This Is What Chicago Can Learn From America's Other Police Accountability Taskforces
This Is What Chicago Can Learn From America's Other Police Accountability Taskforces
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel ...
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced the formation of a police accountability task force Tuesday.
In a Monday press release, the mayor said the five-member body — which he will appoint, and which will be advised by former Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick — "will review the system of accountability, oversight and training that is currently in place for Chicago's police officers," according to the Chicago Tribune.
"The shooting of Laquan McDonald requires more than just words," Emanuel said in a statement. "It requires that we act."
The announcement came one week after a Cook County judge compelled the city to release video footage of the Oct. 2014 killing of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, which was captured on a patrol car dash camera but kept under wraps for 13 months.
McDonald's killer, Officer Jason Van Dyke, shot the teenager 16 times in front of multiple witnesses but was charged with first-degree murder only last week. The sluggish circumstances of the release have since drawn accusations of an administrative cover-up. Van Dyke was released from jail Monday after posting ten percent of his $150,000 bail.
Mayor Emanuel also fired Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy on Tuesday, in response to calls from the public and some officials to have him removed. Meanwhile, the video's release has set off a week of protests in Chicago, as questions remain regarding next steps.
Jason Van Dyke is the first Chicago police officer to be charged with first-degree murder for an on-duty incident in 35 years, a fact that has elicited doubt Emanuel's task force will yield substantive results.
"Our first thought is that this [task force] can't be a substitute for what's really needed here, which is a full-scale federal investigation of the Chicago Police Department with subpoena power," Ed Yohnka, Director of Communications and Public Policy at the ACLU of Illinois, told Mic. "Whatever this task force does, what we've witnessed in this and other instances is a fundamental breakdown in the ability of police to protect the public, and the public's faith in CPD."
Others echoed Yohnka's skepticism. "Appointing a committee to look into an issue is a tried-and-true tactic elected officials long have employed to buy time and breathing room when faced with a scandal or crisis," wrotethe Chicago Tribune. "[It] gives Emanuel something else to talk to reporters and the public about other than the ... video."
Indeed, it's unclear how effective police accountability task forces in other cities have been. An Inspectors General was appointed in Los Angeles, New York City and New Orleans have uncovered systemic abuses and identified problems that shoddy or nonexistent data collection had rendered invisible over the past decade. Seattle has a 15-member community police commission, appointed by the mayor, to review oversight and accountability processes.
However, "there is no clear evidence that these oversight bodies alone are effective in obtaining meaningful reforms," according to a Justice in Policing report and toolkit from the Center for Popular Democracy and PolicyLink, both policy advocacy organizations.
Yohnka suggested to Mic that a more tried route to change in Chicago would require a U.S. Department of Justice investigation. "That confidence needs to be restored, that someone in power is actively looking into this," he said. "But it's systemic. This issue pervades multiple superintendents and multiple people in terms of leadership in the department. It requires a systemic approach to accountability, transparency and how law enforcement operates."
One such DOJ examination of the Ferguson, Missouri, Police Department published in March laid bare a hotbed of racist law enforcement practices that yielded reform suggestions amidst a national conversation around racism and policing. This is not a unique phenomenon. According to the Washington Post, the DOJ has launched 67 investigations into police departments across the U.S. over the past decade, 24 of which were closed without reform agreements, and just 26 of which resulted in "binding agreements tracked by monitors."
Results have been mixed. The long-term effect of these agreements are not tracked by the DOJ, making it hard to tell if they actually work.
"We don't tend to evaluate .?.?. after we have left," Vanita Gupta, principal deputy assistant attorney general of the department's civil rights division, told the Post. "There's a limit to how much we can .?.?. remain engaged with a particular jurisdiction given our limited resources."
This leaves little precedent for a positive outcome in Chicago — a city with a staggering recent history of police abuse. Over the past decade, the city has spent $500 million on legal costs and settlements stemming from law enforcement misconduct, including $5 million paid out to Laquan McDonald's family in April.
