Shen was part of a growing cadre of Chinese workers who find work in construction by answering small newspaper ads or gather on Flushing street corners to wait for employers.
The list of the dead also includes several Mexicans, a Brazilian, an Ecuadoran and a Jamaican. The majority of day laborers whose main income comes from construction jobs are Latinos.
Most of the day laborers are undocumented immigrants and therefore are often forced to work in underground jobs under harsh conditions. Advocates say that sometimes, after a long work day, immigrants are not paid their agreed-upon wages or are abandoned by employers without pay.
NOTE: Confined Space is back after a short 10-year break and can now be found at: Confined Space.
WHAT IS THIS?
Workplace issues, Occupational Safety and Health (OSHA), Workplace Safety, Public Health, Environment and Political Information that everyone should know.
What happens inside the Beltway matters outside the Beltway.
That's why they try to keep it secret.
Wednesday, June 16, 2004
Immigrant Worker Fatalities in NYC
Good article in Newsday here on immigrant workers' deaths in New York after the death of Jian Quo Shen (yes, he did have a name) that I wrote about last week.