http://themilitant.com/2016/8001/800154.html
The Militant (logo)
Vol. 80/No. 1 January 4, 2016
NY union construction workers
demand safety for all on the job
BY EMMA JOHNSON
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