That same month, Chicago set up a $5.5 million fund to compensate victims of former-CPD Commander John Burge, who tortured and sexually abused more than 100 mostly black arrestees during his tenure with the department. The case of Dante Servin, an off-duty officer who fired into a crowd and killed 22-year-old Rekia Boyd in 2012, was also dismissed in April because state's attorney Anita Alvarez — whose office has a history of questionable conduct — charged him with a crime the judge deemed too severe for what he did.
The McDonald case has also been plagued by scandal, including allegations that police officers tampered with surveillance tape that captured the shooting from a nearby Burger King, resulting in 86 minutes of footage gone missing.
Some have suggested the mere appearance of police accountability can have positive effects, lending legitimacy to law enforcement bodies that had formerly lost the trust of their communities. But in the case of Chicago, it may be too late for that.
"The reality is, we're kind of past the point of cosmetics here," said Ed Yohnka. "There's been this fundamental breakdown in terms of trust. Whether we're talking the Burge incidents or the millions of dollars in payouts to victims, there really needs to be a much broader look at what is going on."
Source: Mic
US Federal Reserve Interest Rate: Philadelphia Activists To Protest New President Patrick Harker, Demand Meetings
Activists who are against a Federal Reserve interest-rate increase planned Tuesday to stage a protest outside the...
Activists who are against a Federal Reserve interest-rate increase planned Tuesday to stage a protest outside the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. The demonstration was expected to target the bank’s new president, Patrick Harker, as part of the “Fed Up” campaign, a national coalition of families and community leaders calling on the Fed to adopt pro-worker policies.
The activists expected anywhere from 15 to 20 people, including workers, small-business owners and clergy, at the demonstration, aimed at pressuring Harker to take a tour of Philadelphia’s low-income neighborhoods, Politico reported. Although Harker this summer informally agreed to meet with the coalition, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia has backed out of that commitment, activists said.
Kendra Brooks, a leader of Philadelphia’s Fed Up coalition, said she has been urging Harker to meet with more than just the heads of nonprofits and corporations, Politico reported. She tried to get a commitment from Harker at the Fed's symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, in August, and posted video of their encounter on YouTube.
Raising the interest rate would have a tremendous impact on African-American workers, economists have said. Low rates have allowed the economy to inch closer to a full recovery and to full employment, which has benefited blacks more than others. However, blacks still have the widest unemployment rate gap to close with whites.
The African-American unemployment rate was 9.2 percent in September, more than double the 4.4 percent rate for whites. Black Americans make up about 13 percent of the country’s 318 million residents and have seen stagnant wages and declines in wealth, as the U.S. economy recovered from the recession of 2007-09, the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.
“The Federal Reserve is the most important decision-maker when it comes to whether we’ll get to full employment in the next two to three years,” said Valerie Wilson, director of the Program on Race, Ethnicity and the Economy at the Economic Policy Center in Washington, D.C. Wilson released a reportin March on the racial impacts of a federal interest-rate hike.
“The timing of the Fed’s decision to raise interest rates will influence how low the unemployment rate gets, how quickly wages grow, and how much African-Americans will share in our country’s prosperity,” Wilson said. “For the sake of American workers, the Fed should not raise interest rates until we are much closer to full recovery and full employment.”
Source: IBTimes
Don't Tinker with Md.'s Charter School Law
The Baltimore Sun - January 12, 2015, by Betty Weller and Verjeana Jacobs - The headlines in other states warning...
The Baltimore Sun - January 12, 2015, by Betty Weller and Verjeana Jacobs - The headlines in other states warning against weak charter school laws are mounting. In May, a report from the Center for Popular Democracy and Integrity in Education found that unscrupulous charter school operators in 15 states had lost, misused or wasted more than $100 million in taxpayer money.
A yearlong investigation by the Detroit Free Press found that Michigan's weak charter school law resulted in the state spending $1 billion annually on schools with little transparency, consistently poor results and questionable financial practices.
