Low Wage Job

My next-door neighbor has been a construction worker ever since I have known him. He wears the typical hardhat and orange vest to work and carries a bag lunch because it would be very hard for him to take a long enough lunch break to go down to the local deli. But since the recession hit, he has had significantly less work. If companies and organizations have no money, they have no money to build buildings or roads. He must find a way to deal with the economic setbacks while taking care of three kids and a wife. Construction workers already earn less than $30,000 a year and with the little work compared to the high stress, it does not even seem worth it. Everyone has seen a construction worker at work. Especially the Santa Clara students who see and hear the construction workers working on Graham in the mornings, we seem to have a pretty good idea of what the life of a construction worker is like. But there are many things we do not realize when we see or think about construction workers. Many construction workers work full time, and many are known to work over 40 hours a week. Construction workers usually work on evenings, weekends, and holidays to finish a job. If the bad weather halts the work, the construction workers do not get paid because of the weather. The physical labor is almost as bad as the pay. Throughout the day construction workers have to bend, lift, maneuver large objects, and are cramped in tight spaces. They work with dangerous tools so, consequently, they are more prone to injuries. Construction is one of our nation’s largest industries and yet the companies pay them terribly, they work too much, and the physical conditions that their bodies endure is unacceptable.