Employmentweb_low

EmpLoymEnT, work, And HEALTH inEquALiTiES - a global perspective
Case study 35. Immigrant day labour in the United States: Occupational safety and health implications. - rosemary K.
sokas and susan buchanan
immigrant workers in the united states account for virtually all growth in jobs over the past two decades. the impact of
globalisation (in mexico and latin america especially, but also in africa, parts of asia, and eastern europe) has resulted in an influx
of undocumented workers who face an extraordinary array of occupational hazards as they work in a growing shadow economy.
one survey confirmed high rates of work among undocumented immigrants (91%), often at low-wage temporary jobs, with an
additional 22 per cent and 36 per cent wage penalty for undocumented latin american men and women respectively. it also
confirmed high rates of self-reported unsafe working conditions, and a low rate of service utilisation, although 70 per cent paid taxes
(mehta, theodore, mora, & Wade, 2002).
day labour is one form of nonstandard working arrangements. other forms include part-time work, temporary help,
self-employment, contracting out, employment in the business services sector, or home-based work (quinlan, mayhew, &
bohle, 2001). day labour may be contracted formally through temp agencies, which may place workers in manufacturing
facilities as well as service and construction work. day labour of this type employs high numbers of women and africanamericans
and creates significant challenges to traditional work protection enforcement. informal or street-corner day
labour is among the most precarious of all employment types. it is chiefly an open-air, urban phenomenon found not only
in the us, but also in Japan, mexico and south america. in the us, the workers are mostly immigrants, overwhelmingly
male, often displaced, and are usually hired by home owners or small contractors to perform unskilled work in construction
or landscaping (valenzuela, 2003). in this setting, formal workplace protections are almost entirely absent.
in response to concerns about rising rates of fatal traumatic injuries among workers with hispanic surnames in the us, s. richardson
reviewed 4,167 fatal injuries that took place between 1994 and 2000, determining that excess mortality was found exclusively among foreignborn
hispanic workers, who had a fatality rate of 6.1/100,000 compared to 4.5/100,000 for us-born hispanic workers and 4.6/100,000 for all
u.s. workers (loh & richardson, 2004). benavides et al. (2006) explored the relationship between temporary employment and increased
rates of fatal and nonfatal traumatic injuries among temporary workers in spain, and suggest that occupation and duration of employment
play a major role. day labor presents the extremes of intrinsic work/task hazards and short job duration, and combines these with the small
enterprise’s (or contractor's) lack of resources and a virtual absence of government protection. these factors presumably contribute to the
excess mortality rate among immigrant hispanic workers in the us, but significant challenges exist both for demonstrating the extent of the
problem as well as for developing interventions. occupational injuries are common amongst street-corner day labourers, but calculating
injury rates is challenging due to the constantly shifting denominator: workers enter and leave the workforce frequently and perform different
jobs every day. three investigations which interviewed street-corner day labourers about workplace safety and occupational injury found
worrisome reports of unsafe work practices, little use of ppe, and little to no safety training (valenzuela, theodore, melendez, & gonzalez,
2007; buchanan, nickels, & morillo, 2005). injury rates were estimated at five to six times the rate for us construction workers. self-reported
hazardous activities included working at heights (roofs, scaffolds, ladders), demolition, heavy lifting, eye hazards, and heat/cold exposure.
one response to the challenges faced by immigrant workers has been the development of worker centres, which now number in
excess of 100 nation-wide (cho, oliva, sweitzer, nevarez, & Zanoni, 2007; Fine, 2006). Worker centres are non-profit, non-governmental
organisations that take a variety of approaches to offer support, ranging from developing indoor locations and day-labour hiring hall
services to problem-solving for wage and hour discrimination, as well as other concerns requiring legal service access. many centres
are worker-led, and have begun to join immigrant rights actions. occupational safety and injury prevention are growing areas of
concern among workers affiliated with these centres, which frame workplace safety as a right and provide the organisational structure
that may be the most effective means to implement interventions aimed at preventing occupational injury among day labourers.
References
benavides, F. g., benach, J., muntaner, c., delclos, g. l., catot, n., & amable, m. (2006). associations between temporary work and
occupational injury: what are the mechanisms Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 63(6), 416-421.
buchanan, s. n., nickels, l., & morillo, J. (2005). occupational health among chicago day laborers: an exploratory study. Archives of
Environmental and Occupational Health, 60(5), 276-280.
cho, c. c., oliva, J., sweitzer, e., nevarez, J., & Zanoni, J. (2007). an interfaith workers' center approach to workplace rights: implications
for workplace safety and health. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 49(3), 275-281.
Fine, J. (2006). Worker centers: Organizing communities at the edge of the dream. ithaca, n.y.: cornell university press.
loh K, & richardson s. (2004) Foreign-born workers: trends in fatal occupational injuries, 1996-2001. Monthly Labor Review, 127, 42-53.
mehta, c., theodore, n., mora, i., & Wade, J. (2002). Chicago's undocumented immigrants: An analysis of wages, working conditions and
contributions. retrieved June 9, 2007, from http://www.uic.edu/cuppa/uicued/npublications/recent/undocimmigrants.htm
quinlan, m., mayhew, c., & bohle, p. (2001). the global expansion of precarious employment, work disorganization, and consequences
for occupational health: a review of recent research. International Journal of Health Services, 31(2), 335-414.
valenzuela, a. (2003). day labor work. Annual Review of Sociology, 29, 307-333.
valenzuela, a., theodore, n., melendez, e., & gonzalez, a. l. (2007). On the corner: Day labor in the United States. retrieved June 12, 2007,
from http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/issr/csup/uploaded_files/natl_daylabor-on_the_corner1.pdf
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