Better living standards sought for OC foreign workers

By James Fisher
Daily Times Staff Writer

Anne Marie Conestabile has visited the homes of foreign-born students she knows from their Ocean City days, going to Poland, Lithuania and Latvia, countries where many of the students live. When she was there, they treated her graciously, she said: "Their families couldn't cook enough delicious Polish meals."

Now she'd like to make sure they are treated just as well when they are living and working here as an essential slice of the summer work force.

Conestabile, youth coordinator for St. Mary Star of the Sea Catholic Church, and The Rev. John Klevence plan to present a set of goals for living standards for international students to the Town Council tonight. Too often, she said, she meets students who are living in poorly maintained apartments, working at jobs where their hours are long, paychecks are late and benefits nonexistent.

"They come here with their hearts filled with hope. Often enough, there are students who don't meet the goals they set out for themselves," Conestabile said. "The city should be responsible -- I don't want to sound too strong, but there should be some kind of accountability."

Conestabile and a group of about two dozen parishioners organized weekly breakfasts and dinners for foreign-born students on Tuesdays last summer, and the volunteers have taken them on sightseeing trips, helped them with paperwork and advised them about legal troubles. Members of Bethany United Methodist Church in Berlin also pitched in.

Klevence, the church's pastor, said many students just aren't familiar with Ocean City laws that don't have parallels in their home countries.

"They don't know you can't walk down the street with a beer in your hand," Klevence said.

One of the measures Conestabile hopes to persuade the council to adopt is a town-produced pamphlet with basic information about such laws, along with some useful phone numbers and addresses. The police department has already agreed to designate an officer its international student liaison, she said.

She wishes something would be done about employers who pay their foreign-born employees weeks and months late, and wants to improve the quality of the average international student's housing.

"If you walked into some of the places these students live in, you wouldn't put a dog in there," Conestabile said.

Another suggestion will be a central registry for the estimated 8,000 to 10,000 students who come to Ocean City each season to sign in with, she said, as a minimal way to keep track of them in case one goes missing or gets into trouble.

The students, many from Eastern European countries, arrive on special work and travel visas on their summer vacations from higher education schools.

Many in the business community consider them essential for taking jobs at wages that Americans would refuse. But Conestabile said part of the problem is an attitude among some that the international workers are disposable.

"The American student works less hours and makes more money," she said.