Disaster recovery work in the United States has become an occupation heavily populated with both documented and undocumented immigrant laborers, the latter of whom are usually paid significantly less than documented workers. During the early twenty-first century, many immigrant disaster recovery workers were victims of exploitation and in some situations were exposed to harmful toxins from which they contracted unnecessary chronic illnesses.
As a labor-intensive industry, disaster recovery work demands hard physical labor to perform tasks ranging from heavy lifting, brickwork, and pipe laying to sewage cleanup and refuse clearance. Although these jobs are physically taxing, many of them require little training and consequently are given to unskilled workers. Hours of disaster-relief workers tend to be long, with shifts averaging from twelve to fourteen hours at a stretch. Since the inception of the
Many of these immigrant workers have suffered exploitation in the form of wage theft and poor working conditions. This is partly because it is difficult to maintain in disaster areas the kinds of workplace standards mandated by the federal
The exploitation of immigrants working in disaster relief has been widespread over a very long period. However, it has only been since the late twentieth century that it has become a well-documented phenomenon, thanks to worker rights organizations working to empower, protect, and assist immigrant workers. Two of the biggest disasters of the twenty-first century provide useful case studies.
The
Numerous class-action lawsuits have been filed on behalf of more than eight thousand workers who developed lung problems from inhaling air with high levels of lead, asbestos, benzene, and mercury. Filed against both the firms that employed the workers and the city itself, which claimed that the air was safe, these lawsuits ask for damages for three levels of injuries.
•Level 1: chronic coughing, apparently caused by prolonged exposure to macerated cement in the air surrounding Ground Zero
•Level 2: scarring of lung tissue and chronic respiratory illness
•Level 3: cancer.
Toxins in the air around the collapsed buildings have been shown to cause blood cancer, lymphatic cancer. and multiple myeloma. Those seeking damages in the class-action suit face thousands of dollars of debt in unpaid hospital bills and doctors’ fees.
Although anti-immigrant sentiments throughout America were higher during the period directly following 9/11, many immigrants responded as relief workers, often as unpaid volunteers, to assist in the clean-up efforts. Undocumented Latino workers, as well as undocumented workers from Poland, Russia, and China assisted in the dangerous cleanup effort at Ground Zero. Many were given only paper masks, and some women–used because of their generally smaller physical sizes–cleaned air ducts with virtually no protective gear. Many undocumented workers who assisted in the relief work have been wary of coming forward to claim damages in the class-action lawsuit, assuming that they have no right to access the funds. They have continued to suffer from debilitating illnesses in silence. Many cannot afford their health care treatments, and attorney fees are even more difficult to arrange for many.
Immigrant
When
Bradford, Marlene, and Robert S. Carmichael, eds. Natural Disasters. 3 vols. Pasadena, Calif.: Salem Press, 2000. Comprehensive reference work covers natural disasters of all types throughout world history. The set is organized by types of disasters, with overview essays and case studies of individual disasters. Brinkley, Douglas. The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast. New York: William Morrow, 2006. Useful guide to understanding the immense problems faced by New Orleans and other Gulf coast communities during and after Hurricane Katrina. Bullard, Robert D., and Beverley Wright. Race, Place, and Environmental Justice After Hurricane Katrina. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 2009. Revealing look at the roles of different ethnic communities in the rebuilding of the Gulf coast after Hurricane Katrina struck. Pielke, R. A., Jr., and R. A. Pielke, Sr. Hurricanes: Their Nature and Impacts on Society. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1997. Informative and well-written book by father and son meteorologists. Focuses on the United States, integrating science and social policies in response to these storms. Rosner, David, and Gerald Markowitz. Deadly Dust: Silicosis and the On-Going Struggle to Protect Workers’ Health. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2006. Provides a description of the industrial lung problems similar to those faced by recovery workers after 9/11.
Health care
Homeland Security, Department of
Mexican immigrants
Natural disasters as push-pull factors
Push-pull factors
Remittances of earnings
