Short Takes

Laborers’ lament

It’s been said many times, but now there are local statistics to back it up: Work is more dangerous for day laborers, who face up to twice the hazards, and experience five times the injuries, as other construction workers.

Those are a few of the statistics just released by the University of Washington’s Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Department based on an extensive survey of local day workers. More than 180 workers participated in the poll, which was taken at four sites — CASA Latina on Western Ave., the nearby Millionair Club, and two Home Depots south of downtown and in Shoreline.

The vast majority were men, with notable differences among the sites: The Millionair Club, which does not dispatch undocumented workers, draws predominantly U.S.-born laborers who tend to be hired by homeowners, while those seeking jobs at CASA Latina or Home Depot are primarily Latin Americans favored by contractors.

The laborers reported 45 injuries within the past year, indicating an injury rate of 31 to 41 injuries per 100 workers, depending on the hours worked. In the construction industry, the rate is 6.4 injuries per 100 workers.

The injuries included sprains, cuts, and punctures from heavy lifting, operating equipment, and using nail guns, along with many falls from ladders. In some cases, workers reported that, after their injury, the employer sent them back to work. Others said they worked in pain for days or weeks.

“We as day laborers would like to not miss work,” one worker told the researchers. “We come from countries with families to support.”

Take that, BIAW

Some people aren’t too happy about the fact that the Building Industry Association of Washington poured millions of dollars into the November election to defeat several justices on the state Supreme Court.

The dirty politics, however, have turned out good for a group that advocates clean campaigns. That’s because Gov. Christine Gregoire has earmarked $4.4 million in her proposed 2007-2009 budget for a pilot project in publicly financed judicial races.

Craig Salins, a board member with Washington Public Campaigns, says the money would fund a bill that’s expected to be introduced in the legislature by Rep. Shay Schual-Berke (D-Normandy Park). “Our understanding is that it would be a pilot project for perhaps two years,” Salins says, covering Appeals and Supreme Court races.

It would be up to the candidates whether or not to participate. It has to be, Salins says, because the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that campaign donations are protected by the First Amendment. But after a while, he adds, candidates see the advantages. He points to the example of Maine, which has had three elections since passing its public-financing law.

“Every year, more incumbents and candidates choose to run on ‘clean money’ — and more are getting elected,” Salins says, adding that 83 percent of the seats in Maine’s senate and 77 percent in its house are now held by legislators who opted not to take private money.

The results are dramatic. “They have have been able to stare down big pharmaceutical companies, big oil, and banking interests and pass some of the most progressive legislation in the nation,” Salins says, including a tough law that brought down the cost of prescription drugs.

The lawmakers, he adds, “freely admit that would not have been possible if legislators were worried about where their campaign money was going to come from the next time they ran for office.”

—Cydney Gillis

You call this a living?

Getting by is getting more difficult in our corner of the country, according to a September study by the Northwest Federation of Community Organizations.

The annually released study, which has employed the same methodology for the last four years, shows health care pushing up the cost of living in the four-state region of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana.

A living wage in Washington, the study says, is $11.16 an hour for an individual working full-time. For a single parent caring for two children, the living wage is $23.39, or $48,644 a year. Only 24 percent of the jobs in the state pay that much or more, says the report. In King County, the same family needs $25.99 an hour or about $54,000 a year.

The scarcity of those higher-paying jobs is an especially urgent problem for people of color, who are generally working for less pay, the study shows: While 51 percent of white households in the state earn at least enough for that single parent with two kids, only 28 percent of Native American families, 35 percent of Latinos, and 39 percent of African Americans do the same.

The report’s data on wages was supplied by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, which tabulates information supplied by the state. For a copy of the report, entitled “Living Wage Jobs in the Current Economy,” and other studies on health care and immigration, go to www.nwfco.org.

—Adam Hyla