TO LEARN MORE OR TO READ THE REPORT CLICK HERE.
TO VIEW VIDEO TESTIMONY CLICK HERE.
ASBESTOS FACT SHEET CLICK HERE.

NEWS COVERAGE LINKS:
Asbestos Report Finds Poor Conditions for Workers
Asbestos Exposure (CNS Maryland)
Grave Problematica en Sector De La Construccion
Baltimore-Washington Asbestos Contractors Flout Safety Standards, Union Report Says
NIST Contractor Accused of Putting Worker Health at Risk
Hispanic Workers in Asbestos Industry Face Language Hurdles, Disease Dangers
Asbestos Abatement Toxic in Mid-Atlantic Region

WASHINGTON D.C. – The Laborers’ Mid-Atlantic Regional Organizing Coalition (MAROC), their partners, and elected officials from Virginia, Maryland and DC presented a shocking report today, November 16, 2011 at the National Press Club, exposing the unsafe and illegal practices of the area’s asbestos abatement industry, some at federal project sites.

The report, “Toxic Exposure: An Undercover Report on Lawless Practices and Worker Abuse in the Asbestos Abatement Industry,” was the culmination of a yearlong undercover investigation into the practices of the asbestos abatement industry in the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan area. It was conducted by college student Ernest Ojito. Ojito spent a year as an employee for various asbestos abatement companies, and found an industry that routinely violates federal safety and health standards, putting workers and local federal workplaces at serious risk of illness and death.

Among the findings are repeated examples of abatement work conducted without the proper licensing of employees, illegal disposal of materials, inadequate worker protection against exposure, and other grossly negligent safety violations.

“In May of this year, I was sent to the U.S. Capitol Power Plant to do lead abatement, for which I was not licensed, and while there, the supervisor instructed me to dispose of lead paint down the water drain,” said Ernest Ojito, who was exposed while on the job. He continued, “The local Latino community is tired of the asbestos and lead abatement industry ignoring local worker safety in order to line its pockets.”

Laborers’ MAROC representative Steve Lanning emphasized how broadly the violations occurred, and urged strong action to protect workers from potentially life-threatening exposure.   “The reprehensible conduct by these contractors calls out for swift and immediate action to rein in an industry that operates outside the law,” said Lanning.

Joining Laborers’ MAROC Director Steve Lanning and Mr. Ojito to discuss these findings were representatives from all three local jurisdictions, including:

From Virginia:             Senators Adam Ebbin (D), and Barbara Favola (D)
From Maryland:          Senators Jamie Raskin (D), Victor Ramirez (D), and Delegate Tom Hucker (D)
From DC:                     Council Members Tommy Wells (D), and Phil Mendelson (D)

The regional representatives at the event vowed to further investigate these abuses and sponsor legislation to tighten enforcement if necessary.

Also present were Laborers’ MAROC partners: the Sierra Club DC and VA chapters, Tenants and Workers United (TWU), and National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON) and additional asbestos abatement workers.

Article by Jeremy P. Jacobs, E&E reporter
Courtesy of Greenwire

Workers are frequently exposed to high levels of asbestos and lead — two highly toxic substances — at construction sites because contractors disregard safety regulations, according to an undercover union investigation released today.

The Laborers’ Mid-Atlantic Regional Organizing Coalition (MAROC) report, Toxic Exposure, features firsthand accounts of several workers from Washington, D.C., Virginia and Maryland.

Their testimony reveals many instances of contractors ignoring federal and local safety regulations for lead and asbestos abatement, often at construction sites in federal buildings. And workers, who often do not speak English, are frequently unaware they are handling hazardous substances.

“The asbestos and lead abatement industry is a hidden and ugly secret that needs to be brought out into the open,” said Steve Lanning, a Laborers’ MAROC representative.

The report, “Toxic Exposure: An Undercover Report on Lawless Practices and Worker Abuse in the Asbestos Abatement Industry,” is the result of a yearlong investigation. It levels especially serious charges against general contractors.

“Contractors acted with impunity, which exposed employees and the general public to levels of lead and asbestos,” Lanning said.

The report also takes aim at lead and asbestos certification centers. Workers and contractors are required under Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations to pass a test on best practices for handling the toxic substances.

Lanning charged that the testing centers were “fraudulent,” and to make up for them workers were given the answers to the OSHA test. That, he said, provided “glaringly inadequate training.”

The report focuses on the work of Ernest Ojito, a college student who was exposed to lead and asbestos abatement while working several jobs in the mid-Atlantic region.