And in September, community groups in Philadelphia released a report finding that charter school officials had defrauded students and schools of at least $30 million since 1997.
Most recently, Ohio's Republican governor, John Kasich, spoke about the dire need to strengthen state regulation of charter schools to stem poor performance and financial mismanagement.
Fortunately, Maryland has not experienced these problems, thanks to the state's strong charter school law. Since 2003, Maryland's Charter School Act has promoted high standards, real accountability to students, parents and communities, and sound financial management.
That this track record of success has been questioned recently by The Sun is deeply troubling ("More choices for parents and students," Dec. 21).
It makes little sense to label a law "weak" because it holds charter schools to the same high academic and financial management standards as other public schools.
Maryland's charter school law has protected us from the "worst-case scenarios" of financial mismanagement, persistently failing schools and conflicts between local communities and charter school operators that have plagued states with weaker laws than ours.
Ensuring local school board oversight and highly qualified teachers in the classroom are hallmarks of Maryland's charter school law. We need to protect Maryland's strong charter school law to ensure that charter schools are run well, and that all students, whether they're in a charter or a traditional public school, receive high quality instruction.
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Skinny Girl's CEO Bethenny Frankel charters multiple planes to bring supplies to Hurricane Maria survivors
Skinny Girl's CEO Bethenny Frankel charters multiple planes to bring supplies to Hurricane Maria survivors
Bethenny Frankel is turning the full force of her efforts on the disaster in Puerto Rico post Hurricane Maria. As...
Bethenny Frankel is turning the full force of her efforts on the disaster in Puerto Rico post Hurricane Maria. As reported by People, the Skinny Girl CEO, B Strong charity spearhead, mother, and Bravo reality star combined a Twitter crowdfunding campaign with her own resources to raise the money necessary to charter four planes full of water, canned goods, diapers, baby food, medical supplies, and more.
Read the full article here.
Zara Latest ‘Cool’ Retailer in Hot Water for Alleged Discrimination
Spanish fashion chain Zara is among several “hip” retailers making headlines recently for alleged discrimination...
Spanish fashion chain Zara is among several “hip” retailers making headlines recently for alleged discrimination against employees.
Ian Miller, a former attorney for the mega-retailer, claims he was harassed and discriminated against for being Jewish and gay. In his $40 million lawsuit against the company, which is owned by Inditex SA, Miller alleges that he was excluded from meetings, given smaller raises than other employees and subjected to discriminatory remarks.
In addition, the Center for Popular Democracy released a survey of New York–based Zara employees, titled “Stitched with Prejudice: Zara USA’s Corporate Culture of Favoritism.” The report found that black employees are more dissatisfied with their hours than white employees, are reviewed more harshly by management and are least likely to be promoted.
When it comes to people who shop at Zara, black customers are seven times more likely to be targeted as potential thieves than white customers, the report found.
A spokesperson for Inditex refuted the claims in the Center for Popular Democracy report in a statement to FOXBusiness.com.
“It fails to follow an acceptable methodology for the conduct of a credible objective survey on workplace practices, and instead appears to have taken an approach to achieve a pre-determined result which was to discredit Zara. Zara USA believes that the claims made in the report are completely inconsistent with the company’s true culture and the experiences of the over 1,100 Zara employees in New York City and over 3,500 in all the US,” said the spokesperson.
Perhaps even more high profile is a discrimination case involving Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF), which made its way to the Supreme Court. The preppy retailer known for its presence in American malls was sued by Samantha Elauf, a young Muslim woman who wore a headscarf to a job interview at the company seven years ago.
“Ms. Elauf never informed Abercrombie before its hiring decision that she wore her head scarf, or ‘hijab,’ for religious reasons,” the ruling stated.
The Supreme Court recently overturned that decision.
A spokesperson for Abercrombie & Fitch told FOXBusiness.com in a statement that although the Tenth Circuit decision was overturned by the Supreme Court, it was not determined that the company discriminated against Elauf.
