NYC Construction Workers Hold Vigil for 29 Colleagues Who Died This Year

DOWNTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — More than 100 construction workers were joined by City Council members Thursday evening at a candlelight vigil on the steps of City Hall to honor construction workers who were tragically killed on the job over the past year. Colleagues remembered 29 fallen workers, including — most recently — 59-year-old Wilfredo Enriques, who was working on Williamsburg's old Domino Sugar Factory site when he fell six stories to his death.

Many workers in attendance said they belonged to unions. They stressed the importance of unions in ensuring safety, proper training and a network of insurance and support for workers.

"These are unskilled laborers that need to be trained. That's why we're here, to try to protect everybody," Garen Arsanian, a representative from the Construction & General Building Laborers' Local 79, told Patch.

"There's real unsafe working conditions," he said. "Workers get hurt on the job and they don't have benefits, they just get kicked to the curb. What happens to them after they get hurt?"

When Patch asked Arsanian about the possibility that some of the non-union workers who died on the job this year were undocumented, Arsanian said: "Well, you know, anybody who's here illegally shouldn't be working. That's problem one. And hopefully we can solve that problem with President Trump."

Adrienne Havana, 41, was one of just a handful of women workers in attendance at the vigil. An electrician for 17 years, Havana held up a pro-union sign. She told Patch that the union she belongs to, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, was the reason she was able to get a job in a male-dominated industry.

"The workers are what keeps the economy going, and we just want to make a fair day's pay for a fair day's work, and we shouldn't have to risk our lives for it," Havana said.

Gary LaBarbera, president of the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York, said he has been working with Councilmember Jumaane Williams (representing the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Canarsie, East Flatbush, Flatbush, Flatlands, Marine Park and Midwood) to push worker safety legislation through City Hall that would mandate apprentice training for projects taller than 10 stories.

City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, who showed up briefly and shook hands with several workers in attendance, said the Council is expected to hold hearings on worker safety legislation in the next few weeks.

Councilmember Williams addressed the crowd, many of whom didn't see eye-to-eye politically with him on all issues.

"This for me is not about union or non-union, it's about safety," he said.

A worker in the crowd yelled in reply: "All lives matter." Williams paused, somewhat startled, but continued.

"Everyone is failing right now, and we can not just sit by while people die," Williams said. "There is no industry where 29 people would die, and everybody would just keep going on like it didn't happen, and too often the people who are dying are people who feel they have the least voice in this industry."

Photo by Sarah Kaufman/Patch