During his 30 years working in construction in the United States, Carlos has seen more accidents than he can count: colleagues falling from ladders or sliding from a roof. The risk, he told EFE in an interview, is the “daily life” of the profession.
When he heard on television that six Latino workers died after the collapse of a bridge in Baltimore, the news affected him: “It could have been me or someone close to me,” said the 45-year-old Salvadoran, who lives in Maryland, in an interview. telephone.
Last Tuesday’s accident highlighted the risks faced by construction workers, a sector where Latinos make up more than 40% of the workforce, at a time when anti-immigration rhetoric permeates politics. US.
For Carlos, who asked to hide his identity because he does not have immigration status in the United States, this “hatred” towards Latinos and migrants is unfair: “if you look at the jobs we have, they are the ones that no one wants to do.” .
The numbers corroborate what he knows from experience: Latino workers are at higher risk of being injured or killed in workplace accidents, with a rate of 4 injuries per 100,000 workers, compared to an incidence of 3.5 for all workers. in the country, according to data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
This is explained, in part, because Hispanic people occupy a large percentage of the riskiest professions, including construction. Added to the dangers associated with the industry is the discrimination and lack of protections that some Latino workers face, especially those who do not have immigration status in the United States.
“People do not have the knowledge to, for example, denounce their employer in court, for fear of being confronted with the reality that they are not here regularly,” says Carlos. “The fear of being deported is greater,” he adds.
For David Torres, the director of the migrant rights organization CASA in Maryland, the tragic incident on the Francis Scott Key Bridge demonstrates the need for the government to take action to help the more than 11 million migrants who They live and work undocumented in the United States.
“It is time for the president to provide help to these workers who, together with their brothers born in the United States, build this country,” said the activist during a vigil in honor of those who died after the bridge fall held this Good Friday.
Along with Torres, dressed in orange vests, yellow helmets and carrying a white flower in their hands, dozens of construction workers gathered to tell their experiences in the industry and ask for fair treatment from the country they already call home.
“My work builds large structures and the economy of this country, but why don’t our dreams, our dignity as humans, our well-being grow?” said Evelio Webster, a Nicaraguan who has lived in Maryland for three years, during which he has always worked in construction.
The 32-year-old father of three children told EFE that in one of his last jobs he suffered an injury when he fell from three-meter-high stairs. After the accident, he was unable to obtain aid or compensation: “he had no contract, he had nothing.”
The guarantee of job security and protection when an accident happens is something that, for Carlos, is a “minimum” that migrant workers should receive. The next barrier, he said, is addressing the mental health problems that are associated with working in an irregular immigration situation.
“In construction we are all very macho and mental problems are not discussed,” he stressed, “but I can see in the eyes of my colleagues that fear exists, the fear that for any slight problem they can take you away from your family. ”.
The names of all six workers who died after the accident on the bridge, which collapsed after being hit by a cargo ship, are not yet known. All of them were of Hispanic origin: one Salvadoran, one Honduran, two Mexicans and two Guatemalans.
Keep reading:
• Mayor of Baltimore hopes that the four bodies of the Hispanics killed in the bridge collapse will be found
• Governors of New York and New Jersey offer to help Baltimore
• Audios from the Baltimore police reveal the moments before the ship collided with the bridge