Workers World Today - Issue 2

April 26-May 10, 2019

INSIDE

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Issue #2

1199 SEIU Marks 60th Anniversary; Solidarity Was Key in Historic 1959 Victory

Photo courtesy: 1199 SEUI

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his year marks the 60th anniversary of 1199’s emergence as New York’s major healthcare union. The saga began with a resounding Dec. 30, 1958, victory of a 5,000member pharmacy Union at Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx. But it was in 1959, when

the workers won their first contract and 1199 undertook the daunting task of organizing 3,500 maintenance and service workers at seven private, nonprofit hospitals.

The hospitals, led by some of the most powerful and wealthy New Yorkers, were Mount Sinai,

Beth Israel, Lenox Hill, Flower-Fifth Ave. and Beth David (the latter two have since closed) in Manhattan; Bronx (now BronxCare Health System); and Brooklyn Jewish (now Interfaith). The workers were among the city’s most exploited. Most earned about $32 a week with no benefits and often horrendous working conditions.

The media characterized the campaign as David versus Goliath. Hospitals were exempt from labor laws because they were considered charitable organizations. And the great majority of unions were reluctant to organize poverty-wage workers, most of whom were women of color.

But pundits and management of the hospitals greatly underestimated 1199. They assumed the campaign would sputter because they doubted that the workers could endure a protracted strike.

The Union’s history told a different story.

Founded by leftwing activists, 1199’s officers and members, led by President Leon

continued on page 4

Dangerous Heights: Dying on the Job

BY VANDELL PARK, SPECIAL TO WWT new construction boom is in full flight here in New York City. Developers are drawn from across the United States and elsewhere, jobs are being created, money is flowing into the City’s economy; and a number of people are jolly because of the physical and financial improvements to their communities. However, as the saying

A

Why is OSHA Training Imperative for Construction Workers? Page 7

continued on page 8

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DC 37’s Earth Day Expo

BY LINATE CAMPBELL, SPECIAL TO WWT arth Day is an annual event that is held throughout the world to support environmental protection. To show solidarity for this day, District Council 37 Education Fund hosted an Earth Day Expo on April 13, 2019. Queens City Council Member Costa Constantinides who was a co-sponsor and keynote speaker for the event, had been actively engaged in chairing the Council’s Environmental Protection Committee to endorse the Climate Mobilization Act. This Act has since been passed and is known as the Green New Deal. Ac-

E DC 9’s Community Day of Action...10

DC37 and Local 372 President Shaun D. Francois I

continued from page 6

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April 26-May 10, 2019

more concerned with your character than with your reputation, for your character is what you are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.”

— Dale Carnegie

2

“Be

Contents In Solidarity Why May Day Is Important...................................................4 Green Planet DC 37’s Earth Day Expo........................................................6 Workers’ Safety Why Is OSHA Training So Important for Construction Workers..........................................................7

Politics: Why Did Black People Vote for Trump?.... 12

Workers’ Matters Dangerous Heights: Dying on the Job..............................8

Unions In Action:......... 12

Remembering Construction Workers

Education New York City’s High School Admissions System is One of the Most Segregated in the Country........................................................................11 Workers’Matters How Can Blue-Collar Industries Thrive Again?......................................................................................12 The Good Shop Steward: What Are the Duties of a Shop Steward.........4

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n Thursday, April 25, 2:30–5:30pm: An International Workers Memorial Day Mass for construction workers killed or injured on work sites during

2018 and early 2019. The Mass was held at St. Patrick's Cathedral, 5th Avenue Between 50th and 51st St. p Source: NYC CLC

Love, Health & Travel The Business of Travel........................................................15

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Family: The True Modern Relationship Is Your Home Keeping You Together?............................13

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"A lot of people want to make it a hate thing. Well, we don't represent hate. We represent love. Togetherness. Peace. Long suffering. Hope. That's what we're here today to say, not just to our community, but to our country. Be strong."

— Rev. Gerald Toussaint, pastor of Mount Pleasant Baptist Church, one of three Louisiana churches burned down over 10 days this month.

The Burning of Black Churches............. 5

Love, Health & Travel Understand Where Jealousy Comes From.... 15

Books & Conversations Book Looks Behind-the-Scenes at the Men and Women Seeking Green Cards .................. 14

Congratulations to staff at New York's Tenement Museum, who voted 72-3 to unionize with UAW Local 2110!

Follow them on Instagram: @tenementmuseum_union.

April 26-May 10, 2019

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3

In Solidarity

Why May Day Is Important

BY ELIAS GEBREHIWOT

W Supports Workers’ World Today

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ecently, I was in Albany fighting and seeking support of A1261/S1947, legislation that will create a clear definition of public work and level the playing field for New York’s contractors.

District Council 9 Painters and Allied Trades Union (DC9), the union for painters, prides itself on being a strong advocate for workers’ rights and safety. We are excited about this new publication, Workers’ World Today, which covers the issues of relevance and concern for all workers.

We are encouraged that all workers: blue and white collar will have a voice and platform.

Congratulations on your inaugural issue. We wish much success to the leaders and team of Workers’ World Today and pledge our support.p Davon Lomax Political Director, DC9

hile the US celebrates Labor Day in September, many countries around the world observe May Day (First Day of May) as Labor Day. What is the history behind this and why is May Day so important?

May Day celebration has two contradictory meanings.

As TIME explained, “May Day is known for maypoles, flowers and welcoming the spring. On the other hand, it’s a day of worker solidarity and protest....”

Many people may not be aware that Chicago is the birthplace of the labor movement known as May Day, which (ironically) countries other than the US have adopted and continue to celebrate.

History teaches that on May 1st, 1886, over 200,000 American workers, anarchists and unions organized a nationwide strike, Chicago’s Haymarket Square serving as the epicenter of the labor action. Those American workers protested against unfair working conditions and demanded an eight-hour workday, a demand considered radical at the time, which has now become universal.

The Chicago protests were more peaceful and less violent in the beginning. However, the clash between protesters and the police escalated after an unidentified person threw a bomb at the police that killed one officer instantly and wounded others. What happened next was very tragic, and showed corporate America’s extreme violence and miscarriage of justice when it felt threatened, having the police and biased judiciary system at its disposal.

After the bomb attack, “po-

lice drew guns, firing wildly.

