Listen: Keeping Safe on Demo Jobs/UFT Paraeducators Want a Living Wage
Laborers protest outside Rockrose Development’s Manhattan headquarters. Photos courtesy of Laborers Local 79.
By Bob Hennelly
On this episode of the Stuck Nation Labor Radio Hour, we look at Laborers Local 78 & 79’s demand on a developer to end its relationship with a troubled non-union demolition contractor.
It is not even Labor Day, but already we are seeing escalating attacks on millions of undocumented immigrants in the United States, as the 2024 campaign ramps up. Left out of the right wing narrative is that they are part of the backbone of America’s essential workforce helping to care for the nation’s children, elderly and infirmed—as well as build and maintain our critical infrastructure 24/7 usually without union representation.
Back in March, a crew of a half-dozen immigrant men in a non-union paving crew fell 185 feet to their deaths from Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key bridge after it was rammed by the Dali, a rudderless massive cargo ship that was trying to leave the port on the cheap without a tug escort.
The non-union highway crew were immigrants who hailed from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Mexico.
The corporate media described the catastrophic event as a freak accident. Immigrant rights and labor union activists, however, saw it as the logical consequence of a brutal global trade and construction regime that always cuts corners to maximize profits—even as it puts workers and the public at risk.
Sadly, just a year earlier, there was another mass casualty event on I-695 in Maryland where another six immigrant workers on a non-union road crew were killed. It didn’t garner national attention.
It was just another day in America.
The state’s own Maryland Occupational Safety and Health cited the Maryland DOT’s State Highway Administration for a “serious” violation—failing to post basic but essential traffic control signs approaching the construction zone that would alert passing motorists that highway work crews would be coming in and out of the zone. No monetary fine was imposed.
As for the private contractor, the federal OSHA levied a $3,000 fine which the notice of violation described as “contested.”
Multiple studies have documented that union construction sites are safer than non-union in terms of both public and worker safety. Yet, as was reported in the City last year by Tom Robbins and Greg Smith, as well as in 2022 by the Nation’s Ashly Bishop, non-union construction firms here in New York City continue to exploit undocumented workers particularly in the very lucrative and dangerous demolition business. The consequences have been catastrophic.
Last week, hundreds of Laborers from Local 79 and Local 78 turned out at the Manhattan Headquarters of Rockrose Development to protest the developer’s continued reliance on a non-union demolition contractor with a very checkered history.
Oona Adams, director of Organizing for Laborers Local 79, helps shed light on this underreported story.
In the second half of the show, we heard from Marie Wausnock, a paraprofessional teacher for the New York City public school system who won an internal United Federation of Teachers election recently on the “Fix Para Pay” slate. There are 27,000 paraprofessionals who make it possible for tens of thousands of special needs children to get the public education they are legally required to receive. These essential jobs, starting at just $29,000, are said to be a gateway to much higher paying teaching jobs but only if the paraprofessional has the time to pursue the additional college credits required to advance.
With their low pay, many UFT paraprofessional teachers have to work a second and third job. We talked with Marie about what’s required to get these dedicated DOE employees off this treadmill to nowhere.
Listen to the entire show below: