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- Title
Inequalities and Prospects: Ethnicity and Legal Status in the Construction Labor Force After Hurricane Katrina.
- Authors
Vinck, Patrick; Pham, Phuong N.; Fletcher, Laurel E.; Stover, Eric
- Abstract
The arrival of Latino immigrant workers and the weakening of federal labor regulations after Hurricane Katrina raised concerns about labor conditions and workers' rights. We carried out a survey of workers at 212 randomly selected addresses in the city of New Orleans, successfully interviewing 212 out of 351 workers approached (40% refusal rate). Workers were asked about their demographic, employment, and health characteristics, as well as violations of human rights they may have experienced. The survey was supplemented with in-depth qualitative interviews with Latino workers and key informants in Louisiana and Mississippi. Our study showed that Latino workers, particularly undocumented workers, experienced lower wages, more nonpayment of wages and/or overtime wages, and fewer worker protections than non-Latino workers. The poorer treatment of Latino and undocumented workers is thought to reflect employers' perception of them as a disposable labor force. Indeed, few of the workers who arrived after Katrina, and especially low percentages of Latinos and undocumented workers, intended to settle in New Orleans.
- Subjects
NEW Orleans (La.); LOUISIANA; PHYSIOLOGICAL control systems; HURRICANE Katrina, 2005; MULTICULTURALISM; HISPANIC Americans; SOCIAL policy; IMMIGRANTS; EMIGRATION &; immigration; SOCIAL work with immigrants
- Publication
Organization & Environment, 2009, Vol 22, Issue 4, p470
- ISSN
1086-0266
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1177/1086026609347192