Sixty officers were injured, and eight died; an undetermined number of the crowd were killed or wounded. The Haymarket bomb seemed to confirm the worst fears of business leaders and others anxious about the growing labor movement and radical influence in it.

Mayor Harrison quickly banned meetings and processions. Police made picketing impossible and suppressed the radical press. “...Chicago newspapers publicized unsubstantiated police theories of anarchist conspiracies, and they published attacks on the foreign-born and calls for revenge, matching the anarchists in inflammatory language.

The violence demoralized strikers, and only a few well-organized strikes continued,” documented the Encyclopedia of Chicago.

The police began witch-hunting anarchists and other protesters like mad dogs, arresting hundreds of innocent individuals and falsely accusing them of involvement in the bomb attack. Eight individuals were convicted and seven sentenced to death without credible evidence. When the police and prosecutors failed to find evidence that tied the individuals with the attack, they presented writings and public speeches in court room and instructed the jury to pass the death sentence.

“Judge Joseph E. Gary conducted the trial, and all 12 jurors acknowledged prejudice

against the defendants. The jury, instructed to adopt a conspiracy theory without legal precedent, convicted all eight.

Seven were sentenced to death....The trial is now considered one of the worst miscarriages of justice in American history,” reported the Encyclopedia of Chicago.

Ever since 1886, the labor landscape dramatically changed in America and across the world.

The United States, through the Chicago protests, inspired the world to fight for eight-hour workday and other workplace radical changes. International communists, socialists and unionists embraced May 1 as a Workers’ holiday, and not just as a day to welcome Spring and butterflies.

However, America was grew wary that the labor movement that rocked Chicago was gaining momentum elsewhere and had become a symbolic day for other countries including the then Soviet Union, which could explain why the government decided to move Labor Day to September.

The Encyclopedia of Chicago further stated: “The Haymarket tragedy is remembered throughout the world in speeches, murals, and monuments. American observance was strongest in the decade before World War I. During the Cold War, many Americans saw May Day as a Communist holiday, and President Eisenhower proclaimed May 1 as ‘Loyalty Day’ in 1955.

Interest in Haymarket revived somewhat in the 1980s.”

But in the 1980s, the Reagan White House prided itself as the most anti-Labor Union administration. The American labor movement was systematically weakened. Though we still have labor unions that supposedly advocate for workers rights, the majority of them are coopted and mostly serve the interests of management, ignoring the plights of their mem-

TEAM Publisher Workers’ World Today, Inc Editor-In-Chief Pearl Phillip Online Editor Elias Gebrehiwot Contributing Writers Marilyn Silverman Charles Tabasso Victoria Falk Erin Telesford Vandell Park Hernando Hull

Ginita Wall, CPA, CFP® Jennine Estes, MFT Travis Morales Legal Advisor Brian Figeroux, Esq. Tel 1-866-435-3286 Email info@workersworldtoday.com Visit us at www.workersworldtoday.com

bers.

May Day is a symbolic day, a historical day that reminds us that an idea can be born in one city or nation, but has a potential to transform the rest of the world.

Were it not for the Chicago protests, the 8-hour work day most people cherish today would probably never exist.

Most Americans still work more than 10 hours a day, but they at least receive overtime compensation and choose to work the extra hours. Obviously, that assumption excludes undocumented immigrants and migrant laborers. American employers still get away with cheap labor, maximizing their profits. When American workers become expensive, they outsource the jobs to other countries where cheap labor is legally allowed.

And that is precisely why we must remember May Day and continue to strive for a better future where workers, whether American or international, receive their fair share. p

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April 26-May 10, 2019

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The Good Shop Steward

What Are the Duties of a Shop Steward?

BY ELIAS GEBREHIWOT

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n organized labor union needs a shop steward. A shop steward is the bridge between management and union members, the go-to person to address the needs of the workers. In some unionized workplaces, however, the shop stewards are accused of siding with management and failing their duties as advocates of workers. This may arise due to a lack of understanding what the shop steward duties are.

What exactly are the duties of a shop steward?

Here are some of the most important duties of a shop steward in a unionized workplace: Organizing Meetings and Welcoming New Employees A shop steward is required to organize meetings of employees who are union members.

The person has to prepare meeting agendas and run meetings, answering labor-related questions that members ask. The shop steward also welcomes new employees and is the first union representative that a new employee gets to know. The shop steward has to explain to new employees the management-union relationship and what the union can

do for them.

Facilitator and Mediator Once elected, the shop steward is the point of contact between management and union members. The best shop steward takes advantage of leadership training programs to act as an effective leader, negotiator and mediator advocating for the interests of workers.

Providing Information A shop steward is a union’s on-site representative. The individual is responsible for keeping union members upto-date with union news and policies. The shop steward must provide accurate information regarding union policies and benefits. He/she must also inform union leadership

about new changes in the workplace.

Handling Grievances Should an employee file for a grievance, the shop steward is the first responder.

He/she is expected to be knowledgeable about the collective bargaining agreement between an organization (company) and its employees, helping employees resolve their grievances and mitigating disputes. p

Elias Gebrehiwot is Workers’ World Today Online Editor.

1199 SEIU Marks 60th continued from page 1 Davis, were committed to wall-towall unionism, as well as racial and ethnic solidarity. Partly resulting from the anti-Semitic quota system in many medical schools, Jewish men dominated the pharmacist trade. And about 20 percent were Irish or Italian.

Also, in 1937, the Union launched a campaign to hire Black pharmacists in Harlem and to promote Black workers to the position of porter. 1199 was also one of the first unions to hold annual observances of Negro History Week—now African-American History Month.

The Union leaders also understood the importance social and political activism. The Union not only assembled crack organizers, but also had on its team, Moe Foner, widely acknowledged as labor’s most astute public relations director.

But the key ingredient was the committed members. They demonstrated their support for the organizing campaign by voting to increase their monthly dues by $1 to finance the campaign. “African American workers were downtrodden, and we felt that bringing pharmacy and hospital workers together would help us all,” says Morton Wechsler, an 1199 pharmacist in the 1950s. “We won because we were like family.” Now 93, Wechsler worked at several pharmacies on Long Island most of which have closed. He credits 1199 with elevating the status of pharmacists and says he wishes he had put in more years at 1199-organized drugstores. His son, Robert Wechsler is a pharmacist and delegate at Northwell Plainview Hospital on Long Island.

During the organizing campaign, other pharmacy workers, including stockmen, porters and soda men, demonstrated their commitment by joining the “Crack of Dawn Brigades.”

