Construction!

THE CAMPAIGN

Build a Better Texas is a joint effort by honest construction businesses, taxpayers, construction workers and their families, faith leaders, and safety advocates to ensure a strong and sustainable construction industry.

FACTS

Texas construction workers face some of the worst working conditions in the country. Between 2003 and 2008, job growth in the Texas construction industry was 9.4%, making it the third fastest growing industry in the state.

Though the Texas construction industry is one of the country’s most profitable, Texas construction workers continue to earn two to three dollars less per hour than their counterparts in other states who perform the same skilled labor.

Additionally, construction workers in Texas are the least protected in the country.

• More construction workers die in Texas than in any other state in the country. In 2007, 142 construction workers died on the job in Texas. California, the state with the second-highest number of deaths, had only about half as many deaths – 81.
• Every 2.5 days a construction worker dies on the job in Texas, making construction the most deadly industry in Texas.
• Texas is the only state in the country that doesn’t require employers to carry workers’ compensation insurance.
• Subsequently, Texas ranks 50^th in the nation for adult workers covered by workers compensation with 23.5% of workers without coverage, compared to the national average of 8.9%. In Austin, only 45% of construction workers have workers compensation.
• Workers in Texas do not have a right to rest breaks, resulting in many heat related injuries and deaths. Forty-one percent of Austin construction workers go without a rest break, even when it gets up to 112 degrees in Texas summers.
• Texas has one of the worst ratios of OSHA investigators to the number of workers in the country. In 2008 the state operated with only 77 inspectors to cover over 10,231,906 workers, falling far short of the United Nations’ International Labor Organization’s recommendation of 1,023 OSHA inspectors needed to adequately investigate worksites in Texas.
• 38% of construction workers surveyed in 2008 were misclassified as independent contractors. Employers frequently misclassify workers as independent contractors instead of employees, thus stripping them of their rights to overtime pay, workers’ compensation coverage, and benefits, and shifting the burden of payroll taxes to the worker. Furthermore, the Texas Workforce Commission’s 2008 audit of selected companies revealed that the construction industry had more misclassified workers and lost tax dollars than any other industry in Texas.
• At least $8,618,869 federal and state unemployment taxes will be lost this year due to misclassification of Austin’s construction workers in vertical construction, just one sector of the city’s industry, according to WDP estimates. Additionally, Texas is currently facing a deficit of nearly $750,000,000 in unemployment compensation insurance.
• Learn more about the problem.

POLICY PROPOSAL

• Require construction employers to provide workers compensation coverage: When workers without workers comp get injured on the job, hospitals and taxpayers are forced to pick up the costs. In an industry as dangerous as construction, construction employers should provide workers compensation for their employees!
• Require rest breaks for construction workers: Require that construction employers give their workers a 15 minute break for every four hours of work and a 30 minute lunch break for every six hours worked. Provide workers with a private right of action for violations.
• Mandate 10-hour OSHA safety trainings on state-funded sites: Require that all employers on state contracts to provide their employees with the 10 hour OSHA safety training within six weeks of their hire date and that they maintain proof of those trainings on the worksite. Provide workers with a private right of action for violations.
• Create mechanisms to combat misclassification: Give the Texas Workforce Commission the authority to investigate and fine employers who misclassify their employees as independent contractors and to work in tandem with the IRS on misclassification enforcement. The Texas Workforce Commission’s 2008 audit of selected companies revealed that the construction industry had more misclassified workers and lost tax dollars than any other industry in Texas. Also, provide employees with a private right of action if they are improperly classified as independent contractors.
• Improve Enforcement of Texas Pay Day law: Currently the Texas Workforce Commission has fewer than 20 investigators for the entire state of Texas and all are based in Austin. Investigators rarely apply legally allowed fines for violating the law; in the hundreds of claims that Workers Defense Project has brought before the commission, not a single fine has been levied, even against repeat offenders. By fining violators, the State can deter them from future law breaking.
• Learn more about the solution.

To support this policy, you can: (1) Come to our meetings, (2) Register to join us for the “Day of the Fallen” on March 2, 2011, when we will march on the Capitol to call for improved protections, and (3) Sign the petition!

To learn more: visit www.buildtexas.org or contact us fairlaboruh@gmail.com.