“We will determine our next steps in the litigation, which the Supreme Court remanded for further consideration. A&F remains focused on ensuring the company has an open-minded and tolerant workplace environment for all current and future store associates. We have made significant enhancements to our store associate policies, including the replacement of the 'look policy' with a new dress code that allows associates to be more individualistic; changed our hiring practices to not consider attractiveness; and changed store associates' titles from 'Model' to 'Brand Representative' to align with their new customer focus. This case relates to events occurring in 2008. A&F has a longstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion, and consistent with the law, has granted numerous religious accommodations when requested, including hijabs,” the spokesperson said.
Nasty Gal, a self-described “global online destination for fashion-forward, free-thinking girls,” is being sued for illegally firing Aimee Concepcion and several other employees either before taking or during maternity/paternity leave.
The lawyer for the former employee that filed the suit, who will represent three other female ex-employees in arbitration hearings, said “they were the only pregnant females who provided notice of maternity leave before being terminated, and …their jobs were taken over by other employees.”
"The accusations made in the lawsuits are false, defamatory and taken completely out of context,” a Nasty Gal spokesperson told FOXBusiness.com. “The layoffs in question were part of a larger restructuring of departments we completed over nine months ago. The lawsuits are frivolous and without merit."
When it comes to the likelihood of this case succeeding in court, it is worth looking to similar prior verdicts for perspective.
“Shortly before they filed the Nasty Gal lawsuit, a $7.7 million verdict in favor of a pregnant (at the pertinent time) Price is Right model was affirmed by a California appellate court,” said Jeff Trexler, associate director at Fordham’s Fashion Law Institute.
On the flip side, “If Nasty Gal can show that it actually provided the requisite notices, offered reasonable accommodation to her (Concepcion’s) pregnancy, wasn't motivated to fire her because of her pregnancy, and did not treat pregnant women differently from other employees in similar positions, there's a substantial possibility that the company will prevail,” said Trexler.
Retail stores have also received flack in recent months for selling discriminatory merchandise. Urban Outfitters (URBN) was condemned by organizations including the Human Rights Campaign and the Anti-Defamation League for a gray- and white-striped tapestry imprinted with a pink triangle that was sold at a store in Boulder, Colorado. The groups said the item projected Holocaust imagery, specifically of the uniforms gay men were forced to wear in Nazi concentration camps. Calls for comment to Urban Outfitters were not returned by the time of publication.
Despite the extent of public outcry over the merchandise, Urban Outfitters is technically allowed to sell whatever it wants.
“Designs evocative of Nazi imagery may be offensive, but they're no more illegal than the Confederate flag; ultimately, the decision to stop selling designs with either image comes down to ethical and reputation management concerns,” said Trexler.
In recent weeks, several retailers including Wal-Mart (WMT), Sears (SHLD) and Amazon (AMZN) announced they would stop selling Confederate battle flag merchandise following the mass shooting in June at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina.
No stranger to controversy, Zara was also accused of selling discriminatory merchandise. A 2014 white-and-blue striped shirt, which featured a six-pointed star, came under fire for its resemblance to uniforms worn by Jewish prisoners at Nazi concentration camp. The “sheriff shirt” was pulled from the retailer’s site after it issued an apology.
So, is outcry over discrimination becoming more common in the retail industry, or is it simply that intense media scrutiny is making it seem like it is?
“Allegations of discrimination are nothing new in fashion, as with any business, but what's particularly noteworthy now is their potential to have a substantial negative impact on a brand,” said Trexler. “One could say that the way people characterize discrimination is shifting from incident to identity, and in this fashion reflects a broader cultural trend that has emerged alongside advances in communications technology.”
When asked if changes in the law are making discrimination lawsuits easier to file, Trexler said that enforcement has shifted “in ways that arguably encourage people to take legal action.”
Most notably, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has worked to make pregnancy discrimination an enforcement priority, and a Supreme Court decision also raised awareness on the issue.
“Acts that might have gone unchallenged in years past now might be more likely to spark a lawsuit,” said Trexler.
