I have been talking with the authors of two studies of immigrant workers engaged in the Katrina cleanup. There are an estimated 10,000 immigrant workers of whom half may be undocumented. Both researchers report that very, very few of their work injuries are handled through the workers comp system. Instead, free care is used. This is a very serious problem. I expect to write more on it as more information becomes available. I have already posted on the published study done by Tulane and UC Berkeley researchers.
Republican Senator: REAL ID is a real stinker
Senator John Sununu represents NH, one of the states intending to be an early implementor of the REAL ID program — creating a national standard of high tech driver’s licenses. He roundly criticized the program in a recent column in the 5/17 Manchester Union Leader (no link available). “The flaws of REAL ID are fundamental and are slowly being realized by observers across the country.” Here it is, somewhat excerpted. I have posted on it in the past.
WHEN THE 9/11 Commission released its report nearly two years ago, the commissioners made several recommendations which they believed would, if implemented, make us safer. One such recommendation stated, “The federal government should set standards for the issuance of . . . sources of identification, such as drivers’ licenses.”
Continue reading Republican Senator: REAL ID is a real stinker
Jim Platner’s analysis of higher construction deaths among Hispanics
I have found on the net a powerpoint presentation of Platner’s important analysis of higher hispanic construction fatalities.
It was originally published in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine and must be purchased.
An analysis of post construction fatality data extending through 2003 can be found here.
Locations of worker centers in U.S.
Janice Fine’s Worker Centers: Organizing communities at the Edge of the Dream includes contact information for 137 worker centers, 122 of which are expressly focused on serving immigrant workers. their distribution by state. A online map of the country with these centers can be found here.
AZ – 3
AR – 1
CA – 29
CO – 1
DC – 1
FL – 6
IL – 8
IN – 2
ME – 1
MA – 5
MI – 1
MN – 3
MS -2
MT – 1
NE – 1
NJ – 5
NV – 1
NY – 24
NC – 7
OH – 3
OR – 4
PA – 3
RI – 1
SC – 1
TX – 6
UT – 1
VT – 1
VA – 4
WA – 5
WI – 4
Fake IDs among Massachusetts construction workers
The Boston Globe ran a story on Sunday (no link available) about the ways in which undocumented workers become workers at construction worksites. Article by By Jonathan Saltzman and Yvonne Abraham, June 18, 2006:
A Globe analysis of nine recent public works projects — from dormitory construction at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth to the building of the new Middlesex County Jail — revealed that of 242 workers on weekly payroll lists, more than a third appeared to lack legitimate Social Security numbers. On one of the payrolls reviewed, for masonry work on the UMass dormitory project, nearly two-thirds of the contractor’s 87 workers had bogus or questionable Social Security numbers.
The numbers used by the workers in many cases appeared obviously fraudulent. One laborer who helped build the new jail in Billerica submitted a number that should have immediately raised eyebrows: 666-66-6666. Some numbers belonged to people who were long-deceased, the Globe found. Others were matched to people who live out of state and had no idea their numbers had been appropriated.
The findings, though a small snapshot of the vast number of public projects undertaken throughout the state, suggest how the use of undocumented workers has extended into almost every corner of the economy. Republicans in Massachusetts trumpeted plans last month to stiffen fines on companies that knowingly hire undocumented immigrants, which is illegal under state law. But there is no requirement that employers, including those receiving public funds, demonstrate that their workers are legal, and undocumented workers employed on the projects say that contractors are all too happy to look the other way.
Continue reading Fake IDs among Massachusetts construction workers
George Will on short vs long term politics on immigration
Washington Post columnist George Will writes today about the Republicans’ temptation to attack Democrats for the Senate bill on immigration reform, calling it an amnesty sell-out. This attack we may see more of despite the fact that 33 Republican senators voted for the bill. Will notes that short term goals may yield long term losses:
Republicans very much want to pass an immigration bill as proof their party can govern. For that reason, there is no reason to expect Senate Democrats to compromise by passing something like the House bill. Nothing very different from it has any chance of being accepted by the House. So, safely assuming that the House-Senate conference fails to produce a compromise acceptable to both houses, when Congress returns to Washington after the Labor Day recess, the House may again pass essentially what it passed in December, just to enable Republicans to campaign on the basis of a clear and recent stance against exactly what Santorum’s ad stands against.
