Workers face many hazards in New Orleans

A labor shortage is evident all around New Orleans. Burger King is offering a $6,000 signing bonus; Popeye’s is offering $9 an hour. Restaurants have to close early due to lack of staff. Some use paper cups and plastic plates because they can’t find anyone to operate the dishwasher. In hotels, rooms are cleaned every other day instead of daily (horrors!).

These Honduran workers removed asbestos from severely contaminated hospital.

Not aware of their racism and classism, some people say, “Why don’t New Orleanians come back and fill these jobs? Why aren’t they helping with the clean-up and rebuilding?” Why not indeed? Let’s look at some of the reasons.

Major sections of working class and poor communities were badly damaged by Hurricane Katrina and parts are utterly destroyed. Power has not yet been restored to the ninth Ward. Driving through the ward at night shows how few people are there. One or two houses per block have a light on, probably battery-operated.

Schools are still closed, so why would families with children return? The floodwaters damaged the ground floors of buildings, which in many cases held corner grocery stores, restaurants and pharmacies. You can drive for miles without finding access to basic supplies.

Public transportation has barely started up again. Even thrift stores had their furniture inventories destroyed, so how are families supposed to inexpensively refurnish their homes? Block after block, the curbs are piled high with dry wall and other materials from houses that have been gutted, a visual reminder of how widespread the damage was.

Speak to people who have gone back to their homes to find what is salvageable. One woman grimly holds up two Christ mas ornaments, the sum total of her undamaged possessions.

Some folks whose apartments were above the first floor and did not sustain major losses are able to work now. If they work for a company that has a contract with FEMA, they can eat breakfast and dinner free of charge at the FEMA support tent, can pick up bag lunches and bottled water (finally the pallets of water appear!) and drop off laundry, all free of charge.

Some workers whose homes and cars were destroyed are being put up in hotels by their employers. On the other hand, some workers report being housed in apartments where the plumbing doesn’t work and the rats are as big as cats. Others are staying in motels where major structural damage has not yet been repaired. In many cases, the families of these workers are still in Atlanta, Baton Rouge or Houston.

Cleanup is the major activity underway in downtown New Orleans and in the hard-hit areas. The basements of hotels, office buildings and hospitals flooded to levels that damaged pipe insulation and boiler insulation containing asbestos. This means that the wreckage—rotten food, drop ceilings, drywall and all the contents of the basements—is conta m inated with asbestos, not to mention the lead in old paint.

Who is doing this cleanup? African-American and non-English-speaking workers: Brazilians, Hondurans and others. Many are not even familiar with the words for asbestos and lead in their primary language, which shows that the contractors didn’t train them on the health effects of these substances, as is required under “right to know” laws.

Electrical power may still be energized, even though the floors are wet.

These workers are not in unions and are vulnerable to unsafe and unhealthy conditions. In the hurry to make a buck, the contractors are bypassing recognized safe practices for minimizing worker exposure to hazardous substances and reducing the spread of contamination.

In residential areas, many roof repair jobs are underway. The workers are not tied off for safety; other precautions to prevent falls are not being taken. Ironically, one site where roofers were seen without fall protection was the roof of a union hall.

Other workers in “cherry pickers” can be seen perilously close to live power lines. Their training in terms of safety has been scant and they often have not been given the protective gear they need. Many of these workers are Latin@.

Meanwhile, at the landfills and the debris collection areas, the workers are exposed to high levels of dust. Tens of millions of pounds of putrefying chickens and shrimp add intense and nauseating odors.

Faced with the super-exploitation of workers under these conditions, an opportunity is presented for unions, community groups and worker safety and health alliances to network and increase awareness, disseminate educational material and make site visits. The combined power of union membership and community pressure can stop the killing, maiming and sickening of our multi-national workforce.