For Immediate Release, September 17, 2012
Contact: Nadia Marin-Molina | nadia@ndlon.org | (516) 984-5755 Ligia Guallpa |ligia@workersjustice.org | (646) 479-4769
Construction workers marking death of Winston Gillett with Vigil, Call for Action
Winston Gillett, 62, was crushed to death after a roof collapsed at one of the townhouses. Gillett was working at the Carlton Mews Townhouse project, which was being built by Professional Grade Construction Corp. However, this year many other workers have also died while being crushed under the weight of thousands of pounds of building materials, being buried alive in a trench, or falling to their death from a scaffold with no harness.
In New York City residential construction, these types of incidents are so common that the contractors, building owners and developers, and the city do not pause for breath before ordering workers to climb back on the scaffolds. They all know that low and sometimes no wages, complete disregard for health and safety protections, and treating workers like they are disposable are part of a regular day’s work in residential construction. Meanwhile, residential construction spending increased to $2.9 billion in 2011 and is expected to climb to $4.8 billion in 2012, benefiting immensely from this exploitation.
Join us on Monday, September 24, 2012, 6 p.m. to raise our voices against exploitation in residential construction and to ensure that the deaths of Winston Gillette, Santos Garcia, Adrien Zamora, and many other workers in the construction industry result in real protections for workers in the future.
