Several workers, mostly illegal immigrants, testified that they were not even provided safety gear while working at a demolition site.
According to some court documents made public recently President Trump hired undocumented immigrants in 1980 to dismantle a New York City building, Newsweek reported. The report elaborates that these workers, who numbered in hundreds, were sometimes paid $4 an hour and were not given proper safety equipment.
Reportedly, Trump was sued by the workers and contractor in 1983 for unfair labor practices and had to eventually cough out $1.375 million to resolve the matter after a 15-year litigation.
“We worked in horrid, terrible conditions,” Wojciech Kozak, one of the undocumented Polish workers at the demolition site, told the Times, Newsweek reported. “We were frightened illegal immigrants and did not know enough about our rights.”
The report said the court settlement was kept out of public view for about 20 years until the documents were made public last week after an order by US District Court Judge Loretta A. Preska. The motion for the release of documents was filed by Time Inc. and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.
“The Trump Parties have failed to identify any interests that can overcome the common law and First Amendment presumptions of access to the four documents at issue,” Preska ruled.
According to the documents, Trump wanted to demolish Bonwit Teller building to construct the 58-story Trump Tower. The workers came out to complain about inappropriate wages and bad work-conditions when their contractor discontinued their payments. To avoid delay in work, Trump representative started paying workers in cash thereafter.
Ironically, Trump had bragged several times during the presidential elections in 2016 that although he has been sued several times, he had “never settled.” The President has also been pushing for ‘Buy American, Hire American’ agenda, since his election to the White House.