Four workers share their stories from the frontlines of the fight against “low road” construction jobs at State subsidized affordable housing projects. Please take several minutes to watch this video and listen to four construction workers tell their stories.
Because of loopholes in our state prevailing wage law, these workers’ employer was not required to pay them family-sustaining prevailing wages, despite the fact that they built housing that was financed in part with millions of dollars in State tax credits.
David in particular is the living, breathing embodiment of statistics about lower-wage workers that the Carpenters Union has been sharing with policymakers and the public for years. David and his family of seven are “very low income” by Housing & Community Development department standards, are severely housing cost burdened in their rented 3-bedroom apartment, and are dependent on federal and state social safety net programs.
David was injured on one of the tax credit-assisted apartment projects. The injury limited David’s ability to earn money, and the response of his company to the injury was, labor compliance investigators believe, unlawful.
Uninsured and without the benefit of receiving the benefits of workers compensation insurance, David was billed $24,000 for treatment of his injury. David and his family ultimately became enrolled in Medi-Cal, which is taxpayer subsidized. To feed his family, David has gone to the local food bank, which helped him to obtain an EBT card for subsidized food.
The UC Berkeley Labor Center estimated that in 2019 federal and state safety net programs spent $3.35 billion (2019 $s) on California construction workers and their family members. One-in-four California Construction workers are uninsured and 30% of California construction worker families have at least one member enrolled in Medi-Cal (Medicaid) or another government-paid insurance program.
Based on the testimony of David and other workers, labor compliance investigators also believe that these workers are victims of crimes involving wage and hour laws, specifically regarding overtime and breaks.
Again, watch the workers and listen to their words describing exploitation on State-assisted housing construction projects. These workers’ accounts touch on aspects of the labor law “crime scene” that is rampant in California housing production.