Source: Fox Business
Capitolwire: Report, Teachers' Unions Want Legislature to Mandate Stricter Audits of “Cash Cow” Charter School Industry
Capitolwire - October 1, by Christen Smith - A report released Wednesday insists meager state oversight has allowed...
Capitolwire - October 1, by Christen Smith - A report released Wednesday insists meager state oversight has allowed charter school officials to defraud taxpayers out of $30 million over the last 17 years.
And “that's just scratching the surface of the problem,” says Ted Kirsch, president of the American Federation of Teachers' Pennsylvania chapter.
“It's only talking about what's being reported and there are other things that haven't gotten to the surface yet and they are still being investigated,” he said during an interview Wednesday. “The (fraud) problem is a lot more widespread.”
The Center for Popular Democracy, Integrity in Education and Action United authored the 15-page report last month in which it calls for a moratorium on new charters while the state Attorney General's office investigates all 174 charter schools for potential fraud. The report also pushes the General Assembly to mandate annual fraud risk assessments capable of detecting and preventing waste and abuse.
“While the state has complex, multi-layered systems of oversight in the charter system, this history of financial fraud makes it clear that these systems are not effectively detecting or preventing fraud,” the report reads. “Indeed, the vast majority of fraud was uncovered by whistle-blowers and media exposes, not by the state's oversight agencies.”
The report's index details allegations of fraud against 11 separate charter schools across the state. At least nine of the charter school officials mentioned in the report have pleaded guilty and received prison sentences.
“It’s time for lawmakers to stop providing charter industry players a blank check with little oversight and no accountability,” said Lily Eskelsen García, president of the National Education Association, the parent organization of the Pennsylvania State Education Association. “...For students in all types of schools—traditional, charter or magnet—the key is having a sound structure for oversight and accountability, while providing educators with autonomy to create great learning environments for their students. Let’s work with families, educators and community members to make sure all students can attend great schools that meet their needs.”
“What's lacking here is a process to hold the charter operators accountable,” Kirsch said. “We need some laws that govern the accounting procedures and how money is handled by charter operators. These people are making a lot of money. It's a cash cow.”
Tim Eller, spokesman for the Department of Education, criticized the report Wednesday for “failing to mention” the state uses the same accounting practices for both public schools and charter schools.
“All public schools, including charter schools, are subject to audits by the state Auditor General,” he said. “The Auditor General is charged with ensuring that public entities are using taxpayer dollars for their intended purpose.”
Auditor General Eugene DePasquale said he couldn't confirm the report's $30 million figure, but said “we have found waste in the system,” particularly related to the issues of lease reimbursement and special education funding.
The auditor general uncovered “$1.2 million in improper lease reimbursements” in an August 2013 audit of Chester Community Charter School — Pennsylvania's largest. He said Wednesday lease reimbursement fraud represents about half of the charter cases his office has uncovered.
The audit found that Chester Community Charter School's founders sold the original building to a non-profit organization for $50.7 million, then created a for-profit management company to run the charter school, all the while collecting illegal reimbursement payments from the state for the buildings.
When asked about the report’s proposals regarding more oversight, DePasquale said: “If we had more resources, certainly we could audit more schools. That's absolutely true. But we need partners at the Department of Education to respond when we do find issues.”
DePasquale also suggested the General Assembly pass charter school reform that would address fraud involving lease reimbursements.
Two separate pieces of legislation — House Bill 6188 and Senate Bill 1085 — included measures to improve transparency and accountability in charter schools, but both bills have been stalled in the opposing chambers since budget negotiations wrapped up in July.
“House Bill 618 which passed the House in September of 2013 was basically loaded with accountability measures related to governing audits and academic performance,” said Steve Miskin, spokesperson for House Majority Leader Mike Turzai, R-Allegheny. “We are hoping the Senate passes it.”
Senate leadership did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday.
