Day laborers getting screwed on money, safety and probably many other ways as well
and we would be surprised because...?
if bush and his posse have their way - and it may come sooner than we think - we will ALL be day laborers... to some extent, i already am, although admittedly in a quite different category... i live from contract to contract... i have no health care insurance (other than from the veterans administration - and i'm damn grateful for THAT, i can tell you) and, in fact, have no employee benefits whatsoever because i'm not an employee... while i seek and obtain work via email in the comfort of my home rather than standing on a street corner and earn more than the day laborers described in the article (although not as much more as you would think), i am nonetheless paid on a daily rate and am subject to the vagaries of both employers and economic cycles... and, yes, while i could again seek work and return to the corporate sector, i have chosen not to out of a desire to save my soul from a premature death... but, make no mistake, i'm not that far from their situation and, if george has anything to do with it, neither are you... Submit To Propeller
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The first nationwide study on day laborers has found that such workers are a nationwide phenomenon, with 117,600 people gathering at more than 500 hiring sites to look for work on a typical day.
The survey found that three-fourths of day laborers were illegal immigrants and that more than half said employers had cheated them on wages in the previous two months.
The study found that 49 percent of day laborers were employed by homeowners and 43 percent by construction contractors. They were found to be employed most frequently as construction laborers, landscapers, painters, roofers and drywall installers.
The study, based on interviews with 2,660 workers at 264 hiring sites in 20 states and the District of Columbia, found that day laborers earned a median of $10 an hour and $700 month. The study said that only a small number earned more than $15,000 a year.
The professors who conducted the study said the most surprising finding was the pervasiveness of wage violations and dangerous conditions that day laborers faced.
if bush and his posse have their way - and it may come sooner than we think - we will ALL be day laborers... to some extent, i already am, although admittedly in a quite different category... i live from contract to contract... i have no health care insurance (other than from the veterans administration - and i'm damn grateful for THAT, i can tell you) and, in fact, have no employee benefits whatsoever because i'm not an employee... while i seek and obtain work via email in the comfort of my home rather than standing on a street corner and earn more than the day laborers described in the article (although not as much more as you would think), i am nonetheless paid on a daily rate and am subject to the vagaries of both employers and economic cycles... and, yes, while i could again seek work and return to the corporate sector, i have chosen not to out of a desire to save my soul from a premature death... but, make no mistake, i'm not that far from their situation and, if george has anything to do with it, neither are you... Submit To Propeller
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posted by profmarcus at
1/22/2006