The cost of this, paid in the coin of lost support among Latinos, the nation’s largest and fastest-growing minority, may be reckoned later, for years. Remember this: Out West, feelings of all sorts about immigration policy are particularly intense, and if John Kerry had won a total of 127,014 more votes in New Mexico, Nevada and Colorado, states with burgeoning Latino populations, he would have carried those states and won the election. But for now, the minds of Republican candidates are concentrated on a shorter time horizon — the next 4 1/2 months.
Overseas Indians send back $21 billion.
Investment bank J.P.Morgan reported that about 20 million overseas Indian workers — NRIs, or non-resident Indians — remit $21 billion annually back to India, a sharp rise from the 1990s. These remittances are equivalent to double the size of foreign institutional investment inflows and about quarter the size of product export earnings for India.
I have previously posted on remittances to Latin America, estimated at $54 billion.
Awareness of workers comp, safety regulation is troublingly low among immigrant workers
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health asked people at community health centers about workers compensation and OSHA. They drew from a sample of 1,428 persons who had worked within the past year. Average age was 34.8; 66% were born outside the United States. Their employment fairly represents the distribution of immigrant work in Massachusetts.
Findings, as reported by Letitia Davis, of the Occupational Health Surveillance Program, who ran the survey, were:
Nearly 39% of CHC patients reported that they had never heard of workers’ compensation. Awareness of workers’ compensation varied by self-reported race, ethnicity, and place of birth…… Hispanic and Black workers had the lowest reported awareness of workers’ compensation – over 48% of both groups reported never having heard of workers’ compensation before the date of their interview. White workers were the least likely to report (21.1%) that they had never heard of workers’ compensation.
Cross-tabulated by place of birth, workers born in countries other than the United States or Puerto Rico included the highest percentage of persons (51.8%) reporting that they had never heard of workers’ compensation, followed by respondents born in Puerto Rico (41.6%) and the mainland United States (15.3%)…..Awareness also varied by occupational category: lack of awareness of the workers’ compensation system was highest among operators, fabricators and laborers (47%). Managerial and professional specialty workers were least likely (17.0%) to report that they had never heard of workers’ compensation.
The overall percentage of respondents reporting no awareness of OSHA was 62.7%. Awareness varied somewhat by race; over 70% of those reporting their race as Hispanic/Latino had never heard of OSHA. White workers, however, were most likely to report awareness of OSHA (37.7%).
Contact info for Dr. Davis: Letitia.Davis@state.ma.us, (617) 624-5626.
Poll: Senate’s immigration bill more popular than House’s
A Wall Street Journal poll taken 6/6 reports that 50% of respondents preferred the Senate bill, while 33% preferred the House bill. Answering the question “does immigration help more than it hurts?”, 44% said yes vs. 37% who said yes on 12/5/05. Negatives were 45% and 53% respectively.
Illegal immigrant workers face serious risks in Katrina cleanup
A new study by researchers at Tulane University and the University of California, Berkeley reveals that undocumented workers are being abused even as they provide critical help to rebuild New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, the most costly natural disaster in American history. This according to the press office of Tulane University. It goes on:
The comprehensive study of more than 200 workers surveyed in March 2006 by researchers at the Payson Center for International Development and Technology Transfer at Tulane University and the International Human Rights Law Clinic and the Human Rights Center at the University of California, Berkeley discovered vulnerability of undocumented workers, including severely reduced access to health care, wage discrepancy and unsafe working conditions.
The study found that almost half of the reconstruction workforce in New Orleans is Latino, and 54 percent of that group is undocumented, meaning 25 percent of all workers are undocumented Latinos. In the aftermath of the storm, the federal government allowed special waivers of immigration laws, which made it easier for employers to hire undocumented workers. Two-thirds of Latino construction workers have moved to the area since Katrina hit in 2005. But 87 percent of the undocumented workers were already living in the United States before they moved to New Orleans. This means that Hurricanes Katrina and Rita did not cause an influx of illegal immigrants across the US border as many have reported.
The study, Rebuilding After Katrina: A Population-Based Study of Labor and Human Rights in New Orleans, finds:
On average, documented workers received significantly higher wages than undocumented workers peforming the same work ($16.50 per hour average for documented vs. $10 per hour for undocumented.).
Construction workers frequently report experiencing problems receiving wages owed, especially undocumented workers.
Further findings:
Continue reading Illegal immigrant workers face serious risks in Katrina cleanup