FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 16, 2019
Contact: Nadia Marin-Molina, (516) 984-5755

PROTEST: Day Laborer Organizations Protest a “Disaster for Day Laborers” Demand that NYC better train and protect City’s immigrant construction workers

Wednesday, April 17th, 2019 at 12:00 pm
Steps of City Hall
City Hall Park, New York, NY 10007, USA

New York, NY –  After the deaths of three immigrant construction workers during the past week, and the notice that New York City intends to proceed with enforcement of training requirements, NYC day laborer organizations announced a protest against the lack of access to training and the botched implementation of a training law, particularly for immigrant workers.

Local Law 196 requires that all construction workers in New York City obtain 30 hours of training by June 1, 2019. The deadline has already been extended once, but legislative action would be required to extend the deadline further. The day laborer organizations are decrying multiple problems with the implementation, including lack of equal access to the training, as required within the law; workers being fired by employers for not having an OSHA 30 card; and excessive restrictions on the list of approved training organizations.

Day laborer organizations are calling on the city to take immediate action to proactively protect immigrant workers and all of New York City construction workers. They propose a set of 7 solutions, among them: mandating that employers are responsible to provide and pay for required training for their workers, creating an alternative approval path for non-profit training providers, and extending the implementation by at least 12 months.

What:

Protest against the disastrous implementation of Local Law 196

Who:  

  • Day laborer organizations and Allies
  • La Colmena
  • National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON)
  • New Immigrant Community Empowerment (NICE)
  • New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (NYCOSH)
  • Workers Justice Project (WJP)

When:

Wednesday, April 17, 2019, 12 noon

Where:

Steps of City Hall, New York, NY

###