{"id":367865,"date":"2026-10-08T13:58:31","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T13:58:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/367865\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T13:58:31","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T13:58:31","slug":"bronx-workers-rally-against-alleged-labor-abuses-on-affordable-housing-projects-bronx-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/367865\/","title":{"rendered":"Bronx workers rally against alleged labor abuses on affordable housing projects \u2013 Bronx Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Workers and Bronx community advocates are calling on the city to crack down on labor brokers on affordable housing projects, saying low-wage and unsafe working conditions have left some of the very people building the city\u2019s housing struggling to support their own families.<\/p>\n

At a community town hall hosted by LIUNA Local 79, current and former labor-broker workers shared their experiences with wages, working conditions and alleged retaliation.\n<\/p>\n

The event comes as Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s administration pushes a plan to build 200,000 affordable homes, with labor advocates urging the city to ensure those projects create good-paying, union jobs rather than relying on labor brokers and \u201cbody shops\u201d that recruit workers from low-income and vulnerable communities.<\/p>\n

Under the Mamdani administration\u2019s Block by Block housing plan to build 200,000 affordable homes, workers and advocates are calling for stronger city oversight to ensure safe, well-paying jobs.<\/p>\n

Business Manager of the Mason Tenders\u2019 District Council (LIUNA) Dave Bolger says the group is urging the city to end ties with labor brokers to prevent labor abuses.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately body shops are not illegal, but what we\u2019re calling the city to do is to sign a pledge, at the very least, not to use these labor brokers on government subsidized housing,\u201d Bolger said.<\/p>\n

\"\"At a community town hall hosted by LIUNA Local 79, current and former labor-broker workers shared their experiences. Photo by Rebecca Raghunath<\/p>\n

Labor brokers also known as \u201cbodyshops\u201d who primarily recruit workers<\/a> from low-income or vulnerable communities, specifically immigrants and ex-incarcerated individuals.<\/p>\n

Bolger and activists voiced concerns about construction workers building affordable housing in the city but being unable to afford the housing they build because of their low wages.<\/p>\n

Dozens of workers and community members signed the pledge the evening of the town hall.\n<\/p>\n

Bolger helped with the negotiations to pass The Construction Act<\/a> earlier this year that will establish a strict minimum wage, benefits, and community hiring standards for developers of city-assisted affordable housing projects. The bill will take into effect Jan. 1, 2027.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to build housing that people can actually afford. But I want to emphasize that it also means supporting families sustaining wages with dignity and respect for the people whose labor is literally building that housing that\u2019s building our communities. That is also what development and investing in our communities mean,\u201d said Executive Director of Our Bronx, Sandra Lobo.<\/p>\n

Workers highlight abuse
\n\"\"Our Bronx Executive Director Sandra Lobo speaks at a LIUNA Local 79 town hall, emphasizing the need for affordable housing projects to provide sustaining wages for the workers who build them. Photo by Rebecca Raghunath\n<\/p>\n

One construction worker says he worked for Marin Workforce and Apex Labor Solutions that supply non-union construction labor to city-backed affordable housing projects in the New York metropolitan area. He says he was paid $18 an hour and often received job assignments with only a few hours\u2019 notice. When workers filed complaints about sick leave or working conditions, he says employers retaliated by withholding paychecks, while his accrued sick time disappeared.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey don\u2019t do anything for you. They don\u2019t care about your safety, or your health. All they wanted was the project done,\u201d the construction worker told the Bronx Times.<\/p>\n

He says he received no mental health treatment after verbal abuse.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

Another worker said that before joining the union, he worked for Apex Marin for three and a half years, during which his contract promised a pay increase every six months. When he asked his employers about the raise, they withheld his paycheck. After he raised the issue with a supervisor, he was told not to return. After years of feeling hopeless, he joined the union eight months ago and now receives benefits, pay increases and can afford to provide for his children.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf public dollars are being used to build housing and to form our neighborhood, those dollars need to actually create stability for our families, not poverty wages, not unsafe working conditions, and not a system where workers are afraid to speak up.\u201d Lobo said.<\/p>\n

Bolger is optimistic that Mayor Mamdani\u2019s administration will uphold the Construction Justice Act, but knows there is more work to be done ahead.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cPassing the law was a major victory, but the fight is not over,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Workers and Bronx community advocates are calling on the city to crack down on labor brokers on affordable…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":367866,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[433,14656,135959,95366,135960,135961,135962,135963,135964,36610,9,11,10,135965,82],"class_list":["post-367865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-affordable-housing","tag-affordable-housing-bronx","tag-affordable-housing-construction","tag-block-by-block","tag-construction-justice-act","tag-dave-bolger","tag-labor-brokers","tag-liuna-local-79","tag-marin-workforce","tag-mayor-mamdani","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-the-construction-act","tag-zohran-mamdani"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=367865"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367865\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/367866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=367865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=367865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=367865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}