Why is private sector construction still working in DC?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Construction is exempt as ‘essential infrastructure’ under most executive orders across the country. I work for a GC and it really is a hard balance. If we shut our sites down then our subcontractors and their employees won’t get paid. Most of those employees live paycheck-to-paycheck and they’re desperate for work.

This isn’t just self-serving commentary—if we had a national healthcare system and more paid leave, the answer would be different. More evidence of this—in jobs near borders where one state prohibits construction and the other allows it, we are seeing surplus labor coming over the border. Nobody wants to get sick but they want to feed their families even more.

I’m sympathetic to the workers but there are lots of sectors that are affected right now. Private construction projects have been halted in MA, MI, WA, NY and other states, except for emergency construction like for hospitals. It will be on Bowser’s head when there’s a spike in cases next week and the week following in DC with many contractors affected. Building more luxury apartments is not essential activity during a pandemic !

Definitely better for their children to starve & their families to become homeless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The OP wants more people unemployed and more families destitute and dependent on the ruling class for survival. The OP fancies simpler times like 14th century Europe when everyone was impoverished and the Black Death claimed 75 to 200 million lives.

This. Also, construction workers often live 10 to a house, so it’s not like they’d be quarantined anyway. Quarantining is for the fancy . . .

And most construction workers are likely on visa or illegal, so aren't getting any stimulus. Listen to NPR Planet Money about farm workers, produce is going to get hard to find, though I guess the construction crews could migrate to farm work.

[Anonymous]

Bay Area just halted ALL construction as well.

[Anonymous]

I do not advocate for such policies because the economy needs to grow. The poor and middle class do not need to depend on the ruling class for survival. I’m not sure why some people who get leave and have white collar jobs want those who need to work for survival to be starving and barely making it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I do not advocate for such policies because the economy needs to grow. The poor and middle class do not need to depend on the ruling class for survival. I’m not sure why some people who get leave and have white collar jobs want those who need to work for survival to be starving and barely making it.

You gotta admire the spin of the big developers and their snark growth amen corner. They turn upzoning and real estate profiteering to build tall, dense upscale residences into the goal of “affordable housing.” Now the selfish pursuit of projects while everyone is urged to quarantine for the common good is to prevent the starvation of those who must work for survival. Well played.

[Anonymous]

Until we have a handle on this, they should be passing out checks to pay people to stay home. Pandemic UBI.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It hard to maintain social distancing on the job site. Other jurisdictions have ordered construction to be paused. Bowser?

It's not only DC:

See the list here:

https://www.dorsey.com/newsresources/publications/client-alerts/2020/03/covid19-executive-orders-nonessential-business

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Construction is exempt as ‘essential infrastructure’ under most executive orders across the country. I work for a GC and it really is a hard balance. If we shut our sites down then our subcontractors and their employees won’t get paid. Most of those employees live paycheck-to-paycheck and they’re desperate for work.

This isn’t just self-serving commentary—if we had a national healthcare system and more paid leave, the answer would be different. More evidence of this—in jobs near borders where one state prohibits construction and the other allows it, we are seeing surplus labor coming over the border. Nobody wants to get sick but they want to feed their families even more.

My DH who worked for one of the largest GCs in this area for over 10 years can confirm this is just the reality. He now works in a slightly different capacity but he's still going to the [construction] site a few times a week to check on the project, and the GC has been continuing work. Construction was classified as an essential business.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Profits is more important than human lives.

What a facile and silly thing to say. Ask those workers if they want a job right now. Ask their families. They want the money so they can feed their kids.

Reality check: they cannot access any unemployment benefits or the new 2 weeks of federal emergency wages if they are still working. Ask them if they would rather get paid to stay home safe for a few weeks or if they would like to be trapped in their unsafe job. Ask their families.

Profit is absolutely and completely being prioritized over human lives.

If residential construction, most of the workers are likely illegals who won’t qualify for unemployment benefits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Construction is exempt as ‘essential infrastructure’ under most executive orders across the country. I work for a GC and it really is a hard balance. If we shut our sites down then our subcontractors and their employees won’t get paid. Most of those employees live paycheck-to-paycheck and they’re desperate for work.

This isn’t just self-serving commentary—if we had a national healthcare system and more paid leave, the answer would be different. More evidence of this—in jobs near borders where one state prohibits construction and the other allows it, we are seeing surplus labor coming over the border. Nobody wants to get sick but they want to feed their families even more.

I’m sympathetic to the workers but there are lots of sectors that are affected right now. Private construction projects have been halted in MA, MI, WA, NY and other states, except for emergency construction like for hospitals. It will be on Bowser’s head when there’s a spike in cases next week and the week following in DC with many contractors affected. Building more luxury apartments is not essential activity during a pandemic !

Definitely better for their children to starve & their families to become homeless.

+1
It's not only "luxury homes" being built, but even if it were, what do you expect the laborers, the tradespeople, and others to do? Are you aware that a single condo or office building can involve 50+ subcontractors, such as the concrete guys, the drywall people, the carpenters, and each is separate businesses that have their employees to pay and take care of? And that of these hundreds of people, some subcontractors that require just physical labor with no skill, might even have an undocumented person mixed in their group? Illegals are human beings too, no? If they stop getting paid, what do you suggest they do? You know that illegals providing labor in all kinds of areas is a reality in this country, and that people can buy certain grocery items for cheaper because of the undocumented people are working under minimum wage, right? I don't mean to get the topic off track, but sometimes the affluent, the comfortably privileged, white collar workers, whatever you want to name it, have no clue beyond their little bubble

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Construction is exempt as ‘essential infrastructure’ under most executive orders across the country. I work for a GC and it really is a hard balance. If we shut our sites down then our subcontractors and their employees won’t get paid. Most of those employees live paycheck-to-paycheck and they’re desperate for work.