Ojito recalled that while working on a project at the U.S. Capitol Power Plant, he removed lead-based paint. He was then instructed to pour contaminated water from the job down the drain — an illegal maneuver that risks contaminating the city’s water supply.

On another demolition job in the area, he said he drove home and noticed white flecks stuck into his arm. They turned out to be asbestos, which he did not know was present at the site.

“This industry has been an eye-opener for me,” Ojito said. “Workers are in danger daily. A lot don’t even know the danger they are in.”

The report cites Potomac Abatement; Abateco of Prince George’s, Md.; Southern Environmental Services (SES); L&M Construction; Asbestos Specialists Inc.; Bristol Environmental; Team ACP; and WMS Solutions for cutting corners on safety rules.

Efforts to reach several of those companies were unsuccessful in time for publication. Others said they were unfamiliar with the report.

But Brian Turmail, executive director of the Associated General Contractors of America, which includes Bristol Environmental among its members, said contractors have taken strides to improve safety issues.

“The commercial construction industry has worked aggressively to improve workplace safety and has successfully cut the number of construction fatalities in half during the past five years even as total construction activity has declined by only about 20 percent,” Turmail said. “Our members have built strong, successful, collaborative partnerships with OSHA, state agencies, and where they are involved, construction trades to deliver this remarkable improvement in safety.”

He added that “despite these accomplishments, our members welcome every opportunity to improve their safety operations and provide construction workers with the training and equipment they need to follow safety standards” and vowed to review the report closely.

The report has caught the eye of local officials. Several members of the Washington, D.C., City Council and the Maryland and Virginia state legislatures attended the media event unveiling the report today.

D.C. City Councilman Phil Mendelson (D) said the report reminded him of Upton Sinclair’s famous novelThe Jungle, which documented unfair labor practices in the Chicago meat packing industry in the early part of the 20th century.

“It doesn’t look like things have changed too much in 100 years,” Mendelson said. “This investigation points to the need for more investigation.”

The report makes several recommendations. Lanning emphasized that it was not an indictment of U.S. EPA and OSHA regulators but that more oversight and enforcement is needed for contractor practices.

“It is an indictment of the lack of federal dollars” funneled to those agencies, Lanning said.

Lanning said Maryland and Virginia only have three inspectors each to investigate lead and asbestos abatement. When the union asked those inspectors what they need to do their jobs better, they responded “cell phones,” Lanning said, highlighting how underfunded they are.

“What is outrageous is we are talking about a major regulated industry,” Lanning said. “Yet, none of these contractors seem to be concerned.”

Lanning also said that the penalties for violations need to be stiffer. The report suggests setting maximum fines at $25,000 and establishing minimum fine of $2,000 per violation.

The report also calls for making the asbestos and lead licensing exams independently administered.

###

This report, TOXIC EXPOSURE, is the culmination of a yearlong undercover investigation into the practices of the asbestos abatement industry in the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area. Ernest Ojito, a college student, worked undercover for a year as an employee of half a dozen contractors that provide asbestos abatement services. What he found was an industry that routinely violates the law and poisons its employees, and a regulatory regime that utterly fails to protect these workers at the most basic level.

During Ojitoʼs year as an asbestos worker, his employersʼ unsafe and illegal practices repeatedly put his life at risk. These practices include the following:

Workers Are Regularly Exposed to Airborne Asbestos. On multiple jobs, the illegal
practices of employers placed Ojito in workplaces where clouds of airborne asbestos floated
throughout the jobsite.

Gross Safety Violations Are a Regular Occurrence. In the asbestos abatement industry,
contractors are indifferent to workersʼ wellbeing. On one jobsite, contractors forced workers to
cut into walls with live wiring inside, while refusing even to take the simple, sensible step of
turning off the electricity first, all to save a few dollars.

Contractors Ignore Licensing and Training Requirements. Asbestos contractors such
sent Ojito to asbestos and lead abatement jobs before he was licensed (which is illegal), and
instructed him to work with asbestos and lead without any prior training (which is illegal), and
without the legally required safety measures.

Illegal Lead Pollution. Contractors such as Asbestos Specialists, Inc., instructed Ojito to
dispose of lead paint by pouring it down the drain (which is illegal).

Graduation Factories Churn Out Unprepared Workers. Private training centers do not
actually train asbestos workers. Rather, training centers, such as Global Environmental
Solutions, Inc. (Fairfax, VA) and Princeton Industrial Training Institute (Bethesda and
Baltimore, MD), simply give the workers the answers to the exam (which also is illegal) so they
will pass the test.