“If the widespread allegations mentioned in the report prove to be true, then those guilty should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law,” said Bob Fayfich, executive director of the Pennsylvania Coalition of Public Charter Schools, in a statement released Wednesday. “However, the report draws sweeping conclusions about the entire charter sector based on only 11 cited incidents in the course of almost 20 years, while ignoring numerous alleged and actual fraud and fiscal mismanagement in the districts over that same time period, which dwarf the charter school allegations in terms of alleged misuse of taxpayer dollars.”
Fayfich says the coalition supports mandating more stringent audits in the name of accountability, but doesn't think the public sector should be exempt.
“If the authors’ recommendations are to conduct a fraud audit of every charter school based on the actual and alleged misdeeds of a few, and initiate a moratorium on all charter schools until those audits are complete, then, in the name of intellectual integrity, the same recommendations should apply to traditional public school districts,” he said. “Fraud and fiscal mismanagement are wrong and cannot be tolerated, but to highlight them in one sector and ignore them in another indicates a motivation to target one type of public school for a political agenda.”
Renee Martin, acting communications director for the Attorney General Kathleen Kane, said Wednesday a copy of the report “has been shared with our attorneys.”
Immigrants, Advocates Rally For New York State Citizenship
CBS New York - June 16, 2014 - They are not U.S. citizens, but a plan is in the works to allow undocumented New Yorkers...
CBS New York - June 16, 2014 - They are not U.S. citizens, but a plan is in the works to allow undocumented New Yorkers to become citizens of the state.
Chanting “New York is my home” and with the Statue of Liberty in the background, immigrants and their advocates rallied for New York state citizenship in Battery Park on Monday, WCBS 880′s Peter Haskell reported.
The bill’s sponsor, state Sen. Gustavo Rivera, D-Bronx, said the legislation would grant state citizenship if “someone can demonstrate proof of identity, live here for three consecutive years, pay taxes for three consecutive years.”
Assemblyman Karim Camara, D-Brooklyn, said state citizenship would allow 2.7 million immigrants to legally drive, vote in state and local elections and receive tuition aid.
“We have the opportunity now to step in where the federal government has not and make New York stronger by strengthening the rights of new immigrants,” Camara said.
The bill is not likely to pass, but is being called a conversation starter, Haskell reported.
“We deserve to receive the aid necessary for us to go to college,” said Antonio Alarcon, 19. “We deserve to vote. We deserve to drive.”
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Election 2016: Measure E — Opportunity to Work
Hiring workers might get a little more complicated for San Jose businesses come 2017. Measure E is a South Bay Labor...
Hiring workers might get a little more complicated for San Jose businesses come 2017.
Measure E is a South Bay Labor Council-backed San Jose initiative aimed at giving part-time workers access to more hours.
If passed, businesses with more than 35 employees would have to offer additional hours to existing part-time workers before hiring new employees, including temps. Part-time workers would have the option to decline the hours, and employers would not be required to offer hours that result in overtime.
The City of San Jose would enforce and set guidelines for the regulation, and grant hardship exemptions for some businesses.
If approved, the law would take effect 90 days after the vote is certified.
Measure E is opposed by the San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce, San Jose Downtown Association and California Restaurant Association.
Opponents argue the measure will lead to a decrease in part-time jobs, burden employers with another layer of bureaucracy and hurt businesses and nonprofits (who are not exempt) that rely on seasonal and part-time labor.
Derecka Mehrens of Working Partnerships USA, a labor-aligned think tank, said the measure is necessary to address a “crisis of underemployment” in Silicon Valley. The initiative, she said, will also help people working multiple jobs, with the accompanying lack of benefits, to be able to work only one job.
Passage requires a majority vote. An October phone poll of 300 likely voters commissioned by supporters of Measure E found 62 percent supported the measure, 30 percent opposed and 8 percent undecided. The chamber declined to share its polling.
Supporters of the measure have a huge advantage in terms of money raised. As of Sept. 24, the Yes on E campaign had raised $481,700, more than eight times the $59,200 raised by the opposition San Joseans for Jobs campaign.