That was the name given to the hundreds of workers who picked up organizing leaflets in the evening before rising early the next morning to distribute the leaflets to hospital workers. After that, they would head to their pharmacy jobs.

Leon Fink and Brian Greenberg in “Upheaval in the Quiet Zone,” the fine history of 1199, recount an early episode of the Brigades. Phil Kamenkowitz, then the Union director for the Bronx and Washington Heights, wanted to demonstrate to member organizers how to interest workers at Knickerbocker Hospital in Harlem. Before dawn, Kamenkowitz approached an older worker outside the hospital and announced, “I’m from 1199 here to organize you.” Before he could say another word, the worker grabbed his hand and declared, “Thank God the Union’s here.” A frequent refrain of the hospital workers was, “What do we have to lose!”

In a 2009 interview, John Perkins, a former pharmacy clerk and president of the Union’s Retired Members Division (RMD), recalled his days as a

youthful Brigade member. “I’m not a professional organizer,” Perkins said. “But I always made sure people heard what we had to say. We made sure that management knew we were human beings and that we were the ones who were doing the work.”

The hospital campaign was led by Organizing Director Elliott Godoff and Teddy Mitchell, a former drugstore clerk and 1199’s first African American VP. Also, the Union hired as organizers Montefiore worker activists. Among them were Puerto Rican and immigrant workers from the Caribbean. Montefiore LPN Thelma Bowles was one of a few women organizers. The number of women pharmacists and drugstore workers at the time was minuscule.

During the campaign, dozens of women emerged from the ranks. The late Lena Hayes, a former RMD president, earned $29 for a 44-hour week as an aide at Manhattan’s Mt. Sinai Hospital.

“That struggle changed my life forever,” Hayes said in a 2015 interview.

She resisted the pleas of her mother to cross the picket lines or to find another job, noting that the Union, though it didn’t have much in its treasury, provided strikers with food, car fare and other forms of assistance. Julia Davis, the wife of Leon and a former welfare worker, headed up the strikers’ welfare committee. During the strike, the committee helped some 600 workers apply for public assistance.

After 46 days, management agreed in June, 1959 to a compromise settlement. They didn’t recognize the union, but all workers returned to work and a “Permanent Administrative Committee” was set up to review the strikers’ demands.

“It was the unity of the pharmacists and hospital workers that made the difference,” Wechsler says. Lawrence Silber, another pharmacist at the time and a former Pathmark 10years delegate, agrees. “We pharmacists agreed to add a dollar to our monthly dues because we knew that building a bigger more powerful union would help us all,” he says.

Silber, now 88, points with pride to the many picket lines and negotiating committees on his resume. “Today, retired pharmacists like me have a great pension and health benefits. Politicians and bosses know when they deal with 1199, they are dealing with a powerful union.”p Souce: 1199 Magazine | March / April 2019

April 26-May 10, 2019

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5

Civil Rights

Hate Crime Surge Continues with Racially Motivated Burning of Black Churches

BY MARC H. MORIAL

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hough they were more than 100 years old, Greater Union Baptist Church, St. Mary Baptist Church and Mount Pleasant Baptist Church in St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, were nowhere near as grand and ancient as Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Tourists never flocked to admire them. The flames that burned them to charred ruins were not observed in horror by an international television audience.

But burn they did, all within a span of 10 days. And unlike the fire that damaged Notre Dame, the fires that consumed them were deliberately set by someone motivated by racial hatred, according to authorities.

In response to billionaires pledging to fund the rebuilding of Notre Dame, activists were inspired to raise money for the Louisiana churches — contributions can be made through

GoFundMe. The arsons are part of an ongoing spike in hate crimes that began in 2015, fueled by racist rhetoric throughout the presidential campaign that continued into the first year of the current administration.

The destruction of Black churches, the spiritual and cultural heart of many Black communities, has long been a tactic of white supremacist terrorists, predating the Civil War. Churches were the gathering places for civil rights activists in the 1950s and 1960s. The 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in 1963, which killed four young girls gathered for worship, marked a turning point in the Civil Rights Movement and galvanized support

for The Civil Rights Act of 1964.

At the end of last year, the FBI reported that hate crime reports increased 17 percent in from 2016 to 2017, the third consecutive year reports have risen. Of the more than 7,100 hate crimes reported in 2017, nearly three out of five were motivated by race and ethnicity.

That’s not the only sign that violent racial and ethnic hatred are on the rise. The Southern Poverty Law Center reports a nearly 50 percent increase in the number of white nationalist groups in the U.S. in just a single year, from 100 chapters in 2017 to 148 in 2018.

The Anti-Defamation League reports a 182 percent increase in incidents of the distribution of white supremacist propaganda, and an increase in the number of rallies and demonstrations by white supremacy groups, from 76 in 2017 to 91 in 2018.

The number of terrorist at-

tacks in the United States by far-right actors, including white supremacists, quadrupled between 2016 and 2017, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The U.S. House Judiciary Committee convened a hearing last week on the rise of white nationalism. Kristen Clarke, President and Executive Director of Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, testified, “The violence that erupted in Charlottesville in 2017 was a wake-up call that demonstrated that racial violence continues to stand as a threat to our democracy and presents a danger to vulnerable communities.”

She called on the FBI to redouble its efforts to fight racist extremism. She called on Congress to “encourage the use of existing laws to investigate and prosecute acts of hate violence to the full extent of the law and oppose efforts to create new legislation that risks the further

criminalization of communities of color.” She called on social media companies to terminate “purveyors of hate who violate those terms by promoting and inciting violence.”

Unfortunately, her expert testimony was overshadowed by right-wing activist Candace Owens’ absurd and baseless assertion that the “Southern Strategy” — the electoral strategy to increase political support among white voters in the South by appealing to racism – was a “myth.”

Owens’ presence at the hearing is evidence in itself that appealing to racism, or at least the fantasy that racism isn’t a threat — remains a political strategy.

The threat is real, and it is growing. Elected and community leaders across the ideological spectrum need to confront it for the crisis that it is. p

Marc H. Morial is the CEO of the National Urban League.

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April 26-May 10, 2019

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Green Planet DC 37’s Earth Day Expo continued from page 1 cording to the Progressive Caucus of the New York City Council, it is seen as the largest single carbon reduction effort thus far.