This isn’t just self-serving commentary—if we had a national healthcare system and more paid leave, the answer would be different. More evidence of this—in jobs near borders where one state prohibits construction and the other allows it, we are seeing surplus labor coming over the border. Nobody wants to get sick but they want to feed their families even more.

I’m sympathetic to the workers but there are lots of sectors that are affected right now. Private construction projects have been halted in MA, MI, WA, NY and other states, except for emergency construction like for hospitals. It will be on Bowser’s head when there’s a spike in cases next week and the week following in DC with many contractors affected. Building more luxury apartments is not essential activity during a pandemic !

Definitely better for their children to starve & their families to become homeless.

+1
It's not only "luxury homes" being built, but even if it were, what do you expect the laborers, the tradespeople, and others to do? Are you aware that a single condo or office building can involve 50+ subcontractors, such as the concrete guys, the drywall people, the carpenters, and each is separate businesses that have their employees to pay and take care of? And that of these hundreds of people, some subcontractors that require just physical labor with no skill, might even have an undocumented person mixed in their group? Illegals are human beings too, no? If they stop getting paid, what do you suggest they do? You know that illegals providing labor in all kinds of areas is a reality in this country, and that people can buy certain grocery items for cheaper because of the undocumented people are working under minimum wage, right? I don't mean to get the topic off track, but sometimes the affluent, the comfortably privileged, white collar workers, whatever you want to name it, have no clue beyond their little bubble

So why should construction workers, including the illegals among them, be privileged when restaurant dishwashers, nail salon workers, barbers and all sorts of other workers are out of luck and many out of work? I know, campaign contributions from the big developers to the mayor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Construction is exempt as ‘essential infrastructure’ under most executive orders across the country. I work for a GC and it really is a hard balance. If we shut our sites down then our subcontractors and their employees won’t get paid. Most of those employees live paycheck-to-paycheck and they’re desperate for work.

This isn’t just self-serving commentary—if we had a national healthcare system and more paid leave, the answer would be different. More evidence of this—in jobs near borders where one state prohibits construction and the other allows it, we are seeing surplus labor coming over the border. Nobody wants to get sick but they want to feed their families even more.

I’m sympathetic to the workers but there are lots of sectors that are affected right now. Private construction projects have been halted in MA, MI, WA, NY and other states, except for emergency construction like for hospitals. It will be on Bowser’s head when there’s a spike in cases next week and the week following in DC with many contractors affected. Building more luxury apartments is not essential activity during a pandemic !

Definitely better for their children to starve & their families to become homeless.

+1
It's not only "luxury homes" being built, but even if it were, what do you expect the laborers, the tradespeople, and others to do? Are you aware that a single condo or office building can involve 50+ subcontractors, such as the concrete guys, the drywall people, the carpenters, and each is separate businesses that have their employees to pay and take care of? And that of these hundreds of people, some subcontractors that require just physical labor with no skill, might even have an undocumented person mixed in their group? Illegals are human beings too, no? If they stop getting paid, what do you suggest they do? You know that illegals providing labor in all kinds of areas is a reality in this country, and that people can buy certain grocery items for cheaper because of the undocumented people are working under minimum wage, right? I don't mean to get the topic off track, but sometimes the affluent, the comfortably privileged, white collar workers, whatever you want to name it, have no clue beyond their little bubble

So why should construction workers, including the illegals among them, be privileged when restaurant dishwashers, nail salon workers, barbers and all sorts of other workers are out of luck and many out of work? I know, campaign contributions from the big developers to the mayor.

Winner! The moral gymnastics some are going through on here, trying to justify why they should be safe at home while blue collar workers should be at risk for petty and unimportant work is astounding. This all about which workers are critical to businesses with lobbying power (and unions who choose power over safety). And before you point and say that I am in some bubble, no, I am not. My spouse is going to work in non-essential manufacturing, bosses are telecommuting and making big joyous announcements about how GREAT it is that their company is “essential” and we are SO worried that his underlying health conditions are putting him at greater risk. No serious safety considerations except in the few areas where bosses occasionally come in and have to be at risk, too. THOSE areas are getting all kinds of reduced exposure to public and safety.

But the workers, you know, the ones who shower at the end of the day and not the beginning? They are at risk and being used. And their families are placed at risk, too.

New York, Bay area, Philadelphia... as this thing spreads and people get sick and die, these workers realize this isn’t worth dying for and start to rebel. And the governors and mayors finally choose to shut down for real instead for show. But by then, of course, it is too late.

[Anonymous]

So fabulous to be deemed essential to building more upscale condos in DC! And to helping developers and their investors realize those “high opportunity zone” profits that the mayor has promised them.

[Anonymous]

As a practical matter, construction doesn’t expose the general public to infection the way a restaurant does. On our big jobs, we’ve started staggering shifts, dividing the site into zones, instituting daily temperature checks and making sure that our subs have appropriate PPE. For tenant improvement work, we’ve advised the owner that we need to shit down if we can’t maintain social distancing. On those jobs, we’ve donated the PPE we would’ve used to the local hospitals. Many of the GCs in this country are trying to do the right thing—it’s just not as simple as telling our sub’s employees to go home and starve and forgo any chance of being able to afford healthcare.

[Anonymous]

Jurisdictions should not allow permits for new work, but should allow exisiting work to be completed.