To the Editor,
For some time now, Brooklyn has
been in the midst of its own building
boom, which has continued to drive
economic growth all throughout the
borough. But as the face of Brooklyn
continues to change, the biggest question
for stakeholders across the spectrum
is how this development can
be leveraged to spur opportunities
for Brooklyn’s longtime residents to
achieve meaningful employment.
We at Construction Workforce
Project firmly believe that longtime
Brooklynites should benefit from the
rapid pace of development, which can
only truly happen if construction job
opportunities are made available to
local residents, not just to workers
commuting from outside the city.
But, the good news is that the construction
industry is also changing.
The industry’s recent shift from the restrictive
union model to the open-shop
hiring model has opened doors for
Brooklynites to work in the field, earning
wages and benefits far above that
offered in other entry-level positions.
Stakeholders across Brooklyn
have watched the borough change
dramatically over the past few decades.
As a new generation of Brooklynites
moved in, fewer and fewer opportunities
became available for the
communities of color that had called
Brooklyn home for decades. Those
stakeholders also know that barriers
to entry stand in the way of many
workers gaining a job the many construction
sites all around Brooklyn.
New developments always came
with promises from developers and
city politicians of new jobs for local
residents. But when local residents
applied for a position, they found they
were not qualified because they were
not in a union, consequently lacking
the proper apprenticeship credits or
training necessary to be considered.
However, the industry’s shift to
open shop has meant more developers
are free to work with safe, quality
contractors, who have opened up the
industry to those workers unable to
join unions and access those employment
opportunities.
Open-shop sites are statistically
far more likely to hire a New York
City–based and racially diverse
workforce than their union counterparts.
For reference, three out of
four open-shop construction workers
are black or Hispanic, and the same
number are city residents. Now, construction
sites around Brooklyn actually
reflect the diversity of the borough,
rather than the diversity of the
suburban tri-state area.
The expansion of open shop has
also meant more support for Brooklynites
working on construction projects
across the borough and the city.
Thanks to new safety and skills training
programs offered by open shop
employers, more men and women are
able to enter the industry. Open shop
workers are able to earn a minimum
wage of at least $20-per hour — which
is much higher than the current state
and federal minimum wages — on
top of health-care programs and retirement
packages.
And yet, despite all these benefits,
the open shop and its workers have
been relegated to afterthought status
for many Brooklynites and their
representatives. It’s only by bringing
these conversations to the forefront
of our agendas that meaningful policies
will be put in place to protect the
rights of open-shop workers and their
families. We look forward to making
this a priority for Brooklyn in 2019.
COURIER L 32 IFE, FEB. 8–14, 2019 M
Clark Peña
Construction Workforce Project is an
advocacy group for non-union workers
To the Editor,
On Jan. 23, the New York State
Legislature finally passed the Dream
Act. Yet, nearly every single Republican
state Senator and Assembly
member voted against it.
When it comes issues of immigration,
New York Republicans, like
the national party, continue to bury
their heads in the sand, while millennials,
the largest voting bloc in U.S.
history, overwhelmingly support policies
that would provide a pathway
out of the shadows for young, undocumented
immigrants.
For young so-called dreamers, the
United States is the only home they’ve
ever known, and we, as a party, need
to start building bridges instead of
plugging holes in our dilapidated, antiquated
walls.
New York’s Dream Act allows undocumented
children to qualify for tuition
assistance, provided they meet
certain requirements. They must attend
a New York state high school
for at least two years, graduate high
school or a high-school equivalency
program, apply to college within five
years, and have at least one parent or
guardian who legally immigrated to
the United States, or is otherwise eligible
for in-state tuition rates.
The Development, Relief, and Education
for Alien Minors Act is not
about rewarding non-citizens over
citizens, it doesn’t “devalue” what it
means to be American. If anything, it
fulfills the American dream for thousands
of young people brought here
by parents desperate to give their
children a better life and a brighter
future.
Current rhetoric espoused by
prominent New York State Republicans
is either willfully ignorant, politically
malfeasant, morally wrong,
or a combination of all three.
State Senate Minority Leader
John Flannagan (R–Long Island)
criticized passage of the bill by saying,
“… the Dream Act will reward
law-breaking illegal immigrants
with free college tuition.”
Even more disheartening is the
statement made by my own state Assemblywoman,
Nicole Malliotakis
(R–Bay Ridge), who said, “This is a
misguided attempt to reject the needs
of those who actually elected us to be
here, and putting those that are here
unlawfully ahead of them.” Assemblywoman
Malliotakis, especially,
should know better. As a daughter
of immigrants, you’d think she’d be
more invested in securing a better
future for other sons and daughters
of immigrants. Instead, she’s chosen
to cast dreamers as “unlawful,” as if
they had a choice in the matter.
She’s chosen political expediency
over doing the right thing. Sad.
Pitting young undocumented immigrants
against natural-born U.S.
citizens is a tactic straight out of the
Trump playbook, one that’s contributed
to the political wipeout of the
New York State Republican Party. According
to the New York City Mayor’s
Office of Immigration Affairs, in 2017,
dreamers contributed $4.7 billion to
the city’s gross domestic product and
they account for more than $2 billion
in total earnings every year. Not only
is support for the Act good political
sense, it’s morally right, and it makes
sound economic sense as well.
Instead of alienating and exiling
undocumented immigrants, the
party that ended slavery and championed
liberty for all should be embracing
them. Their values are our values.
They want to go to school, learn,
graduate, get a job, pay taxes, own a
home, and raise a family. Dreamers
are our friends, our schoolmates, our
co-workers, our neighbors, and if you
go to John Jay College like I do, are
fierce advocates for justice. Time and
again, dreamers continue to exceed
expectations while the deck continues
to be stacked against them.
Instead of taking issue with tuition
aid going to dreamers, Republicans
should take issue with the limited
amount of tuition aid available,
or the failure to make City of New
York and State of New York schools
more affordable. Make that your battle
cry.
Inclusion is a much more powerful
message than division.
Ronald Reagan knew that.
Joel Acevedo
Joel Acevedo is Vice President of the
Brooklyn Young Republican Club,
and founder of the Sunset Park
Republicans.
To the Editor,
Is it any wonder that our schools
are in the condition they’re in when
we have groups such as Urban Youth
Collaborative marching around and
demanding the relaxation of suspensions
in our schools for egregious behavior?
Where are the groups to organize
in demanding the rights of students
who come to school to learn but are
prevented from doing so due to the
chronically disruptive child? Such
children have no place in our public
schools. No child has the right to disrupt
another child’s education.
When was the last time that state
Sen. Velmanette Montgomery and Assemblywoman
Cathy Nolan stepped
into a city classroom? Our politicians
hide from the facts regarding the daily
violence and disruptions that occur.
Once and for all: Stop making this
a racial issue. Regardless of race or
religion, if you can’t control yourself
in school, you don’t belong there. You
should be out working. Maybe then
you would come to appreciate an education.
As soon as the 600 schools
for the unruly were done away with,
our schools headed southward. Who
is to determine what a minor infraction
is? Not suspending children in
grades kindergarten through third
shall only embolden children to become
more unruly as they move on
in the system.
Stop this nonsense and return the
schools to old-fashioned discipline.
Let teachers teach and not serve as
babysitters. Ed Greenspan
Sheepshead Bay