According to the City Council, it amended a local law to the New York City Charter and the administrative code of the City of New York, in relation to the commitment to achieve a high level of reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. This law will also establish the Office of Building Energy and Emissions Performance as well as greenhouse gas emission limits for existing buildings.

In attendance was DC37 Executive Director Henry Garrido, DC37 and Local 372 President Shaun D. Francois I, as well as scientists, environmental organizations and activists commemorating their support for this humanitarian cause. Garrido, expressing his support for environmental protection, stated that from discussions he had with the different environmental groups, they went through a variety of models and proba-

Executive Director Garrido

bility results that proved that if climate levels were to increase by a series of degree levels, the results of such would have negative implications. “We need to invest our money into green, renewable energy.” He highlighted that we, as a city would be doing the morally correct thing by addressing emissions and the retrofitting of buildings. “We have a moral responsibility to do this. It is the right thing to do for our en-

Council Member Constantinides

vironment,” said Garrido, as he spoke on climate change and our responsibility to our future generations.

DC37 and Local 372 President Francois, in his speech, highlighted that recent reports have indicated that time is of the essence if we want to save our city. “Climate change is affecting our members every day. There is an average of 17 days per year, where temperatures have risen to over 90. By

2050, this number is going to triple,… It’s for us today, to make sure that [future generations] …have good climatic conditions.”

Keynote speaker, Council Member Constantinides, highlighted the job opportunities that will be created as a result.

He stated, “Tens of thousands of new jobs will be created to help retrofit buildings, conduct inspections and construction workers will be needed to renew our infrastructure.” It will eventually pave the way for a 21st century green economy. According to Progressive Caucus of the New York City Council, it would allow us to see a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions released by large buildings by 2030. An immense amount of energy is wasted due to inefficient and archaic systems making large buildings significant contributors to the high level of climate pollution experienced in New York City. The bill will require large buildings to diminish their emission of greenhouse gases by 40% by 2030. Building owners will be required to modify their buildings using technology which promotes

cleaner air throughout the city.

Green New Deal will require major changes to the efficient use of energy for New York City. In order to facilitate a decrease in the level of nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides and other harmful gases within the atmosphere, efforts must be made to drastically reduce activities that create more harm than good by 2030. According to Progressive Caucus it will form the building blocks of a more resilient and sustainable city, while protecting many of our most vulnerable communities, which are deemed at high risk of suffering the most crucial consequences in the face of climate change. p

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7

Workers’ Safety

Why Is OSHA Training Imperative for Construction Workers? around traffic or with heavy equipment, struck-by consisted of 24% of workplace fatalities in 2003 and 2004.

BY FERNANDO HULL

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he Occupational Safety and Health administration (OSHA) was created within the Department of Labor (DOL). OSHA is the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and is responsible for worker safety and health protection.

Since April 28th, 1971 when OSHA was founded, it has reduced workplace fatalities by 66%. Through the standards OSHA set, including training requirements and safety standards, it has saved thousands of lives. According to OSHA, private industry construction workers had a fatality rate that was three times larger than other industries. This makes training for construction workers even more imperative.

OSHA and researchers have identified four specific hazards in the construction industry that cause a large majority of fatal injuries; in fact, OSHA's Construction Focus Four are re-

sponsible for nearly 80% of all construction site workplace fatalities.

These hazards require employers to ensure that workers are fully trained to prevent injuries and fatalities.

The Construction Focus Four are as follows: •Fall Hazards: The single most deadly hazard in the construction industry, it accounted for 805 deaths in 2003 and 2004— that's 34% of all the construction fatalities during that time frame. Falls can occur off roofs, off scaffolding, through holes or on working surfaces.

•Caught In/\ or Between Hazards: Caught-in or between hazards accounted for 10% of all fatalities in the construction industry in 2003 and 2004.

Caught-in or between injuries are when an employee is squeezed, caught, crushed, compressed, or pinched between parts of an object or several objects.

•Struck-by Hazards: This category encompasses all hazards resulting in objects that move, fall or roll and strike a worker.

It also includes instances when unsecured loads or flying objects hit workers. Particularly dangerous for those working

•Electrocution Hazards: Accounting for 11% of workplace fatalities in 2003 and 2004, electrical hazards are considered one of construction's deadly four workplace hazards. Training relating to electrocution focuses on de-energizing circuits and then ensuring that no charge remains.

All OSHA-authorized outreach training courses for Construction are required to cover these hazards in-depth.

Outreach training, along with specific on-site instruction by the employer, will help employers meet many of the required training provisions under OSHA standards.

To help workers who need SHA training to meet these training requirements, OSHA created the Outreach Training Program, which was devel-

oped to promote workplace safety and health by providing access to training by OSHA-authorized trainers.

Outreach training results in the issuance of an official DOL OSHA card, also known as an OSHA 10 or OSHA 30 card.

Many workers carry these cards with them on the worksite, and in some cases, there are workers who need to carry their 10-hour or 30-hour OSHA card with them at all times as mandated by their state.

OSHA Outreach 10-hour and 30-hour training courses are a fantastic way to create a solid baseline of standards training, and these courses help employers to meet these important training requirements in an efficient and controlled method.

Many construction companies consider Outreach training an essential part of their safety program. p Fernando Hull is Owner of and Lead Instructor of OSHA Mission LLC.

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April 26-May 10, 2019

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Workers’ Matters Dangerous Heights/ continued from page 1 goes, “not all that seems well, really is well.” With this huge construction boom, comes the dreaded pain of losing loved ones due to the lack of safety standard practice and enforcement.