Employers Fleece Workers Through Petty Graft. To add insult to injury, the companies
subject workers to petty graft, such as requiring workers to pay a fee to managers in order to
receive a paycheck or by routinely shorting them by an hour or two week after week.

Ojitoʼs experience is not unusual. During his year undercover, Ojito enlisted nearly a dozen of his co-workers to come forward about the horrific conditions in the industry. Like Ojito, these workers routinely work in environments where deadly, airborne asbestos has poisoned the breathable air due to the employersʼ indifference to public health, employee welfare, and the law.

This report is a compilation of testimonials by workers in the asbestos abatement industry. These testimonials demonstrate that a significant portion of the asbestos abatement industry operates completely outside the law. The stories presented here show that workers are routinely dispatched to jobsites without licenses and without training. On the job site, many companies operate with open disregard for the safety standards that are designed to protect workers from inhaling asbestos and protect the public from exposure to asbestos fibers.

Although asbestos workers already are poorly compensated, the testimonials tell how companies routinely cheat workers by shorting their hours, failing to pay legally required wages, failing to pay overtime, charging fees in order to receive paychecks, or charging the workers for the cost of safety equipment or licenses necessary to perform the work. The testimonials also challenge the integrity of the asbestos abatement training programs in Virginia and Maryland, which are necessary for workers to obtain required licenses. Training centers operate with little regard for actual education.

Instead, workers report that the training centers provided the answers to examinations to ensure they passed, regardless of whether they actually learned how to abate asbestos safely. Together, these stories vividly depict an industry in need of serious reform.

TO LEARN MORE OR TO READ THE REPORT CLICK HERE.
TO VIEW VIDEO TESTIMONY CLICK HERE.
ASBESTOS FACT SHEET CLICK HERE.

NEWS COVERAGE LINKS:
Asbestos Report Finds Poor Conditions for Workers
Asbestos Exposure (CNS Maryland)
Grave Problematic en Sector De La Construccion
Baltimore-Washington Asbestos Contractors Flout Safety Standards, Union Report Says
NIST Contractor Accused of Putting Worker Health at Risk
Hispanic Workers in Asbestos Industry Face Language Hurdles, Disease Dangers
Asbestos Abatement Toxic in Mid-Atlantic Region

Scranton, PA – Members of the District Council of Eastern Pennsylvania Laborers’ (LiUNA! Mid-Atlantic) gathered to rally at the Scranton Bridge to demand funding for critical infrastructure repair.

On October 12, 2011 Laborers’ marched to Scranton to demand that local leaders fund a state transportation bill that would create thousands of construction jobs to reinvigorate the local economy. Throughout the state of PA, bridges, highways, water resources, and school facilities – have fallen behind, threatening the economy, and the ability for working families to compete globally.

PA Transportation systems continue to deteriorate.

• Across the state, 9,360 bridges – 42 percent of all bridges – are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. Of those bridges, the state has declared 5,646 to be structurally deficient – meaning they have potential safety issues, as did the Minneapolis I-35 Bridge that collapsed in 2007, killing 13 people.
• Pennsylvania is ranked as the 7th most congested state in the country. Road congestion costs motorists $2.7 billion annually in major metropolitan areas like Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

Investment to build the basics of Pennsylvania could create nearly 1.5 million jobs and lift our economy.

• Federal investment in state highways and bridges will support 466,666 jobs in the state through 2030 – but only if Congress reauthorizes a Surface Transportation Bill.
• Investment in our state’s clean drinking water and wastewater system can create 959,583 jobs over the next 20 years, based on needs identified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Asbestos is a mineral and widely used material in the construction industry. It can often be found in insulation, roofing, and tiles. Asbestos is used in a large number of buildings, and a many of these buildings contain friable material, meaning asbestos that crumbles and can become airborne. According to the EPA, asbestos can be found in most of the nation’s elementary schools.

While most minerals turn into dust particles when crushed, asbestos breaks up into fine fibers too small to be seen by the naked eye. Asbestos can stay airborne for days. Individual fibers are frequently mixed with a material that binds them together, producing asbestos containing material (ACM). When ACM is damaged or disturbed by repair, remodeling or demolition activities, microscopic fibers become airborne and can be inhaled into the lungs, where they can cause significant health problems. For example, asbestos causes lung cancer, mesothelioma, asbestosis. It often takes over 20 years for the symptoms of these diseases to appear.

The EPA conducted a 1984 survey which found that approximately 66 percent of the buildings that contained asbestos contained damaged ACM. Between 1940 and 1980, an estimated 27 million Americans were exposed to significant amounts of asbestos at work. People may also ingest asbestos if they eat in areas where there are asbestos fibers in the air.

