policies, and complete confidentiality. On May 2, 2010, Judge Ginger Berrigan struck several such provisions in the BP contract.

However, despite the federal-court decision, BP representatives continued to tell would-be cleanup mariners that they had to absolve the oil giant of any liability if they wanted to get the lucrative work. The contracts handed out at the John A. Alario Center on the West Bank of Jefferson Parish included language that was supposed to have been struck after the ruling by Judge Ginger Berrigan Sunday.

About 150 people attended a closed-door training session offered by BP, which certifies them to work with hazardous waste. Those leaving the event said many inside were Vietnamese, and not all spoke English, but there were no translators on the BP staff. APAS has prepared the attached notices below in Vietnamese and English about the Court’s ruling and what it means to the mariners and volunteers.

Download the press release (English)
Download the press release (Vietnamese)
Download the press release (Lao)
Download the press release (Khmer)