In 2015, New York City was scheduled to grant some 155,000 building permits with an estimated $39.0 billion budgeted to be spent on the construction industry. However, this construction development in the City brought along disingenuous conducts and practices from both City employees and businesspeople that overlooked legally regulated safety standards, thus leading to a number of injuries and deaths in the construction industry. An investigation report presented by New York City Department of Inspection (DOI) Commissioner, Mark G. Peters, in 2015, involving 16 City employees on corruption and massive bribery, aptly detailed why safety in the City’s construction industry is a major problem: “The investigation showed an utter disregard not just for the City’s construction and housing codes, but for safety. In one case, after a worker fell 10 feet off a beam, a Buildings Construction Chief focused not on the worker’s safety, or the integrity of the building, but instead on instructing the contractor how to get an ambulance to the site without raising the suspicions of the Buildings Department or OSHA.” The statistics are alarming when it comes to the number of construction deaths and injuries resulting from poor safety standards in the construction industry in New York City. A report from the New York City Department of Buildings on construction safety in the City, show that as

of October 2015, there were already 324 workers’ injuries from 314 construction accidents. The sad reality about this lap in safety in the construction industry is that the majority of the families affected are immigrants, whether documented or undocumented. In 2015, Commissioner Peters, again, holding a press conference following the death of an immigrant from Ecuador, took to task the irresponsible practice of developers and contractors who appear to put greed and money ahead of people and their safety. Mr. Peters said: “This investigation is about the tragic results when contractors choose to cut corners, ignore City safety regulations, and defy the warnings of construction professionals. In fact, this investigation highlights what DOI has seen in so many of its construction investigations ̶ that the correlation between integrity and safety is direct: Ignore integrity, disregard the rules and you are on course to disastrous results…early two months prior to the fatal collapse, the defendants were alerted by a ‘special inspector,’ who was a professional engineer, about the dangerous excavation practices at the site.

This ‘special inspector’ was hired by the contractor to specifically monitor the efficacy of the underpinning process, but when that ‘inspector’ saw the perilous excavation protocols, he took action, reporting it to the defendants.

But they did nothing to address the problem. The morning of the incident, another ‘special inspector,’ also a professional engineer, told the defendants that the excavation being done was not proper, including allowing workers in the trench. A couple of hours later, the ‘special inspector’ returned to the site and saw the workers in the trench. Immedi-

After a string of fatalities on nonunion #construction sites, [on April 18] we stood up and demanded action to pass Carlos’ Law to protect the lives of our brothers and sisters in the industry #HowManyMoreMustDie Photo: DC Facebook

ately, the inspector alerted the project manager, defendant Alfonso Prestia, and told him to get the workers out and stop excavating in that manner. But the dangerous excavation continued. And the workers remained in the trench. At around noon, the wall of dirt on one side of the trench gave way, killing Carlos Moncayo.

While Moncayo was an immigrant from Ecuador, he took the time to obtain the proper construction training for the work he was doing. In fact, a family member paid the $500 for Moncayo to attend 26 hours of training to obtain the required OSHA and scaffold cards. The irony here is too great to ignore. An immigrant to this country scrapes together $500 to make sure he complies with the laws and is trained on correct safety. A large company who can certainly afford to do things right decides to cut corners, evade the law, and gets that immigrant killed, as outlined in the charges.”

Some unions in New York City also accuse the City of poor enforcement policies and claim that most construction accidents are said to be occurring on non-union sites operated by developers who are apparently seeking to cash in

on cheap labor. DC9 Political Director Davon Lomax speaks of the number of deaths resulting from these poor safety standards: “In the Union world we pride ourselves in our safety; you go on some construction sites in New York City, 12 out of 14 deaths have been on non-union construction sites, and so it makes you think of the kind of safety that some of these contractors are giving their workers. No one goes onto a construction site expecting to die…when people are putting profits over people, these are actual folks, and when we have to go and talk to a spouse or a child that their father or their mother [is] not coming home, that makes you look at a developer and ask what kind of safety protocols are you having, … Are you providing any training for your workers?”

According to the DC9 former Director of Servicing, Charles Nieves, since the boom commenced in 2013, safety seems to be a primary concern for some NYC building safety inspectors: “This construction boom that you are now seeing, for many of these construction sites, some are unionized and some are non-union. Sometimes, we feel that there is a little prejudice in the way they

are being looked at, because the union sites are really checked thoroughly, the nonunion sites not so much. Part of the problem …is that most of these non-union sites are really outside contractors and outside developers that have brought contractors into the City. If you go into the City right now you see more…license plates than you’ve ever seen in your life from different areas. Everybody came here for the boom…if you are not looking at these non-union sites the way you are at union sites, you can tell them right off the bat, because when you walk by them you see a guy not wearing boots, not wearing a harness, not wearing eye protection or hard hat and the overall safety of the site is questioned. On a union site you’ll see everybody has everything they need and they are working safely, but, they are really under a microscope compared to these non-union sites, and we feel that the inspectors just drive past these non-union sites and don’t even bother with them.”

Just a few weeks ago, a worker died in Brooklyn Heights while working on the roof of a condo building. When will the fatalities end? p

April 26-May 10, 2019

www.workersworldtoday.com

9

Workers’ Matters

How Can U.S. Blue-Collar Industries Thrive Again?

BY MELISSA CRUZ

F

or the first time in two decades, the U.S. workforce has more jobs than people willing or able to fill them. Labor shortages are impacting almost every field in the country. But employers are now struggling to find one type of worker more than others: bluecollar workers.

Analysts largely point to two reasons for this drop in available blue-collar workers. As more young people go to college, jobs that don’t require a college education are harder to fill. Fewer college graduates want these positions since they often require manual labor and pay less than white-collar jobs.

The baby boomer generation is also aging out of the workforce and retiring en masse.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) latest statistics show that this shift in who wants or is eligible to take these jobs has left over one million positions open.

This has created huge gaps in the U.S. workforce. Those hit the hardest are the home health care, restaurant, and construction industries. Hotels, retail stores, nursing homes, and manufacturing are also in dire need of more workers.

Having someone to fill these jobs is critical. This is especially true for healthcare positions, as aging baby boomers will need access to more personalized care.

Increasingly, immigrants fill these rolls. Making work per-

mits more readily available to immigrants could help ease these shortages. Many immigration benefits, such as work permits, have experienced cuts or processing delays under the Trump administration.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is the agency in charge of approving work authorization for immigrants. But due to regulatory changes, USCIS denied far more work visas between 2017 and 2018 than in previous years.

In addition, foreign seasonal

worker visas are also not being processed efficiently. These visas are typically awarded to at least 66,000 foreign workers during peak seasons in the crabbing, fishing, landscaping, hotel, and forestry industries to fill labor shortages.

The recent demand for these workers is so high that it led to processing and approval delays at the DOL. In 2018, for example, the seafood industry took a huge hit because the DOL failed to approve seasonal worker visas fast enough. Half of all Eastern Shore crab houses didn’t have enough workers to pick meat during their busiest season.

Shrinking the pool of workers harms blue-collar industries and Americans as a whole. The administration should recognize the needs of the U.S. workforce and economy and help support businesses searching for workers.p

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www.workersworldtoday.com

April 26-May 10, 2019

10

Union In Action

District Council 9 Members Lend Their Time and Skills

Money Mondays!

