Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Hurricane a windfall for day laborers


From the NY Times:

For a population accustomed to scraping by, Hurricane Sandy has been a boon, conjuring up demolition and construction work that has been mostly absent since the housing market’s collapse and providing a spike in remittances to families in Mexico, Central America and South America.

These mostly Hispanic workers, some of whom are in the country illegally, have suddenly become a ubiquitous and indispensable presence in seaside communities in New York and New Jersey, where residents who might once have spurned hiring them are racing to make their homes livable again as soon as possible. Despite the influx of volunteers — sometimes regarded as competitors by the day laborers — there is so much demand for their services that even women who have typically made a living as domestics are gathering on street corners and in front of hardware stores to help with the grueling work.

Standing on a corner of 69th Street in Woodside, Queens, dozens of men waited in the early morning cold for contractors’ trucks to pass by. Each time a car stopped, the men would sprint to the window. After a brief negotiation — $15 an hour was the going rate, though some agreed to work for less — a few would climb inside and speed off.

Because so much of the initial cleanup work was unskilled, day laborers sometimes had to compete against volunteers. But a day laborer at a gathering spot in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, who declined to give his full name and who worked for $10 an hour in the Rockaways and Red Hook, said, “Sometimes they need someone faster than volunteers.”

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

They have some nerve complaining about volunteers. Day laborers are invaders. let them go back to Mexico, El Salvador, let them crawl back under the fence again. they are taking jobs away from American Citizens. They come on the buses wearing filthy clothes. these idiots don't even realize that they are working with asbestos and fiberglass, it gets on their clothing. then they think they can sit next to someone and plass that crap on them. deport them. don't hire them.

Anonymous said...

$10 an hour is pretty good when you don't pay taxes on it.

Loudrich said...

The same thing happened after Katrina the locals refused to work so they had to import 15,000 illegals to clean up.....

They had ads on CL here in NYC advertising for all types of work even the McD and BK were paying $12 an hour to start..must speak Spanish...in New orleans???? and they had Fema trailers on their lot you could share too!!!

Anonymous said...

The full article states that some day laborers are feeling conflicted or weird about making money off of such a disaster. Funny how they don't feel weird about taking potential jobs away from those who are here legally. It's time to crack down on employers of illegal, undocumented immigrants. Make it so risky to hire someone illegal (and/or evade taxes) that they are forced to hire citizens instead.

Anonymous said...

do day laborers =spiking burglary and looting rates in N. & S.Queens ?

Anonymous said...

Go after these folks to pay taxes, not paying taxes, deport them period.
What are they doing in the US if they are illegal?

Anonymous said...

Let's hope that their work is up to code...and they're not casing your joint for a future break in.!

Anonymous said...

It looks to me like those 2X4s (?) aren't installed right.

Shouldn't those beams be turned around so that the 4" side makes up the width of the wall?

Or are they just temporary braces?

Anonymous said...

There is some overlap with day laborers and crime spike, but the crime is mostly those who are walking past the work and are out to pillage.