Asbestos does not just affect the workers directly touching the material! In fact, asbestos is a major health risk to your entire family and community — children, pets – everyone!

Asbestos contractors in the DC Metro area have been sued and fined by the EPA, OSHA, and state agencies for egregious violations. They have been found dumping lead paint down drains, improperly ventilating work sites, failing to provide workers with protective masks, and violating the Clean Air Act. Perhaps worst of all, contractors have carried friable material by young schoolchildren, blatantly violating the law and endangering our youth. There have been reports of workers pulling down asbestos from ceilings without the material being wetted down. All of these problems could be alleviated if the industry was properly regulated.

Urgent! Contact your Representative: Oppose HR 2309 and Protect USPS Retirement Systems.

Please call your Member of Congress in the House of Representatives as soon as possible and request that he/she oppose H.R. 2309, sponsored by Congressman Darrell Issa (R-CA). The Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, U.S. Postal Service, and Labor Policy is scheduled to mark up H.R. 2309 on Wednesday, September 21, 2011. The full committee (House Oversight and Government Reform Committee) could vote on this bill in early October.

H.R. 2309 fails to address the overpayments to the CSRS and FERS retirement systems, or correct the antiquated formula OPM continues to use which has caused this unfair assessment. The bill also would allow a panel to make secret decisions that overturn our collective bargaining agreement, lowering wages and health and retirement benefits.

In addition to opposing H.R. 2309, please urge you’re Representative to cosponsor Congressman Lynch’s (D-MA) bill, H.R. 1351. This legislation would return the overpayments into our two retirement systems to the USPS, and would correct the misguided formula OPM currently uses to assess the USPS obligations.

Time is of the essence; your actions are needed immediately. Contact your Member of Congress today!

Baltimore, MD — Hundreds of West Baltimore residents marched Wednesday, September 14, to protest the lack of hiring of local residents by Miller Long, and Arnold Construction to work on the University of Baltimore Construction project. The protesters marched to the project construction gate at 30 West Biddle Street. The march was intended to call attention to the small number of West Baltimore residents who have been hired to work on the $27 million-dollar project, contrary to the promises made by local officials and construction company executives before the project began. The project began April 2011 and a will continue through August 2012.

The unemployment rate for African Americans is much higher than for the Baltimore Metropolitan Region overall. Unemployment in Baltimore City for African Americans is at 16% and in West Baltimore the percent is well over 20%. In contrast, the unemployment rate for the Baltimore-Towson Metropolitan Area is 8%.

“The promises made by local government, Miller Long, and Arnold to assist this impoverished community are being squandered,” said Pastor Duane Simmons, a local reverend and member of Baltimore Churches and Community United for Jobs. “Once again, West Baltimore residents are being denied local jobs that have a direct impact on their communities. “

The march was organized by local religious, community and labor leaders.

# # #

Baltimore Churches & Community United for Jobs is a faith-based alliance comprised of local residents and organizations whose goal is to uplift the local community by helping residents attain their full potential through local job training and placement.

BALTIMORE, MD — Hundreds of West Baltimore residents demonstrated at Miller Long and Arnold’s project at the University of Baltimore on Wednesday September 7th to protest the lack of local workers hired for the project.

Participants assembled at 11 a.m. at Pearlstone Park at Howard and W. Preston streets and marched to the construction site at 30 West Biddle Street.

The unemployment rate for African Americans is much higher than for the Baltimore Metropolitan Region overall.

Unemployment in Baltimore City for African Americans is at 16% and in West Baltimore the percent is well over 20%. In contrast, the unemployment rate for the Baltimore-Towson Metropolitan Area is 8%.

“This is a disgrace and an outrage,” said Pastor Simmons, local reverend. “Enough is enough. We have drawn a line, and it is no more business as usual for these contractors that profit off of our tax dollars.”

The 11-story, 323-bed student apartment building being constructed at the site will feature 114 studios, two- and four-bedroom apartments. University of Baltimore students will be the primary users of the building, although others from area institutions may be interested in the apartments as well.

The project began April 2011 and a will continue through August 2012.

Estimated at $27 million, it has been advertised as bringing dozens of construction, professional housing management and retail jobs to the city. The nearby State Center Project is estimated at 1.6 billion.

Reston, VA – While the United States construction industry has experienced unprecedented economic hardships for the past 3 years, two regions of the Laborers’ International Union of North (LiUNA!) have shown positive membership growth.