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According to Entrepreneur.com, Whether you need a little extra cash to make rent or you simply want to explore your passions outside of work and get paid for it, a side hustle can be a lucrative way to bring in more income —without waiting for your boss to hand out a raise. The side hustle economy is booming. In fact, according to a study from BankRate, nearly 37 percent of Americans have a side job, and they’re making an average of more than $8,000 every single year.

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O

n April 13, members of District Council 9 lent a hand to non-profit and community organizations in New York donating their time and skills all day for the union’s 4th Annual Community Day of Action. Across New York State, from Bethpage to Troy including the Bronx, Manhattan and Staten Island both members and leadership spent their weekend transforming non-profit organizations and helping their neighbors by putting their training and skills to work and donating thousands of work hours across seven locations.

“Every year our members look forward to DC 9’s Community Day of Action as it gives us an opportunity to meet the communities we live and work in every day,” said Business Manager/Secretary Treasurer Joseph Azzopardi. “This day reveals the true values that drive this union. Our members are always willing to lend a hand to our neighbors who need it most, and these relationships with our communities make

us understand how we can better serve our state not just on our Annual Day of Action, but every day. We live in these communities across New York and we’re happy to give back.”

District Council 9 provides benefits to more than 11,000 members of New York State’s working class, including health insurance, pensions, and continuing education. In addition, DC9 contributes thousands of working hours, supplies and more to support the region’s charitable and community organizations, including through its Annual Community Day of Action, food drives, winter coat drives, walk for breast cancer and more.p

Brooklyn Key Food Workers Enter Third Week of Lockout

K

ey Food began taking the meat department workers off the schedule and bringing in temporary employees about two weeks ago, when negotiations for a four-year contract started to fail, union Executive Director Kelly Egan said. "This is the [hird] week of a lockout that never should have happened," Egan, who runs the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 342 chapter, said.

"They're still fighting every day, morning and night. We have to get something for these people — this is not how Brooklyn operates."

The gang’s all here! And, we will continue to be here until the owner of

Pick Quick Key Food agrees to a FAIR contract!

Week 3 of this LOCKOUT and our members are stronger than ever! Stop by at the Floral Park, Massapequa or Park Slope stores, make some noise and take a picture with the Rat or Pig!p

April 26-May 10, 2019

www.workersworldtoday.com

11

Education

New York City’s High School Admissions System is One of the Most Segregated in the Country

BY STEFANIE COYLE, EDUCATION COUNSEL, EDUCATION POLICY CENTER & KEVIN JASON, STAFF ATTORNEY, NYCLU

I

n March, 895 New York City students were offered admission at Stuyvesant High School, one of New York City’s most selective public high schools. Just seven of those students are black.

That number is down from last year, when 10 black students were granted admission.

Another selective city school, Bronx High School of Science, made 12 offers to black students, a big dip from 25 last year.

Overall, just 190 of the 4,800 students offered admission so far to the city’s eight specialized schools this fall are black.

That’s down from 207 admitted last year out of more than 5,000 offers. The number of Latinx students invited to attend the eight specialized schools is down too, from 320 to 316 students. This is all despite the fact that black and Latinx students make up nearly 70 percent of public school students in New York.

The offers are based on students’ scores on a single, highstakes test.

An admissions system that produces these results is unjustifiable and unacceptable.

Today, civil rights groups asked a federal court to allow them to join the defense of efforts to decrease these stark racial disparities.

In June, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced an expansion of the Discovery Program, which allows students from low-income communities who score just below the standardized test cutoff to earn admission to the specialized high schools.

Students must first complete a summer preparation session before they gain admission.

Under de Blasio’s expansion, the city mandates that each of the specialized high schools set aside 13 percent of seats this year and 20 percent starting next year for students entering through the Discovery Program. The plan is expected to produce a fivefold increase in the number of black students who attend the city’s selective schools. The tiny number of black and Latinx students offered admission so far for next

fall does not include students who will be admitted through the expanded Discovery Program.

Expanding the Discovery Program is a small step towards decreasing the egregious racial disparities. But in December, the Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF), an ultraconservative California legal organization with a history of challenging school integration policies and practices around the country, filed a lawsuit challenging de Blasio’s policy.

The motion, filed by the NYCLU, ACLU, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and LatinoJustice PRLDEF, asks a judge to let us intervene in this case to help defend the city against this lawsuit. Our motion was filed on behalf of Teens Take Charge, a publicschool student led organization, Desis Rising Up and Moving, the Hispanic Federation and five black and Latinx public school students and their families.

We are getting involved in this case because black, Latinx, and underrepresented AsianAmerican students are shut out

of the conversation about the role of the Discovery Program and the broader efforts to address racial segregation in our schools.

Defending the city’s effort to expand access to the top schools is also critical for encouraging more steps to ensure diversity and equity in all New York schools. New York City schools are some of the most segregated in the country.

In its court filing, PLF claims that the city’s plan to expand Discovery discriminates against Asian-American students. But this is just an attempt to pit racial groups against one another in order to dismantle fair admission policies that benefit all students.

Moreover, the Asian-American community is not a monolith and the expansion of the Discovery program could benefit Asian-American students from low-income communities.

Despite the PLF’s claims, the new parameters are not racebased and do not discriminate against any racial group. Eligible students must both have individual economic need and come from economically disad-

NYC Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza with Mayor De Blasio

vantaged middle schools to be eligible for the program.

Expanding Discovery is the right thing to do for students who have been systematically denied access to a quality education. And it won’t just benefit black and Latinx students. Numerous studies have shown that all students benefit from getting an education in a diverse school. Diverse learning environments enrich students’ learning experiences and better prepare them for success in multiracial workplaces, the global economy, and our society.

Ultimately, the single test used to determine who gets into New York’s specialized

high schools should not be the only factor considered for admission. Though it might appear on its surface to be a meritocratic way to decide who gets in, the test is less a measure of future success and more an indicator of which students have access to the money and other resources it takes to prepare for the exam.

Changing the admissions process for the city’s most specialized schools will require a change to the state law. In the meantime, expanding the Discovery Program is one of the city’s only ways to address the persistent racial disparities that plague these schools. p

www.workersworldtoday.com

April 26-May 10, 2019

12

American Politics

Why Did Some Black People Vote for Trump?

