Construction industry owes Hispanic employees for boom

Gauging the impact Hispanic workers have had on the construction industry in Memphis is impossible, but some officials say that the building boom couldn't have happened without them.

Jameson-Gibson Construction Co. president Gene Gibson says maybe 25% of the construction work force is Hispanic; Siskind Susser Haas & Devine partner Lynn Susser says it might be 50% or more.

"You don't see a construction site without Hispanics anymore," says Dilka Roman of Randstad staffing agency and vice president of the Memphis Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

Uncertainty about the numbers reflects an underlying uncertainty about the Hispanic worker's legal status in the U.S. Though immigrants from Mexico have long been crossing the border to seek work -- legally or illegally -- the early '90s saw a stream of workers so strong that it moved beyond the Southwest to cities nationwide.

As the North American Free Trade Agreement relaxed restrictions between the U.S. and Mexico and the American economy boomed, jobs opened up in the construction industry here. The immigrants came not only from Mexico but from Central America and South America as well, creating a Spanish-speaking community as diverse as American society itself.

And the Hispanic laborers brought a work ethic that won over their bosses.

"They were one of the best things that ever happened to the construction industry," Gibson says. "Days don't mean anything to them. They'll work 12 hours. And they can do many things. They're multi-talented."

The language that bound so many diverse groups of Hispanics proved an obstacle to working in their new country. Roman says Randstad, which specializes in marketing to Hispanic workers, provides tapes in Spanish.

"There are so many safety rules they don't know," Roman says.

She knows of a worker killed last month when a piece of machinery fell on him in a ditch. That's a common story, she says -- and the situation is aggravated by fly-by-night subcontractors who sometimes leave town without paying their workers.

Gibson says some of his crew chiefs have learned Spanish, and some Hispanic workers he has sent to classes to learn English.

The first wave of workers to Memphis brought mostly laborers, who worked with framing, brick laying and concrete, but the work force has matured somewhat. Now more Hispanics have worked their way into insulation crews, heating and air conditioning and wiring.