08.25.07
The construction industry’s underground
Back in May, the Washington state House and Senate unanimously voted to approve Senate Bill 5926 which created the Joint Legislative Task Force on the Underground Economy in the Construction Industry. It’s estimated, according to the bill, that between 20 and 50 percent of the employment in the construction industry is unreported to the state. That’s only a guess.
Although immigration is not mentioned in the bill, one would assume that among these workers are illegal immigrants mostly from south of the U.S. border. The government’s main concern in this matter, as stated in the bill, is that unreported workers mean no payroll taxes are being paid to federal and state agencies, including workers’ compensation and unemployment compensation taxes. For the workers, who are open to discrimination and exploitation, they cannot collect workers’ compensation if they are injured or unemployment if they are laid off. The purpose of the task force, according to the bill, “is to formulate a state policy to establish cohesion and transparency betweeen state agencies so as to increase the oversight and regulation of the underground economy practices in the construction industry in this state.” Part of this includes the pervasiveness of the unreported employment and projected costs to the state, as well as to the workers who operate underground.
The task force includes Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles (D-Seattle) the chairwoman of the Senate Labor, Commerce, Research and Development Committee and Sen. Jim Clements (R-Selah) the ranking minority member of the committee. Also represented are Rep. Steve Conway (D-Tacoma) the chairman of the of the House Commerce and Labor Committee and Rep. Cary Condotta (R-Wenatchee) the ranking minority member of that committee. Four labor representatives nominated by statewide labor organizations are on the task force along with four business representatives Among the business representatives is Hilary Stern, executive director of CASA Latina, a day labor organization that serves Latino immigrants. Four non-voting members representing the Department of Labor and Industries, Employment Security Department and Department of Revenue serve as liasions to the task force.
The Institute for Public Policy or another entity with expertise will be charged with coming up with the numbers. Draft recommendations are due Nov. 30, with a draft report due Dec. 15, and a final report to the Legislature due Jan. 1, 2008. Locally, Latino workers can be found congregating in Shoreline looking to be picked up for work. While this is typical in eastern Washington, in more rural western Washington cities like Mount Vernon and in Oregon, it appears to be newer in the north Seattle suburbs. The Enterprise plans to examine how this has emerged locally in an upcoming issue.
