sub-sub-sub-sub-sub-contracting

[michael perelman <michael@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

According to Democracy Now, FEMA pays prime contractors about $24 per
cubic yard to remove debris; at the bottom of the chain of
subcontracting, the fee is only four cubic dollars per yard; and even
then apparently many of the workers are not even paid. Here is a portion
of the transcript:

*BILL CHANDLER: *Well, as you stated, a large number of workers were
recruited here from all over the country, mainly immigrants and many of
them undocumented. And contractors, who we call the “bottom feeders” --
in other words, for example, a primary contractor like Halliburton or
Bechtel receives a contract from FEMA to clean up the debris on the
coast for about $24 a cubic yard. It is then sub-contracted down through
a whole food chain of subcontractors to the bottom feeders, and in most
instances, we found that they're getting around $4 a cubic yard. And
those are the contractors that have been brought in and brought in
immigrants to do the work.

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Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
michael at ecst.csuchico.edu
Chico, CA 95929
530-898-5321
fax 530-898-5901