July 24, 2017

US immigration: Workers wanted

Construction sector fights to retain foreign-born employees with citizenship schemes and other incentives ©Bloomberg Thomas Williams is a man on an unlikely mission. A white retired US naval officer living in Texas, he spends much of his time these days chasing after young Mexican-born workers and peppering them with questions

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Issue 323 : Dec 2024

July 24, 2017

US immigration: Workers wanted

Construction sector fights to retain foreign-born employees with citizenship schemes and other incentives ©Bloomberg Thomas Williams is a man on an unlikely mission. A white retired US naval officer living in Texas, he spends much of his time these days chasing after young Mexican-born workers and peppering them with questions about American history and government. As odd as this might seem, it comes with his current job. Mr Williams, 58, works for KPost, a Dallas roofing company that has topped off such local landmarks as the Perot Museum and AT&T Stadium, home of the Cowboys, the American football club. Like construction groups across the US, KPost relies heavily on immigrants, mostly from nearby Mexico, to do lower-wage physical jobs, and is struggling to find enough workers to keep up with demand. More On this topic IN The Big Read Mr Williams is part of the KPost solution. To help reduce labour turnover, he is working to make US citizens out of his immigrant colleagues. The company lends employees who are US residents the money to apply for citizenship, about $900, and forgives the debt if they remain at KPost another year. Mr Williams, an imposing barrel-chested man, fills out the forms and drills applicants on the civics questions asked on naturalisation tests — paying particular attention to confusing north-of-the-border names. “Every time I see them, I say, ‘Hey, who’s the chief justice of the Supreme Court?” he says. “They’ll remember [Barack] Obama and they might remember the vice-president. But when you had John Roberts as chief justice of the Supreme Court and you had another John as Speaker of the House, Boehner, that messed them up.” Mr Williams’ persistence is paying off. So far, 22 KPost workers have become US citizens under his tutelage in four years. “Step by step, he was right there,” says Enrique Rodriguez, 29, the first worker to emerge from the Thomas Williams school of citizenship. “He would quiz me at work, on the phone — any chance he had. He would randomly call me and just say, ‘Hey, let me ask you three quick questions.’” Labour shortages The KPost conversations are a far cry from the rhetoric on the presidential campaign trail this year as Republican candidates, led by Donald Trump, try to outdo each other in tapping anti-immigrant sentiment. But the requirements of the construction trade are different. US builders do not suffer from too many Mexican workers, but too few; they stand to gain from immigration reform, not lose. The joke in Texas is that if Mr Trump really wants to put up a wall between the US and Mexico, he will have to open the border first to find enough workers to finish the job. Across the US, the construction sector — which contributes 4 per cent to US gross domestic product — is suffering from chronic shortages of workers that are pushing up wages and slowing down activity. Of the 1,358 companies surveyed last year by the Associated General Contractors of America, 86 per cent had trouble filling positions, up three percentage points from 2014. More than seven out of 10 contractors reported difficulty finding carpenters, 60 per cent for electricians and 56 per cent for roofers. In 2014, a builder called Camden Property Trust installed security guards at sites in Denver, Colorado, and Austin, Texas, to prevent competitors from poaching workers. “I could be twice the size in terms of revenue if we had the flow of labour that we could be training,” says Chad Collins, owner of Bone Dry Roofing in Athens, Georgia. “We are handcuffed by the lack of a willing and skilled work force.” The impact is particularly dramatic in Dallas. Even as US recession fears grow, the city and its suburbs are thriving as companies such as Toyota, Facebook and JPMorgan Chase build facilities. “There is a workforce issue,” says Keith Post, KPost chief executive. “People are stealing and overpaying [workers].” Steve Little, the company’s president, says labour costs have risen 15 per cent in the past two years. Homebuilder Bruno Pasquinelli, president and founder of CB JENI Homes in Dallas, says delays are mounting. “It’s very difficult to predict when a house is going to get finished,” he says. “Houses that we used to build in 22 weeks are now taking upwards of 30 and bad ones could be 40.” The labour shortages are counterintuitive. US construction employment fell from 7.7m to 5.4m during the downturn, and it was assumed there would be plenty of workers once business recovered. But some industry veterans retired. Others headed to the oilfields as the shale boom gathered pace. And many went home to Mexico — creating a problem, given the sector’s dependence on immigrants. In the US, foreign-born workers account for 49 per cent of drywall installers and 44 per cent of roofers, according to the National Association of Home Builders. At KPost, 90 per cent of the 270 field workers are Latino, Mr Little says. An informal survey conducted by the FT on top of the Cowboys headquarters being built in Frisco, Texas, revealed that the overwhelming majority of KPost workers installing the roof were Mexican — the rest Guatemalan. The difficulty for employers is that what comes north can also go south. Using census data, John Burns Real Estate Consultants estimates the number of Mexican-born construction workers in the US fell from 1.89m in 2007 to 1.32m by 2014. A study by the Pew Research Center found the number of Mexicans living in the US illegally fell by about 1m between 2007 and 2014. The declines came amid a US border crackdown that resulted in nearly 2.9m people being deported between 2008 and 2015. At the same time, attempts at reaching a compromise on immigration reform — supported by the construction industry and hundreds of other US executives — fizzled out in Washington. “It’s pretty clear to me that the illegal immigrant is having a tough time coming back or is not even trying,” says

