Speech #1090053868

We will prepare this for each Member to just let them know how serious a matter this is in terms of their own immediate districts. We think working families in America should not be treated as if they lived in a Third World country. and a lot of Third World countries mores are being attempted by certain U.S. industries. Particularly the construction industry. the construction industry looks for the most vulnerable people. immigrants. Illegal immigrants are employed in large numbers in the construction industry. And I come from a city where 40 percent of all male blacks are unemployed. according to two studies. two studies that confirm that 40 percent of all male blacks are unemployed. Yet there is a tremendous amount of construction going on. and If we go around the construction sites. we will find that the workers doing the manual labor. unskilled labor. are immigrants: and in many cases there are tremendous accidents. and these people are shuffled off and frightened and intimidated to the point where they never even report it. They do not have any workmans compensation. let alone feel that they have the right to be protected under the OSHA laws. A review of more than 2.500 OSHA construction site inspection records in New York State from the year 2003 found that nearly one third of all OSHA construction violations in the State were of scaffolding or fall protection requirement violations. more than any other standard. The organizations involved in the analysis also said the results of this study as well as a separate review reveal troubling data about the plight of immigrant workers in the construction industry. Their analysis. titled "Lives in the BalanceImmigrants and Workers at Elevated Heights at Greatest Risk in Construction." was prepared by the New York State Trial Lawyers Association and issued by the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health and the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. called ACORN. Two other organizations Make the Road by Walking. and the New York Immigration Coalition. also sponsored the study. E) 1500 The study reviewed all construction site OSHA inspections conducted in the State during 2003. Now. personally. I know and I have related on this floor. the total accidents that have taken place since then in New York City. Five immigrant workers lost their lives in a trench that was being constructed without proper safeguards. I want to repeat that there is a class problem developing in America. There is a class problem.