BY TRAVIS MORALES

T

rump said in his 2015 presidential announcement speech, “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best… They’re bringing drugs.

They’re bringing crime.

They’re rapists.”

In 1989, four black teenagers and one Latino teenager — the “Central Park Five” — were accused of attacking and raping a jogger in New York City.

Trump ran a lynch mob ad in New York papers demanding, “BRING BACK THE DEATH PENALTY. BRING BACK OUR POLICE!” In 2015 Trump demanded, “A total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.”

In 2017, the Trump/Pence regime tore apart thousands of immigrant families at the border, stealing children and putting them in cages.

In January 2018, Trump asked, in reference to Haiti and African countries, “Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?”

Trump’s list of racist and white supremacist attacks is endless. And yet, 8% of Black votes went to Donald Trump in 2016, and some Black people still support him. Why? Maybe they think they can make it under Trump. Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of

Trump’s list of racist and white supremacist attacks is endless.

And yet, 8% of Black votes went to Donald Trump in 2016, and some Black people still support him. Why? Islam said, “They [white people] are not gonna give you enough jobs, and they’ll never grant you justice. But with President Trump, you might be able to make a deal...”

Or maybe they drank the KoolAid, blame immigrants for taking “their jobs”, and agree with Trump that the borders should be sealed. Remember, Black people have been used to put down other oppressed people. After the Civil War, Black veterans of the Union Army that had fought heroically to defeat the Confederacy and end slavery, became Buffalo Soldiers, sent West to fight to put down and kill off the Native Americans and steal their land for America’s expansion. Black people, or any other oppressed people, who support Trump are taking up the outlook of those en-

slaved people who snitched to the slave master on other slaves who ran away from the plantation or rose in rebellion.

This is where looking out for “myself” or “just my people” gets you. Anything short of a vision of emancipating humanity can get turned into being played by the oppressor against other oppressed peoples (and women!).

But I have a bigger question, why do Black people or any oppressed people vote at all?

In the words of Bob Avakian, the leader of the revolution, “On Elections: Choosing between oppressive rulers will not stop them from ruling over and oppressing you and committing horrific crimes against humanity. This is true of all the major presidential candidates, of both the Republican and Democratic parties, and it will

be true of anyone who becomes president, or occupies any major political office, under this system. What supporting these people does accomplish is making you complicit with these crimes.”

We are told we have no alternative. The reality is: The Republican Party Is Fascist The Democratic Party Is Also a Machine of Massive War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity This System CANNOT Be Reformed—It MUST Be Overthrown!

I know. Some of you are saying, “But Travis, the Democrats are for the people or at least they are the lesser of two evils.” Ok, we all know the Republicans are the party of open white supremacy, bigotry and war. But look at the Democrat’s history. The Democrats were the party of slavery and Jim Crow segregation. They dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Democrats were the party of the Korean War and the Vietnam War, killing over 6 million people. Under Clinton, mass incarceration took off.

Clinton began the militarization of the border with walls and barricades, killing 10,000+ over the last 25 years. Barack Obama deported over 3 million immigrants, more than George W. Bush, more than all the immigrants deported in the entire history of the United States until 1997! During the Obama administration, police killed thousands and thousands, disproportionately Black and Latino people, and how many cops were indicted

by Obama’s Justice Department? One!!!

Choosing between Democrats and Republicans comes down to a choice of who you want to preside over the horrors this system is going to inflict on humanity.

Again, I say, this System CANNOT Be Reformed—It MUST Be Overthrown!p

Travis Morales is a long-time Revolutionary Communist Party supporter and is on the Steering Committee of RefuseFascism.org NYC. RefuseFascism.org has one unifying goal: This Nightmare Must End, The Trump/Pence Regime Must Go!

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April 26-May 10, 2019

www.workersworldtoday.com

13

Family: The True Modern Relationship

Is Your Home Keeping You Together?

BY CANDACE BAHR & GINITA WALL, CPA, CFP®

H

ome sale prices dropped during the past few years, and in many communities the market is starting to move up, with buyers outnumbering sellers.

But even so, if you are divorcing, selling your home can be a challenge in dividing up your assets.

Your home likely is the largest asset that you and your spouse own, and it is also the most difficult to divide. You have three choices in divorce: keep the house, sell it, or continue joint ownership. If you decide to keep it, make sure you can afford the costs associated with your house, including maintenance, repairs, home ownership association fees, gardeners and other household expenses. You may be able to afford the mortgage, but the other expenses could

break your budget.

If you and your co-owning spouse decide to sell, you will share the costs of sale and you can exclude up to $500,000 of capital gains. If on the other hand you become the sole owner of the house in the divorce settlement, when you eventually sell it you’ll have to pay the entire cost of sale and capital gains liability, and you’ll only be able to exclude $250,000 of gain. Anything you pay to your ex for his interest in the home won’t reduce the gain when you sell the home down the line.

Owning a home can be an expensive proposition for a newly single individual, especially given today’s beginning recovery. If you can’t buy your spouse out and anticipate that prices will be higher in the future, you and your spouse may decide to own the home jointly for a few years after the divorce, and sell down the road.

Specify in your agreement when the home will be sold, for example, when the children are grown, and split the proceeds when that time comes.

If you decide to own the home jointly for a few years, you must get a written agreement or court order granting you exclusive use of the residence and keep your ex’s name on the deed. The house will then be considered your ex’s primary residence as well, and he will preserve his ability to exclude $250,000 of gain

when the house is sold.

In divorce you’ll end up with far less than you had before, so decide what is most important to your future. If you give up retirement assets to keep the home, develop a plan to build a nest egg for later in life. A bit of advance planning goes a long way. p

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April 26-May 10, 2019

14

Book Review & Conversations Book Looks Behind-the-Scenes at the Men and Women Seeking a Green Card

Director Jordan Peele Casts More Immigrant Actors, Tells More Inclusive Stories

BY MARILYN SILVERMAN

A

plethora of governmental statistics document the insufferable plight of our illegal immigrants—charts, columns, tables, numbers, percentages, but we the public don’t see that man working below the minimum wage who is confronted with a brick wall since due to his illegal status is powerless to complain to any governmental body. We don’t see that man toiling away a grueling twelve hours a day at a neighborhood deli. We don’t see that man sharing a cramped room in an apartment.

Grant Kennedy, in The Power of the Green Card They Did What They Did for a Green Card! pushes away those cold passionless statistics and lets us see faces and the struggles that confront them as they arrive on our shores with the dream of obtaining a green card.

