The Toxic Storm (after Hurricane Katrina)

[Guest guest]

This article is well-written and it highlights the dangerous conditions (and the

political wrongs) that workers were exposed to during the cleanup after

Hurricane Katrina.

VOICES: The Toxic Storm

By RamÃrez, (reprinted from Wiretapmag.org)

September 8, 2009

W. Bush was working hard in the days after Hurricane Katrina.

In August 2005, we watched in horror as the

Bush government left residents of New Orleans to fend for themselves

against 175 mph winds and rising waters. However, over the following

four years many of us were not watching as American construction

companies lured thousands of Mexican, South American, Filipino, Indian

and other foreigna workers to rebuild New Orleans. For four years,

migrant workers have toiled in dangerous conditions for little or no

pay.

Ironically, the former president --

criticized for doing too little as winds and water battered the Gulf

Coast -- took swift action to create conditions that would make it easy

for employers to abuse workers in post-Katrina New Orleans. Bush did

his best to create a lawless working environment, permitting employers

to rob and cheat workers out of wages on a massive scale.

(PDF)

was one of the workers who arrived in New Orleans to rebuild damaged

schools. The company bus would pick him up at 5 a.m. and he would wade

through knee-deep toxic mud for up to 15 hours a day. worked

without protective goggles, masks or gloves. Even after his time in New

Orleans was over, he complained that he continued to have unexplained

stomach pains and nosebleeds.

was only one of those who toiled in

dangerous conditions. As Katrina raged, company recruiters swarmed to

poor nations, promising locals plenty of work and good wages. Recruited

workers arrived to the Gulf Coast by the thousands. In the years after

Katrina, New Orleans' Latino population exploded, rising 45 percent (PDF).

Unfortunately, recruiters' promises were often lies.

In 2006, one of the largest hotel chains in Louisiana, Decatur Hotels, LLC,

recruited 300 Dominican, Peruvian and Bolivian workers to clean and maintain

rooms. The workers were charged thousands of dollars by recruiters but

paid less than minimum wage. Some mortgaged their houses or accumulated

monstrous debt (PDF) in their home countries, only to earn less than they had

originally paid.

In 2007, Latino workers recruited to rebuild

an apartment complex damaged by Hurricane Katrina were forced to work

for months without pay. In a strange country with nowhere to go, most

workers were too scared to complain. When a group of workers did

confront their employer, they were evicted and their bosses called ICE

to have them deported (PDF).

" Wage theft is nothing new in New Orleans, " said NAACP chairman Tracie

Washington in a 2006 interview (PDF).

" There is a plantation mentality in New Orleans: I don't have to pay to

get it done. People think they can get away with it. "

And with President Bush's help, many

employers did get away with it. Instead of responding to the unfolding

humanitarian crisis and bodies in the streets, in the days following

Katrina, Bush took direct steps to create an environment that would

make access to cheap, foreign labor easy.

On August 30, 2005, one day after the official end of the storm, Bush's job

safety department announced it would not enforce (PDF) basic job safety and

health protections for people working in areas

damaged by Katrina. Normally, the Occupational Safety and Health

Administration (OSHA) would fine employers whose workers handled toxic

materials like asbestos without protective equipment. Instead of

investigating, OSHA would provide leaflets and post safety information

on its website. As a result, employers were able to save on masks and

gloves while their workers inhaled mold, suffered untreated injuries or

worked knee-deep in contaminated mud.

A week later, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that it would

no longer require New Orleans' employers to file

documentation proving their workers' legal eligibility. DHS claimed

this change would allow victims of Katrina who had lost their documents

to apply for work, but in fact it allowed employers to recruit cheap,

undocumented workers without fear. Many contractors used workers'

undocumented status or lack of documents as an excuse not to pay them.

Two days later, Bush excused post-Katrina

contractors from having to pay the legal prevailing wage of $9.26 an

hour, dropping worker pay over 50 percent to the federal minimum wage of $5.15.

Soon after, Bush suspended affirmative action and anti-discrimination

requirements for federal

contractors working in areas affected by the storm. As a result, most

local businesses, especially those that were minority-owned, were shut out of

reconstruction efforts.

Bush had set the stage; he had given

contractors license to recruit, exploit and rob reconstruction workers.

In 2007, Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) attorney Rosenbaum

explained how workers consistently reported that they were " underpaid and often

not paid at all for their work cleaning out the toxic flood waters and

tearing the hospitals, schools, and court buildings down to their

skeletal frames for reconstruction. "

Post-Katrina workers found themselves in an

impossible situation. In an unknown city wracked by natural disaster,

workers had little choice but to give in to their bosses' demands. SPLC

discovered that workers who did stand up to employers were routinely threatened

with deportation, blacklisting or the barrel of a gun. Today, four years after

Katrina, 80 percent of day laborers in New Orleans still report that employers

have stolen their wages.

While the mostly Latino workers have been

trapped in low-paying and dangerous conditions, African American

workers have been largely shut out of reconstruction jobs. By law, an

employer looking to contract foreign workers must first prove that no

American wants the job. With an unemployment rate hovering around 10

percent (PDF), and many New Orleans natives returning to the city, it's hard to

believe that no one needs a job.

In fact, many of those active in defending

reconstruction workers believe that bosses simply want the cheap, easy

labor that Bush helped provide. According to the SPLC, in a recent

meeting, a New Orleans hotel manager claimed that no hurricane evacuees

applied for the jobs he offered. His explanation: Black people don't like to

work.

And with that, a manager -- too racist to

hire black workers, stealing wages and fostering unsafe conditions for

migrant workers -- sums up the toxic legacy the storm has had for

workers in New Orleans and the U.S. And while much of the debris has

been cleaned up, four years later, the mess created by the Bush

Administration remains.

For more information, visit the New Orleans Workers' Center for Racial Justice.