Hawaii Construction Industry Starts Campaign to Hire Legal Workers
The Pacific Resource Partnership, a group comprised of construction industry leaders in Hawaii, has started a campaign to encourage their industry to hire legal workers, a local NBC affiliate in Honolulu reports. The "Play Fair in Hawaii" campaign, whose motto is "Play by the rules or don't play at all," started the campaign amid concerns that the construction industry was hiring illegal aliens “to make a quick buck.” The group started a web site and is running TV commercials that discuss the fairness, safety and quality issues that surround illegal hiring.
Their web site notes:
These unscrupulous contractors engage in illegal hiring practices, fail to adhere to safety codes and play fast and loose in other ways to increase their profits at the expense of Hawaii’s skilled workers and consumers. They also gain an unfair competitive advantage over reputable, law-abiding companies. Play Fair in Hawaii was established to expose these practices and hold those who engage in them accountable.
The campaign comes on the heels of ICE enforcement actions in Honolulu, Waipahu and Maui. The next step in the campaign is to lobby state lawmakers for legislation that will encourage legal hiring and shore up enforcement.
Underscoring the nature of the problem, the TV station interviewed one out-of-work carpenter who said, "This is the first opportunity to come out to Hawaii because my son is in the navy and I got out here and I was number 485 on the out of work list in the union and so I haven't worked since."