WE ARE FIGHTING BACK
THE PROBLEM
Mass incarceration of Black and brown communities has led to an ever growing labor pool of vulnerable, disadvantaged and discriminated-against workers. Labor brokers known as body shops exploit parole mandates of maintaining employment as a condition of release. These body shops take advantage of the scarcity of job opportunities available to formerly incarcerated New Yorkers, and effectively force them into low-wage, dangerous construction jobs.
THE SOLUTION
The Body Shop Bill: Intro. 2318. Intro 2318 is designed to define and provide a regulatory framework and increase transparency of how the construction industry’s Body Shops operate. This bill distinguishes between legitimate subcontractors (who assume risk when they bid on a project) and Body Shops, who supply laborers (often formerly incarcerated) and charge the general contractor or owner a premium for their work.
The Body Shop Bill is the solution to a lack of oversight of the companies taking advantage of New York City’s formerly incarcerated workers.
WHAT THE BODY SHOP BILL DOES
1
Requires Construction Body Shops to register with the Department of Consumer and Worker Protections, provide information about their history of violations, and pay a small registration fee.
2
Protects workers’ and the public’s safety by requiring owners and general contractors to ensure that only licensed labor service providers work on projects.
3
Protects workers’ livelihoods by requiring Body Shops to provide workers with information on their rights, terms of employment, and essential job information before being dispatched to a job.
4
Creates jobsite transparency by requiring disclosures made to workers must also be provided by Body Shops to the general contractors and owners. Written acknowledgement by owners and general contractors of these disclosures will also be required.
5
Creates public transparency of how body shops operate through twice yearly reporting: this will include anonymized data on job quality, racial impact of the industry, number of workers employed, their race, gender and ethnicity, duration of employment, wages, benefits and raises, type of work performed, and relevant pending litigation.
6
Expands worker protections to private right of action, which will allow workers to seek redress for rampant wage theft, discrimination, and retaliation.
WHAT IS A BODY SHOP?
The Scourge of the New York City Construction Industry
Body shops are non-union construction labor brokers, that offer poverty wages and prey on formerly incarcerated workers. Body shop contractors rely on mass incarceration as a supply of vulnerable workers, leveraging the strict work requirements imposed on re-entry workers.The body shop model functionally strips workers of their rights and protections. These firms are increasingly operating in New York City as unlicensed employment agencies to supply the City’s richest developers with cheap labor.
END BODY SHOPS NOW!
NEWS & PRESS
“Body Shops” Criminalize Workers, Deepen Structural Racism of the Criminal Legal System, and Degrade Workers’ Wages, Safety, and Voice
The New York City Council Committee on Consumer Affairs and Business Licensing New York City Hall, Remote Hearing – Virtual Room 2 City Hall Park New York, NY 10007 RE: [...]
Unfree Labor in NYC Construction: An Appeal to End Body Shops
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ABOUT US
Laborers’ Local 79 and the Mason Tenders’ District Council have launched Laborers’ Fight Back to address the rampant exploitation of justice affected laborers in the New York City construction industry. Laborers’ Fight back is a community labor coalition of current and former Body Shop laborers joining together to end the exploitative employment practices that target justice affected workers. We believe that together we can advance solutions to protect Body Shop workers and improve the construction market for all workers.
Join us and help #EndBodyShopsNow
New Yorkers for Real Re-Entry