Vol. 80/No. 1      January 4, 2016

 

NY union construction workers
demand safety for all on the job

 
 
NEW YORK — Several thousand unionized construction workers marched to City Hall Dec. 10, protesting the deadly conditions on nonunion worksites across the city. Rows of coffins at the front of the march called attention to the growing number of workers killed on the job.

There has been a sharp increase of construction deaths and injuries here over the recent period. So far this year 16 workers have been killed across the five boroughs, up from nine last year and seven in 2013. Injuries are up by more than 50 percent. Bosses’ claims that this is the natural result of the “building boom” ignore the fact that death and injury rates have risen much faster than new construction. Protesters say bosses are pushing speedup and cutting corners on safety to make more profits, and workers are paying with their lives and limbs.

“Many construction workers are nonunion,” said Jamarle Jones, a member of Ironworkers Local 11 in Newark, New Jersey. “We need to work union to work safe. Most of those who are killed work the most dangerous jobs, many don’t have papers. Contractors exploit their situation. If you have no union protection and you run the risk of being deported, no wonder you are afraid to speak up.”

Less than half of private-sector construction in the city is done by union members, down from 80 to 90 percent just 15 years ago, and the unionization rate is much lower in the public sector. The City of New York and its housing agencies have overwhelmingly contracted nonunion outfits to build so-called affordable housing, making it the least unionized and lowest paying construction segment in the city.

According to the 2015 report “The Price of Life,” issued by the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health, 40 percent of the 124,000 laborers in New York state are immigrants, many of them undocumented, as are a quarter of the nearly 90,000 carpenters and roughly one-third of dry wallers and roofers.

“Of the 16 workers who have been killed this year, 14 were nonunion, 14 were Latinos,” said Gary LaBarbera, president of the Building and Construction Trades Council, at the City Hall rally. “They have lower wages, no health care, no benefits, no pension. The nonunion workers have no voice. We pledge to be their voice.” But neither he nor any of the other speakers talked about organizing these tens of thousands of workers.

LaBarbera introduced politicians he called “real friends of labor,” among them Councilman Corey Johnson and Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, both Democrats. They are co-sponsors of a bill that would require companies that build over 10 stories high to have their employees go through an apprenticeship training program.

Falls are the single most common cause of deaths on the job. Investigations show that many worksites lack guardrails and safety nets, and that workers are often not provided with safety harnesses, which can be the difference between life and death. Most of the deaths occur at sites lower than 10 stories.

A member of Laborers Local 79 who declined to give his name marched carrying a sign with the name of his friend Rodolfo Vasquez. Vasquez, 27, was killed in September 2014 while working on the foundation for a 22-floor hotel. He was crushed when a concrete slab that hadn’t been secured fell on top of him.

“I’m in the union, Rodolfo wasn’t,” the unionist said. “It’s true he might have been alive today if he had been. But that’s no excuse. Nobody should have to die. More and more construction in New York is nonunion. That will bring pressure down on union construction, it will get less safe, too. Unions are not getting stronger, they are getting weaker. I don’t know if Rodolfo had papers, I don’t care. He should have had the same protection that I have.”
 
 
Related articles:
Steelworkers locked out in fight over two-tier wages
Boss: ‘Once-in-a-generation’ chance to cut pay
Construction deaths of Palestinians in Israel show need to organize unions
Demand SKorea gov’t free union president!
On the Picket Line
 
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home