'They treat us like mules': Nashville construction workers cry for site safety

As a report finds Nashville the most dangerous southern city for construction workers, unions fight for better conditions and pay

Mike Elk in Nashville
Mon 17 Sep 2018 11.00 BST

Nashville is booming. The city’s population grew by 11.6% between 2010 and 2016, according to the US Census Bureau. With more than $13bn being invested into new construction in the region, Nashville’s skyline now boasts more cranes than even New York City.

But there is a dark side to the building boom. Workplace safety advocates say in the rush to build America’s next “it” city, workers are paying with their lives at alarming rates.

In 2016 and 2017, 16 workers were killed on construction sites in the city – the deadliest two-year stretch in over three decades according to an analysis performed by the Tennessean. Half of those killed in the job were Latino in a city where Latinos make up only 10% of the population.

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Despite the boom, construction workers still make just $14 an hour on average in the Music City. And workplace safety advocates say there is widespread abuse of workers that creates unsafe conditions for all in a sector where many know that they can be easily replaced by undocumented Latino workers.

The culture of fear and intimidation on construction sites has led to basic safety precautions being overlooked. Nashville is currently the most dangerous city in the south for construction workers, according to a report released in May 2017 by the Partnership for Working Families, Workers Defense Project and the University of Illinois at Chicago professor Nik Theodore, titled Build a Better South: Construction Working Conditions in the US South.

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