LiUNA’s Mid-Atlantic region was the only LiUNA! region within the U.S. to demonstrate growth by 1.44% in the public sector arena and 2.53% in the construction industry for an overall total of 3.97% for the past year. This small growth is remarkable in that it was accomplished during a recession and in an area of the country with low union market share.

“While construction has been shrinking throughout the country, the fact that our members were able to stand strong, rally and grow is a testimony to the leadership of our Councils and our Locals,” said LiUNA! Vice President and Regional Manager Dennis Martire. With hard work and dedication we are continuing to achieve new heights while making the lives of working families better throughout the region.”

Dennis L. Martire was elected Vice President and Mid-Atlantic Regional Manager of the Laborers’ International Union of North America in January 2002.

The Mid-Atlantic Region of LiUNA! represents Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Washington D.C. and West Virginia.

For more information Contact: Jaime Flores at (703) 229-7590 or newm...@malaborers.org

###

The Laborers’ International Union of North America Mid-Atlantic Region is the premier union in the building trades: progressive, aggressive and fast growing. The more than 40,000 members are engaged in building construction, environmental remediation, heavy and highway construction, as well as industrial manufacturing, service work and a variety of public sector jobs. LiUNA is responsible for helping to create the careers for thousands of working families.

St. Elizabeth’s Project
Clark Construction Jobs Demonstration

Event: March and Civil Disobedience for Jobs
Date: Wednesday, August 31

Time: 11:00 a.m.
Place: Matthews Memorial Church
2616 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. SE
Washington, D.C.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — More than 500 residents of Washington, D.C., marched Wednesday, August 31, to protest the lack of hiring of local residents to work on the new headquarters for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security at the former St. Elizabeth’s Hospital.

The march began at noon at Matthews Memorial Church, 2616 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. SE, and proceeded to the Clark Construction gate at the intersection of Firth Sterling Avenue and Stevens Road. Picket lines were formed in front of the gate, and trucks were blocked from entering.

The march was intended to call attention to the small number of residents of Ward 8 who have been hired to work on the $3.4 billion project, contrary to the promises made by local officials and construction company executives before the project began. Certified payroll data show that fewer than 14% of total work hours on the site have been performed by DC residents, based on an analysis of data obtained through a request under the Freedom of Information Act.
The failure to hire local residents represents a missed opportunity to have a major impact on employment in Ward 8, whose unemployment rate of nearly 28 percent is by far the highest in the city and one of the highest of any urban neighborhood in the nation.

“The promises made by the federal government and Clark to assist this impoverished community are being squandered,” said Ron Harris, of DC Jobs or Else Coalition. “The East of the River community is angry. It feels lied too again. The community will no longer tolerate any more business as usual from Clark Construction.”

Participants in the march began assembling at 11 a.m. Wednesday at Matthew’s Memorial Church, where speakers addressrf the demonstrators. The speakers included: Rev. Patrick Walker; Tom Brown of the Ward 8 Workforce Development Council; Ritchey Armstrong, community activist, and Steve Lanning of the UCW Local 202 LiUNA!

The march was organized by DC Jobs or Else, religious, community and labor leaders.

# # #

The United Construction Workers (LiUNA!) unites working people in the construction industry to create better jobs, better lives, brighter opportunities and stronger communities!



Construction Worker and LiUNA! Mid-Atlantic member Victor Reyes, and his wife Blanca Estela Reyes, on the importance of Citizenship and the Labor Movement in achieving the American Dream.

It’s no accident that the basic American rights of working people are under attack in nearly 30 states. There is coordinated attack led by conservative groups like Karl Rove’s Center for American Prosperity – and paid for by the Koch brothers of Koch Industries. Their stated objective is to eliminate “90% of all laws and government regulations” so that corporations can operate unchecked and unchallenged.

Koch bank-rolled the tea party groups who elected the likes of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. The attack on workers, unions, prevailing wages, and the so-called “right to work” effort, is all an attempt to suppress our basic America right to join together for a common cause and collectively bargain.

Send a message today to the Koch brothers telling them to back off of basic American rights:

Fight Back, click here to learn how!

Blue Virginia Blog addresses the current provision in Wolf’s legislation, that would allow the Virginia Governor to remove Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) board members and replace them with right-wing corporate anti-labor supporters, without any explanation. In summary, Governor McDonnell and Congressman Wolf would be using their power to once again hurt working families.

Click here to read the entire article.



Dominic Giarratano from the National Building and Construction Trades Department on the importance of PLA’s.

Video courtesy of buildingtrades.org.



The Reverend J. Cletus Kiley addresses the National Building and Construction Trades Department at the 2011 Conference.

Video courtesy of the BCTD at www.buildingtrades.org.