Kennedy is an immigrant from Jamaica. Unlike the immigrants he writes about in this book, he came to America legally, with a green card.

BY MARYSSA HALL

But as someone from the immigrant community, he was privy to and was always very intrigued by the stories of hardship and courage of those around him who came to the United States illegally. Kennedy is a CPA and lives in Westchester County, New York. p To read the full book review, visit www.workersworldtoday.com.

T

he biased and narrow portrayal of immigrants and people of color in Hollywood is not a new phenomenon. However, some are beginning to turn the tide. As a 2017 study points out, 50 percent of Latino immigrants on television are portrayed as criminals; 33 percent of Black immigrants are portrayed as criminals or incarcerated. The same is true for 25 percent of Muslim immigrant television characters.

The limited positive roles for immigrants and people of color across film and television perpetuate harmful stereotypes that further distance people from one another–and audiences are growing weary of it.

Recently, Director Jordan Peele announced that he will only cast people of color as the leads in his future films.

Some argue that Peele’s decision is creating a racial divide in Hollywood and beyond. Those critics are missing the point.

His intentional choice to tell stories through the eyes of people of color— many of whom are immigrants—allows Hollywood’s old storylines to expand into something new. He is opening doors for immigrants of color to showcase previously untold stories—and viewers are responding at the box office.

Peele’s first writing and directorial debut Get Out—budgeted at only $5 million—became an Oscar-winning cultural phenomenon and grossed

over $250 million worldwide. In the second film he directed, Us, Peele shattered records once again with an $88 million global box office opening weekend—the second-biggest opening for an original live-action film.

Us is on track to match or surpass Get Out’s success.

One remarkable factor his films have in common is that his lead actors all have immigrant ties.

Lupita N’yongo (Us) is a MexicanKenyan actress with dual citizenship and the daughter of refugees. Actor Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out) is a Londoner with Ugandan roots and the son of immigrants. Actor Winston Duke (Us) hails from Trinidad and Tobago and immigrated to the United States as a child.

Peele’s films are giving Americans across the nation an opportunity to see a version of the country they may not experience every day. By creating stories that explore and capture the complexity of the human experience, he creates more well-rounded, realistic characters that more of us can see ourselves in.

Peele isn’t alone in understanding that audiences are hungry for these shifts. As outlined in the 2019 Hollywood Diversity Report, “America’s increasingly diverse audience prefer diverse film and television content.”

While Hollywood still has a long way to go, it’s beginning to take cues from audiences who want to see a true reflection of the America they live in today. p

Notary Public Training Course This 3‑hour New York Notary Public Training course is designed to educate individuals with the legal terminology, concepts and clauses contained in the framework of the New York State Notary booklet.

Fee: $50 covers course materials.

Location: 26 Court Street, Suite 701 Downtown Brooklyn For registration and dates, visit www.nacc.nyc or call 718-722-9217.

April 26-May 10, 2019

www.workersworldtoday.com

15

Love, Health & Travel

Understand Where Jealousy Comes From

BY VICTORIA FALK

BY JENNINE ESTES, MFT

T

J

ealousy in relationships is a fear-based response. It can sneak into relationships for many reasons, and usually none of those reasons harbor a favorable outcome for your relationship. If you don't know where jealousy comes from, it's harder to stop it in its tracks.

Let's go over some of the main reasons why you might start feeling the green monster of jealousy creep up: A Withdrawn Partner One place jealousy in relationships can stem from, is a withdrawn partner. If your partner is distant, closed off, or shares little to no information with you, this is classified as being “withdrawn.” When you don’t know how they feel or what is going on, it’s easy to make up stories in your mind of the worst case scenario variety.

The natural reaction for the partner who is not withdrawn, is to start filling in the gaps and try to predict what is going on. When that happens you then become a victim of your own imagination and the panic of the unknown begins to sit in. This is one of the main emotional places where jealousy comes from.

Your History If you have a history of being the victim to cheaters or have always been around unfaithful relationships your mind will remember trauma and can be triggered with similar situations. In this scenario, your partner’s behavior actually has little to nothing to do with your jealousy — you just can’t seem to shake these residual feelings from past experiences.

It’s a bit like muscle memory;

The Business of Travel

If you don’t know where jealousy comes from, it’s harder to stopit in its track. your mind goes to a bad place almost as a habit.

Your Partner’s History If your partner has a track record of cheating this can cause your mind to wonder when they’re not around. In these cases regardless of how much you love your partner, it may be very difficult to keep trust in the relationship.

Insecure Bond When the bond isn’t secure because of endless fights or the feeling of disconnect, it can create a fear-like response of jealousy. The less you are connected to your partner, the harder it is to feel confident in the relationship.

Discomfort in Your Own Skin You get upset when you think your partner is up to no good; you can’t reach them when they are in a meeting, or they don’t answer their phone for an hour or longer. When you aren’t comfortable being in your skin alone, then it can come out in unjustifiable jealousy. You get jealous that your partner pays attention to the dog more than you.p

Victoria Falk is the award-winning CEO of Passionate Travel Inc.

Visit: www.passionatetravel.info or call (800) 890-7492

Jennine is a Marriage and Family Therapist in San Diego, CA., certified in Emotionally Focused Therapy for Couples. She writes relationship and self-growth advice for her column, Relationships in the Raw. She is the creator of #BeingLOVEDIs campaign. MFC#47653.

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he power of the internet has increased our information in regards to what’s happening around the world. We’re able to meet a lot of people more quickly than ever before. At one time, we were excited when someone could find a business partner who lived in a different state than them. However, nowadays, people on different continents are meeting and forming alliances over the worldwide web. Social media has become an excellent tool to help attract clients and partners, and technological advances are helping them maintain contact with each other through a variety of online meetings.

But the fact remains, most people prefer to do business with someone they’ve met in person. They want to meet potential business partners and get to know them as people first, to see if they like

them, before contemplating whether or not to have a business discussion. Therefore, business tourism is emerging as a fast-growing, lucrative niche in the travel industry.

Business tourism involves business people traveling to meet clients, team members, and potential business partners. But it also includes travel for personal development, to attend business events, exhibitions, business meetings, and other professional events. According to recent surveys, London, Hong Kong, and New York remain the top three travel destinations for travelers seeking trade fairs, conferences, and other corporate events.p

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