The Colchester-based Vermont Construction Company, which works on projects throughout the state, has announced it will participate in a new-to-Vermont, worker-driven human rights program.
The program, which will be built by the Vermont immigrant worker advocacy organization Migrant Justice and the Minnesota-based Building Dignity and Respect Standards Council, will be designed to prevent wage theft, physical and sexual abuse, and unsafe, unhealthy working and housing conditions.
Migrant Justice says Vermont Construction Company first approached them in December.
That’s the same month that VTDigger reported the company faced local violations for housing people at two Colchester properties in “grossly hazardous” and “perilous” spaces. The inspection reports from municipal officials described conditions such as rooms set up to have six or more people sleeping inside, visible mold and — in one of the buildings — no fire extinguishers or smoke or carbon monoxide detectors.
At a press conference Tuesday, held on the second floor of one of those same Colchester properties, Vermont Construction Company didn’t draw a connection between the violations and their meeting with Migrant Justice.
Instead, Vermont Construction Company co-founder David Richards said signing onto a worker labor and housing rights program is a good fit for the business.
“We're a really fast-growing company, we’re quickly becoming one of the biggest ones, and we rely heavily on immigrant labor,” Richards said. “I think because we're young and successful, we have a lot of advantages in taking on a program like this and proving to our partners in the industry that it is feasible.”
Local construction worker José Ignacio praised Vermont Construction Company’s decision to join such a program.
“We know that someday soon we will see a new day in the construction,” he said.
Ignacio, who spoke at the press conference in Spanish with interpretation by Migrant Justice organizer Will Lambek, said as Vermont’s construction industry grows, so does the Latino immigrant workforce.
“A couple years ago, almost all of us were working on dairy farms, but you see that with the growing construction industry — and also opportunities in other sectors like restaurants and cleaning — we're expanding,” Ignacio said.
As a result, Ignacio said a number of Latino immigrants are looking for their own housing, outside of dairy farms, for the first time — and that they face affordability challenges, especially if they work in the construction industry, where he said there are instances of wage theft.
“We have to work together and get creative to find suitable housing to be able to cover the cost of rent and utilities and internet and all the associated costs,” Ignacio said. “We have to double or triple up in a room.”
But, he added: “Just like we know that the community is facing challenges, we know that the community is capable of creating solutions.”
The solution here being a worker-driven social responsibility program that, among other things, will set standards for housing that labor subcontractors provide.
Housing that is voluntary for workers, and is also clean and in compliance with all regulations, is part of the existing code of conduct from the Building Dignity and Respect Standards Council (BDC). What BDC does in Minnesota’s construction industry is similar to what the Migrant Justice-created Milk With Dignity Standards Council does in Vermont’s dairy industry.
Both programs make agreements with companies at the top of the supply chain that establish codes of conduct for worker rights. Supplier dairy farms and construction subcontractors must follow those standards or risk losing their contract with the company. The codes of conduct are enforced through monitoring, complaint lines and remedial action plans — and protections for workers from retaliation.
Migrant Justice will work with BDC to create a version of the program for the Vermont construction industry.
And as the inaugural company to sign on, Vermont Construction Company co-founder David Richards said he expects this to impact several hundred — primarily immigrant — workers during peak building season.
“We probably work with about 20 subcontractors, and between them, they probably have about 250 guys that end up on our projects,” he said.
And he noted immigrant workers increasingly filling construction jobs is the reality in the industry.
“The truth is, Vermont will not solve its housing crisis without migrant workers,” Richards said. “These guys work their asses off, and they deserve to live well in Vermont.”
José Ignacio, the construction worker, agreed.
“Immigrants, Latinos, we are part of this state's workforce — and part of Vermont's future,” he said.
The parties involved in creating the worker-driven housing and labor rights program for the Vermont construction industry expect it will be up and running in a few months.
Have questions, comments, or tips? Send us a message.
_
