Construction Workers To Call On LA Developer To Use 'Ethical Contractors'
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Construction workers including Latino immigrants and their supporters Thursday were expected to rally outside the offices of a Los Angeles developer to call on the firm to provide safer conditions to workers.
Local safety advocates claim Vancouver-based Holland Partner Group - which has multiple construction projects in LA County - has previously used a contractor that has been cited by OSHA for numerous violations, including lack of a safety harness for a worker five stories high, according to labor and faith coalition leaders.
Coalition spokesperson Chloe Osmer of AFL-CIO alleges workers at Millennium Reinforcing are subjected to numerous abuses including poor safety and working conditions, unpaid overtime, and 14-hour days. A number of workers have been on strike in California protesting their working conditions, verbal abuse and mistreatment from the company.
Advocates want Holland Partner Group - the developer behind a major mixed use development on 6th Street between Lucas Avenue and Bixel Street and other projects in downtown LA - to use "ethical contractors that provide safe conditions to workers", according to Osmer.
Nearly 750 Latino workers were killed from work-related injuries in 2012, averaging more than 14 deaths per week or two deaths every single day of the year, according data provided by the coalition.
