TV documentary puts Gould Construction squarely in the center of attention



By Donna Gray
Glenwood Springs, CO Colorado
December 28, 2006


GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colo. — An NBC television report on the national debate over illegal immigration aired the day after Christmas is having repercussions in the Roaring Fork Valley. The documentary team headed up by former NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw focused on Glenwood Springs contractor Mark Gould and his struggle to fill laborer jobs that he says only Latinos will take.

Gould spoke about his frustration at not being able to hire Americans to do the hand labor required to lay sewer pipe and sidewalks. He said young American men coming out of high school now don’t want to start out as ditch diggers for $14 an hour, the current starting wage at Gould Construction.

Without immigrant workers willing to take those jobs — illegal or not — his business would be in deep trouble, he said.

Gould also admitted that at the time he was interviewed for the story last spring, he could have had illegal immigrants on his payroll despite checking documents of prospective Latino workers.

Wednesday Brett Gould’s phone was ringing off the hook at the Gould Construction office south of Glenwood Springs. Brett Gould, director of human resources at Gould Construction, said by Wednesday afternoon he’d received more than 600 calls from across the country inquiring about jobs.

But there was also a downside for the Goulds.

“By the end of the show I had e-mails, applications for jobs,” said Mark Gould from Dallas airport Wednesday afternoon. He was returning from a family vacation over the Christmas holiday. “The hate mail bothered me the most. People want to put their head in the sand about this issue.”

He said most businesses don’t want to acknowledge they may be breaking the law because they need to hire illegal immigrants to fill their jobs.

The problem of illegal immigration is complex, with issues of economics, politics and social justice. The story highlighted living conditions for some Hispanic workers in the Roaring Fork Valley — 18 people to a four-bedroom home. That and the fact that some willing workers can’t work here legally, are issues that have to be addressed. Speaking out, he said, “is a first step in acknowledging (the problem). Maybe people will be able to talk about how we can solve it.”

Retired concrete contractor Ken Kriz of Glenwood Springs found the show revealing and unsettling. One of the themes of the story was the apparent failure of many Latino immigrants, whose numbers are growing exponentially here, to integrate into the valley’s Anglo community.

“It’s disturbing that Hispanics are really taking over and many don’t seem to want to assimilate,” he said. “Immigrants that came here 50 or 100 years ago, they assimilated.”

Kriz’ parents, who immigrated from Czechoslovakia, told him, “You were born in America. You’re going to learn English. There’s some (Hispanics) that do want to learn English, that do want to be part of the culture here, but a lot of them don’t.

“He (Gould) probably doesn’t really care whether they’re legal or not.”

On his way back from a vacation Tuesday night, Mark Gould managed to catch the show on TV.

He said his message “didn’t necessarily come across because it was broken into sound bites.”

NBC producer Soraya Gage said in an interview last week that she and Brokaw appreciated Gould’s willingness to speak out about a problem that many employers won’t acknowledge for fear of bringing the law down on their heads.

During the show, Brett Gould was filmed taking applications from several Latino men and checking their immigration documents. He said the company does everything it can to stay within the law when it comes to hiring.

“We try to not knowingly hire illegal workers,” he said in the show.

Also interviewed for the documentary was an Latino worker hired by Gould named Trino. He admitted he was in this country illegally and used a false Social Security number to get the job.

Wednesday Brett Gould terminated Trino and his brother Juan Carlos who had also been hired by the company.

“We had to,” he said. “I did not know he was illegal until last night (when the show aired).”

Brett Gould said he felt badly about letting them go. “They’re darn good workers. They learned fast. They learned English.”

On Aug. 7 Colorado passed a new law requiring prospective employees’ documents to be screened by Homeland Security.

“Everyone we’ve hired since then is legal,” he said. But he said he’s lost 10 percent of his workforce. He has no praise for the new law.

“The state legislature reacted to many people’s opinion. They don’t understand the real problem.”

Watching the TV show was not comfortable for Mark Gould, but he acknowledged that it’s an issue that needs to be discussed more.

“It was hard to watch last night. I didn’t feel all warm and fuzzy inside. There’s something wrong with the world and we need to fix it. We can’t fix it unless we talk about it.”


Contact Donna Gray: 945-8515, ext. 16605
dgray@postindependent.com

What people are saying
The comments below were posted on the Post Independent Web site and received via e-mail.

Anonymous comments from the Web site:
• “This contractor is attempting to justify the smuggling and employment of illegal labor. I believe that ICE should conduct a criminal investigation of this local contractor, in fact I will be filing a compliant [sic] with ICE on Tuesday.”