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Rubbish Clearance Employees Should Be Paid a Living Wage Says UK’s Clearabee

The Living Wage Foundation is an independent campaign organisation that strives to persuade employers to pay their employees an independently calculated minimum wage known as the Living Wage, so as to enable the employees to meet their basic needs in the United Kingdom. The organisation began their operations in the year 2011, and publishes a specific figure as the annual Living-Wage to be paid by the employers. The employers who pay this wage are accredited by the organisation. The foundation campaigns for the idea that after a hard days’ work, employees deserve a fair pay for the day. The Living Wage Foundation recognises responsible employers who pay the Living Wage on the basis of the cost of living rather than the set government minimum. The Living Wage Foundation sprout out of the Living Wage Campaign that started in London in the year 2001, launched by members of the London Citizens. The London Citizens was a community organisation and over time grew to be a nationwide organisation known as Citizens UK. The campaign agitated for workers in the country to be paid enough wages so as to be able to provide for the essentials of their families. Following various successes, the Citizens UK started the Living Wage Foundation in the year 2011, so as to accredit and provide intelligence to companies. According to the foundation, paying employees a Living Wage is not only ethical but also improves productivity and demonstrates best business practice. The Living Wage is an hourly pay rate, set every year independently and is updated in November. It depends on the living cost and shows the minimum rate of pay that enables employees to provide the essentials of life to their families. This wage is based on a basket of goods consumed by ordinary people to enjoy a normal, healthy family life. The Living Wage Foundation offers three key services: Accredit They accredit employers paying the Living Wage to their employees. The employers who commit to implement the Living Wage over an agreed period of time are also awarded the Living Wage Employer Mark. Intelligence Based on the available verified evidence about the living standards in the United Kingdom and London, the Living Wage Foundation announces the Living Wage rates in November every year. They also offer advice to employers’ keen on implementing the Living Wage rates. Influence The Living Wage Foundation offers a forum for employers to join the independent movement of organisations, people and businesses campaigning for a wage that is enough to cater for a normal living. The organisation also coordinates the Living Wage Weak in November every year, which is a nationwide celebration for the Living Wage movement. Clearabee is the largest in-house man and van style rubbish clearance firm in the United Kingdom. It is an on-demand rubbish clearance company, that was started in the year 2012 and employs over 160 staff with a fleet of over 60 vehicles. Clearabee started providing rubbish clearance services in the year 2013 in Northampton but expanded country wide over time. Clearabee became the first nationwide company offering rubbish clearance services to be accredited as a Living Wage employer. This commitment means that all employees working at Clearabee whether on permanent basis or contractor and suppliers; receive the minimum hourly wage rate, the Living Wage. The Living Wage is significantly higher than the national minimum wage set by the government. This means that Clearabee employees earn more than their counterparts in rubbish clearance firms that are not accredited by the Living Wage Foundation. The Managing Director and Founder of Clearabee is quoted saying that with the payment of the Living Wage to their employees, Clearabee is able to attract and retain the best junk operators there is in the rubbish clearance business. Moreover, Clearabee is able to provide its customers; both commercial and domestic, with highly professional service. Employees at Clearabee have shown a better psychological well-being than their counterparts in the rubbish clearance companies that are not Living Wage accredited. This has been demonstrated by improvement in their attitude, stability and general characteristics. The reputation benefit to Clearabee has also grown significantly. This way, they are able to attract new business and customers. Clients have over time insinuated that Living Wage has reinforced Clearabee’s reputation and brand. Other rubbish clearance firms have to with time get accredited to maintain their brands. This illustrates a huge support to the Living Wage in the United Kingdom. Check out Clearabee on Twitter!

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BOSH Launched a New Unique Course Which Has Been Designed Specifically For the Construction Sector

BOHS, the Chartered Society for Worker Health Protection has responded to the demand from the construction industry and launched a new and unique course which has been designed specifically for the construction sector. This new course will offer training for workers in the Construction industry in controlling health risks. The Certificate in Controlling Health Risks in Construction Is a course that can take 1 day and will cover exclusively controls that can be implemented to manage health risks in the construction sector. In order to create this tailored course, BOHS teamed up with experts from the construction industry in order to carry out thorough research that will make the training course useful as well as testing the training out on personnel from the construction industry. The need to improve health conditions in the construction industry is growing, with businesses and personnel understanding the need to reduce the number of incidents of ill health of workers in the industry. Health training is becoming a priority in order to protect the workforce but to also cut down on the incidents of sick leave. In order to reflect this demand it is thought that workers from the construction industry are 100 times more likely to die as a result of ill-health that has been caused by their work as opposed to an accident. As part of this, there is said to be around 5,500 new cases of occupational cancer found each year, with another 76,000 cases of general ill-health connected to work in the industry. These are quite shocking statistics and it is thought that initiative such as the Breath Freely campaign, organised BOHS and the work that has been carried out by organisations such as the Health in Construction Leadership Group are increasing understanding and awareness of the risks. The training course looks at those who have a functional responsibility for managing the health risks on a construction site and will also directly address the ideas of wellbeing and occupational health amongst the other safety requirements for Health and Safety Managers in the construction industry.

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