Chamber President and CEO Matt Mahood took a shot at the large amount of money the Yes on E campaign has raised from outside groups, which includes $250,000 from the Brooklyn-based Center for Popular Democracy.
Mehrens responded by saying that Working Partnerships is a member of CPD, and that the measure is part of a national campaign. In September, Seattle passed a “secure scheduling” law that included a provision requiring food and retail businesses with more than 500 employers to offer additional hours to part-time workers before hiring new employees.
By Bryce Druzin
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Labor Activists Applaud First Statewide ‘Fair Scheduling’ Law
Starting next summer, companies in Oregon will have to give workers at least seven days’ notice about when they’ll have...
Starting next summer, companies in Oregon will have to give workers at least seven days’ notice about when they’ll have to work, according to legislation signed Tuesday by Governor Kate Brown. A handful of major cities have passed “fair scheduling” laws, but Oregon is the first state to do so and the biggest victory on the issue so far for labor activists.
Read the full article here.
Fatal Construction Accident Shows Higher Risks Faced by Latino Workers
Truthout - March 31. 2015, by Danica Jorden - Monday morning, March 23, 2015, in Raleigh, North Carolina, was a mild...
Truthout - March 31. 2015, by Danica Jorden - Monday morning, March 23, 2015, in Raleigh, North Carolina, was a mild and slightly overcast day. The first signs of spring were beginning to emerge after an uncharacteristically chilly winter for the capital of the Southern state. But the recent cold weather had hardly hampered the construction of several high-rise office and condo projects, unprecedented for the generally low-rise city.
The 12-story Charter Square was one such project, and on March 23, just before 11 am, workers were busy on its south wall, with two mast climbers attached to its all-glass surface. Mast climbers are a scaffolding device employing a thin, central steel column stuck to the side of a structure, along which a horizontal platform that ferries workers up and down, so that they can install the glass panels future occupants will gaze from when the building is finished. On this day, the mast climbers were to be dismantled, with the building scheduled for opening in May.
About halfway up, the mast suddenly peeled off the side of the building, sending José Erasmo Hernández, José Luis López Ramírez and Anderson Antones de Almeida to their deaths, and Elmer Guevara to the hospital in serious condition. The four men were working for a tangled web of contractors and subcontractors, and the Department of Labor's representative on the scene said that contractors themselves inspect mast climbers, which are not specifically regulated by the state.
North Carolina Occupational Safety and Health's Kevin Beauregard indicated that OSHA, the federal agency, also does not have specific guidelines regarding mast climbers. He added that he did not expect to find that the scaffolding had been previously inspected. "There's no possible way our inspectors can go to every site,"Beauregard said. "We have over 200,000 work sites in North Carolina. We have approximately 75 to 100 inspectors employed. So it's physically not possible to go to every single site."
(Photo: Danica Jorden)
2014 was the North Carolina construction industry's most deadly year, according todata from the state Department of Labor. Nineteen people lost their lives working in construction in 2014, or 43 percent of the 44 work-related deaths statewide. Falls accounted for 13 of those deaths. The death rate was nearly double that of 2013.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Latinos are overrepresented in the construction industry, holding 24 percent of all construction jobs. But visits to construction sites in North Carolina reveal that Latinos are far more present at the front lines: scaling walls, down in holes and operating dangerous equipment. A closer look at the statistics shows that Latinos make up only 14 percent of first-line supervisors and 9 percent of managerial positions. Furthermore, BLS statistics show that from 2010 to 2013, fatalities for Latino construction workers rose 20 percent, while during the same period, deaths for non-Latinos fell.
In 2013, the AFL-CIO published a report on Latinos in the construction industry in New York. "A disproportionate number of Latinos and immigrants are disproportionately killed in fall accidents in New York, according to a new study by the Center for Popular Democracy, because they work in construction in relatively high numbers; are concentrated in smaller, nonunion firms; and are over-represented in the contingent labor pool," according to the report.
