At the end of January, 30,00 trade workers crowded the streets and lobby at City Hall in New York demanding legislation (Intro 1447) to provide all apprentice workers with health and safety training. So reports Liberation News.
Apprentices are non-union workers that contractors/developers often pay lower wages, provide fewer benefits and less safety training. The new legislation will require all workers to undergo an approved apprenticeship that includes appropriate training regardless of whether or not they belong to a union.
Workers of diverse ethnic groups banded arms in a moment of silence to honor the construction workers killed on the job: 31 over the past two years with 90% of deaths occurring at non-union job sites.