Two Reports:Employment Practices in Construction Industry

Two solid reports from 2007 relating to employment practices in the NYC construction industry:

1. Tearing Down Job Quality (Fiscal Policy Institute)

http://www.fiscalpolicy.org/publications2007/FPI_BuildingUpNY_TearingDownJobQuality.pdf

2. Unregulated Work in the Construction Industry (NYU Law School Brennan Center)

http://www.brennancenter.org/page/-/d/download_file_49377.pdf

“Despite the dangerous working conditions, workers in the underground economy are paid very low wages, are denied the protections of universal social insurance programs (workers’ compensation, unemployment insurance, disability), do not have health coverage or retirement benefits, are not able to join a union, and rarely are they entitled to paid sick leave, holidays or vacations. Working in the underground construction economy is like working in the 19th century when it comes to labor rights, protections and employment standards.”

“New York City and New York State should require prevailing wage for all affordable housing contracts and for any construction project benefiting from city and state government funding, subsidy or zoning or other land use action. Taxpayers get better value with prevailing wage. It is an effective anti-poverty program, and an obvious way to address New York’s widening income gap between the rich and the poor.”