In New York, skyscrapers have been around for more than a century, and laws were written to regulate the construction industry and protect workers high up in the sky. The longstanding Scaffold Law was enacted in 1885, but is recently under attack. Construction companies have been working hard to amend it, saying it is one-sided in not protecting the industry from workers' own negligence. According to a 2013New York Times article:
They argue that the law is antiquated and prejudicial against contractors and property owners, and essentially absolves employees of responsibility for their own accidents, leading to huge settlements. The payouts, they contend, have in turn led to skyrocketing insurance premiums that are hampering construction and the state's economic growth.
But also in 2013, industry publication Durability + Design conversely reported that the industry had just been successful in reducing its penalties regarding a significant 2009 mast climber accident that resulted in fatalities.
Nearly five years after three EIFS applicators fell to their deaths from a high-rise construction site in Austin, TX, a judge has ordered the scaffolding company in charge to pay $17,150 in fines. Mast Climber Manufacturing Inc. d/b/a American Mast Climbers, of Whitney, TX, contested the 2009 citations (eight serious, one willful) issued for safety hazards after the accident. The penalties originally totaled $86,800. In the Jan. 29 ruling, Administrative Law Judge Ken S. Welch affirmed the willful violation and two serious violations involving lift equipment set up at the site. The parties agreed to settle three serious violations, and the judge vacated the rest.
In right-to-work North Carolina, people in general have more limited recourse in the workplace and the courts, and immigrants may be at a distinct disadvantage when asserting their rights. A 2012 study entitled "Employer provision of personal protective equipment [PPE] to Latino workers in North Carolina residential construction" states its "results suggest that the residential construction subsector generally fails to provide [Latino] workers with PPE at no cost, as is required by regulation."
Working side by side on a narrow platform high above the street on March 23, the men who lost their lives and their injured companion worked for at least three different companies. Brazilian Anderson Almeida and Elmer Guevara from El Salvador worked for Associated Scaffolding and Equipment, while José Hernández of Honduras and José Luís López from Mexico worked for Juba Aluminum/ Janna Walls and Kea Contracting. These subcontractors were employed by the site's general contractor, Choate Construction. The property is owned by Dominion Realty.
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), using multiple subcontractors is a way to hide worker abuse as well as shield companies from culpability.
[W]orkers who try to stand up for their rights often find themselves frustrated by multiple layers of subcontractors and middlemen - an arrangement that seems designed to insulate corporations at the top from accountability for the mistreatment of workers. The same phenomenon was seen repeatedly in New Orleans with contractors working to clean up the city after Hurricane Katrina.
In a federal ruling, the SPLC won a case against Del Monte on behalf of agricultural workers, successfully arguing that "... the labor contractor and the workers were really employees of the Del Monte subsidiary and that the company was indeed responsible for any wage abuses that could be proven. The federal ruling was an important milestone for workers, but the fact remains that most Latino farmworkers in the South have little or no access to legal representation."
Speaking to television news station Notícias 40 in Durham, Olvia López tearfully explained that her husband José Luís, father of their three children, had expressed fear about the conditions at his job, but felt he had no choice but to go to work. The station also indicated that José Hernández leaves behind a wife and two young children who depend upon him in Honduras, where he had intended to return in November, while Anderson Almeida had a partner, child and stepchild. The family of Elmer Guevara has instructed the hospital to withhold information about their loved one at this time.
In a growing memorial, a cardboard sign erected near the Charter Square buildingread, "While we run from a corrupt government, we put our lives on the line in the chase of the American dream. RIP fellow dreamers."
It may have been placed by the NC Dream Team, made up of Dreamers, like the brave Viridiana Martínez, Loida Silva and Rosario López, who held a hunger strike in 2010 not far from the site of the accident. After Viridiana qualified for the Dream Act, or DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), she went on to report from inside an immigration detention facility and helped identify and liberate women who were eligible for US residency. Dreamers are the children of immigrants who were born abroad but grew up in the United States and want to continue their education as Americans.
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