HOUSTON - Blacks and whites systematically excluded citywide from construction jobs by corrupt local contractors and bribery-riddled Mexican construction gangs.
An explosive allegation by whistle blower and author Ricardo Charles has triggered calls from our viewers to dig deeper.
Since the airing of three FOX 26 reports, we've been inundated by tips, emails and phone calls.
"You really hit it on the head and it really goes deeper. I'm glad you had the nerve to expose that. It seems like if you can't speak Spanish you can't get a job. This is crazy," one viewer said.
"It is true they are bringing in friends, family and relatives and they are fixing the paperwork," another viewer reported.
While common place for years, viewers claim use of low-paid, undocumented Mexican workers is now beyond rampant on job sites around the Houston area.
"If immigration ever runs through my work site here, management will say, 'Oh well, the contractor does all the paper work, they are going to take the fall,' but the bad part about it is these people know about it!" said a viewer who works in the port of Houston.
As for discrimination, viewers say if a Houstonian doesn't speak Spanish, getting a construction job can border on the impossible.
"When I went to apply for a job the girl told me behind the counter that if I wasn't bilingual I couldn't get a job. There’s no matter if I had 10 years concrete experience or twenty years of welding," a discouraged viewer reported.
Read more: http://www.myfoxhouston.com/dpp/news...#ixzz1ZONNdFqd
An explosive allegation by whistle blower and author Ricardo Charles has triggered calls from our viewers to dig deeper.
Since the airing of three FOX 26 reports, we've been inundated by tips, emails and phone calls.
"You really hit it on the head and it really goes deeper. I'm glad you had the nerve to expose that. It seems like if you can't speak Spanish you can't get a job. This is crazy," one viewer said.
"It is true they are bringing in friends, family and relatives and they are fixing the paperwork," another viewer reported.
While common place for years, viewers claim use of low-paid, undocumented Mexican workers is now beyond rampant on job sites around the Houston area.
"If immigration ever runs through my work site here, management will say, 'Oh well, the contractor does all the paper work, they are going to take the fall,' but the bad part about it is these people know about it!" said a viewer who works in the port of Houston.
As for discrimination, viewers say if a Houstonian doesn't speak Spanish, getting a construction job can border on the impossible.
"When I went to apply for a job the girl told me behind the counter that if I wasn't bilingual I couldn't get a job. There’s no matter if I had 10 years concrete experience or twenty years of welding," a discouraged viewer reported.
Read more: http://www.myfoxhouston.com/dpp/news...#ixzz1ZONNdFqd
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