New York Construction Workers Push for New Labor Laws

Construction, especially commercial construction, has always been one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. This is especially true of non-union jobsites where safety laws are more often said to be overlooked as evidenced by a construction worker who recently fell to his death while working on a high-rise in Manhattan.

Says a representative of Goidel and Sigel, a construction injury and union labor lawyer in New York City, if you're a member of a New York construction union, you are entitle to additional benefits and protections that are associated with an accident because of your collective bargaining agreement. You also have the legal right to prevent your health care from being terminated while you're off work due to a job-related injury.

That said, New York construction workers, many of them undocumented immigrants, are said to be getting fed up with the lack of safety on non-union jobsites and are seeking new labor laws to prevent further accidents and deaths.

According to a new report by the immigration-related news service, Documented, this past November 28, an unidentified construction worker dropped 162 feet to his death while he was working at a non-union Upper West Side construction jobsite. Following the death, his fellow construction workers and others held vigil to mourn his passing.

Sad thing is, all across New York City and other cities like it the world over, construction worker death vigils are said to be an all too common occurrence. The November 28th death marked the third in November alone, says Documented. One November 1, Raúl Tenelema Puli, a 27-year old immigrant was involved in a fatal construction accident in Brooklyn. The very next day, another worker was killed on a jobsite in Queens.

Recent data collected by New York State in Albany suggests non-fatal and fatal accidents in New York City construction sites are on the rise. This hold true for other cities in the Empire state including Albany and Buffalo. The majority of those non-fatal and fatal accidents are said to be occurring on non-union jobsites.

Making matters worse, with the flood of illegal immigration that's occurred as a direct result of the present political administration's policies in Washington D.C., immigrant workers are disproportionally being killed on construction sites all across the U.S. This is what you get when you purposely import cheap labor.

It is in direct response to this calamity that some lawmakers in Albany and New York City are calling for the newly elected Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul to execute what's considered a long-awaited bill engineered to reduce construction injuries and deaths. Thus far, the bill remains on her desk, unsigned.

It's estimated by the Economic Policy Institute that almost 80 percent of private construction occurring in New York is accomplished by non-union workers. A decline in non-union commercial construction workers began about ten years ago while the city began its recovery after the 2008 recession which plagued the Obama/Biden administration. The Institute also found that union commercial construction workers earned an average of 40 percent more in take-home pay than their non-union coworkers.

Back in 2018, the New York Committee for occupational Safety and Health (NYCOSH) was said to have released a report that indicated 86 percent of construction fatalities in New York City occurred on non-union jobsites. Why? The sites simply were not inspected as thoroughly than union jobsites.

The November 28th New York City fatal accident was said to be no different. The worker who was killed was employed by a Brooklyn-based construction outfit. Reports indicate that the company has compiled over $10,000 in Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) violations since 2018.

The New York City Department of Buildings put an immediate stop to the work at the jobsite. They are also presently investigating what went wrong when the undocumented immigrant fell 162 feet to his death.

Said the OSHA Deputy Press Secretary, Ryan J. Degan, commercial and non-commercial construction workers in New York City deserve a safe working environment. Incidents like the November 18th fatal fall are not acceptable occurrences. He went on to say that OSHA is partnering with local law enforcement to make a determination on how the fatal accident occurred and if specific corners were cut on the jobsite which might have contributed to it.

When contacted, representatives of Brooklyn-based construction contractor refused comment. A lawsuit is likely being lodged by the surviving family of the construction accident victim. If found at fault, the contractor will be forced into making a significant cash settlement.