CEO: Reform needed for migrants in construction

In a class of around 300 Texas A&M College of Architecture students, construction industry giant Stan Marek issued a warning to the future project managers, landscape architects and urban planners of Texas.

“If we lost our undocumented construction workers in Texas, we would be shut down. We would not build a house,” Marek said. “We would be all out of work.”

Marek, CEO of Marek Brothers, a commercial general contractor, is a longtime advocate of immigration reform.

His blunt message — to an audience of mostly freshmen and sophomores students on Texas A&M’s campus Tuesday evening — was that their job security is dependent on finding solutions to one of the most divisive political issues of the day: immigration.

He asked the crowd of students if any of them plan to hang sheetrock in their careers. Not a single person’s hand shot up in the crowd of mostly young white men. Most of the students will take on managerial roles in the industry. Marek’s point? Immigrants — especially immigrants without legal authorization to work — are more often than not doing the actual building.

An estimated 24 percent of all Texas construction workers are unathorized to work, according to data from the New American Economy think tank — that’s about 305,000 workers. Of the state’s drywall, ceiling tile installers and tapers, 76 percent are immigrants.

Marek laid out more uncomfortable truths in his talk to the in-person students, and others teleconferencing in from the Rio Grande Valley: builders rely on these workers to deliver cheaper projects and stay competitive.

By hiring immigrants as independent subcontractors, builders can get away with offering low wages and avoid paying workers’ compensation (a program for injured workers) and payroll taxes.

“The home building industry has had this model for 35 years,” said Marek, “I’ve talked to some home builders and they’re really proud of the fact that they can deliver a house much cheaper than somebody who pays payroll taxes, provides workers’ comp.”

And he says this underground system is growing.

“The commercial industry today is going more the model of the independent subcontractors,” said Marek.

The underground labor economy also leaves workers vulnerable to wage theft, unsafe working conditions and other abuse, which has been documented by groups like Workers Defense and the Fe y Justicia Worker Center.

For companies that don’t rely on the unauthorized labor, the shortage has created a high demand for authorized workers.

“We’ve watched as the job costs just goes up year to year,” said A&M senior construction science student David Roy.

In the few years he’s worked at a commercial paint contractor in San Antonio he’s seen salaries quadruple for painters just to keep them on payroll since there’s such a demand for their work.

“It’s been hitting us hard,” said Roy, whose company opted not to use independent subcontractors.

He’s in favor of a policy Stan Marek advocated for during the lecture: ID and Tax.

The proposal would create a system allowing millions of the people living in the United States without authorization to be hired legally while employers would be required to pay taxes. They would have to pass background checks and be issued government IDs.

“That would alleviate a lot of the pressure that we’re feeling,” said Roy. “I’d be able to get more guys in the office and more guys working out on job sites. Right now, that’s not an option that we have and that really does hurt us, either on the bottom line, or just as far as keeping employees inside our company.”

Thursday’s talk came as the Biden administration pledged not to carry out worksite raids to round up undocumented workers and instead crack down on the employers that hire from the underground economy and use exploitative tactics.

“We will not tolerate unscrupulous employers who exploit unauthorized workers, conduct illegal activities, or impose unsafe working conditions,” said Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas.

But in his speech, Marek said for now he doesn’t see anything radically changing that would discourage the use of independent subcontractors.

He said by convincing students that what happens in Congress with immigration impacts their livelihoods directly, maybe they’ll get closer to some sort of reform.

“If we’re going to build our jobs with integrity and do the right thing, we have to have a legal workforce,” said Marek.