• “As a fourth generation Colorado native, I am embarrassed that a national TV documentary on illegal immigration would select the Glenwood, Carbondale, and Aspen/Snowmass and Colorado in general to highlight the greed of some building contractors like Gould.”

Via e-mail:
• “It is a farce to claim Americans will not do the work that illegal immigrants are doing. What Gould Construction should do is recruit workers in states where unemployment rates are high. The company will find plenty of American workers.
Gould construction should place ads in metro Detroit and Michigan newspapers for workers. The company would find a surplus of workers willing to work for the same wages the company is paying to illegal immigrants.”

• “The one thing that NBC did not bring out is that “European Males – White” cannot work on a job site where all the coworkers are speaking Spanish. It makes young white men feel very uneasy, Hispanics make threats against whites and purposely intimidate them & out numbered so they do quit.
“Construction trades are now completely taken over by illegals. All the unskilled jobs whether fast food, receptionists, retail, truck drivers or construction around the nation have been taken by foreign born individuals – male and female.” Dorothy Brasch

• “What was so blatantly horrendous was Gould knowingly breaking the law, Americans being told they won’t work for $14 an hour, illegal kids taking over schools on our financial backs, their birthing their illegal kids in our hospitals that we pay for, crime wasn’t mentioned, drunken drivers not mentioned, illegals driving without a license or insurance, only a bunch of nice guy illegals, no word about drug trade, no word about Americans not getting those jobs, nothing about diseases. It was a sickening portrayal of illegals in a soft, fuzzy light while we’ve got 67% drop out/flunk out rate in Denver schools from illegals, total classroom chaos, killings regularly by illegals, people smuggling, forgery outfits and much more.” Forrest Wooldridge; Louisville, CO

• “As a first generation US citizen who spent thousands of dollars in lawyers fees to help me stay legal, I find it amusing that Mr. Gould and others like him claim that there are no Americans willing to work for the wages he is willing to pay. This is simple supply and demand. If you cannot buy something at the price of $14, maybe if you offer to buy it for $15, $16 and so on, you will eventually find willing workers. For businesses this is simply the game where they look at the cost of compliance with the law (i.e. hire legal workers) versus the cost of non-compliance.” Satish Rajan; Roseville, CA

The comments below were posted on the Post Independent Web site and received via e-mail.

Anonymous comments from the Web site:
• “This contractor is attempting to justify the smuggling and employment of illegal labor. I believe that ICE should conduct a criminal investigation of this local contractor, in fact I will be filing a compliant [sic] with ICE on Tuesday.”

• “As a fourth generation Colorado native, I am embarrassed that a national TV documentary on illegal immigration would select the Glenwood, Carbondale, and Aspen/Snowmass and Colorado in general to highlight the greed of some building contractors like Gould.”

Via e-mail:
• “It is a farce to claim Americans will not do the work that illegal immigrants are doing. What Gould Construction should do is recruit workers in states where unemployment rates are high. The company will find plenty of American workers.
Gould construction should place ads in metro Detroit and Michigan newspapers for workers. The company would find a surplus of workers willing to work for the same wages the company is paying to illegal immigrants.”

• “The one thing that NBC did not bring out is that “European Males – White” cannot work on a job site where all the coworkers are speaking Spanish. It makes young white men feel very uneasy, Hispanics make threats against whites and purposely intimidate them & out numbered so they do quit.
“Construction trades are now completely taken over by illegals. All the unskilled jobs whether fast food, receptionists, retail, truck drivers or construction around the nation have been taken by foreign born individuals – male and female.” Dorothy Brasch

• “What was so blatantly horrendous was Gould knowingly breaking the law, Americans being told they won’t work for $14 an hour, illegal kids taking over schools on our financial backs, their birthing their illegal kids in our hospitals that we pay for, crime wasn’t mentioned, drunken drivers not mentioned, illegals driving without a license or insurance, only a bunch of nice guy illegals, no word about drug trade, no word about Americans not getting those jobs, nothing about diseases. It was a sickening portrayal of illegals in a soft, fuzzy light while we’ve got 67% drop out/flunk out rate in Denver schools from illegals, total classroom chaos, killings regularly by illegals, people smuggling, forgery outfits and much more.” Forrest Wooldridge; Louisville, CO

• “As a first generation US citizen who spent thousands of dollars dollars in lawyers fees to help me stay legal, I find it amusing that Mr. Gould and others like him claim that there are no Americans willing to work for the wages he is willing to pay. This is simple supply and demand. If you cannot buy something at the price of $14, maybe if you offer to buy it for $15, $16 and so on, you will eventually find willing workers. For businesses this is simply the game where they look at the cost of compliance with the law (i.e. hire legal workers) versus the cost of non-compliance.” Satish Rajan; Roseville, CA



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