Employee Housing or Workcamp?
Hello Dear Editors,
Got to admit that you have outdone yourselves with the Simonton trailer park coverage. Wow ! How many nails did you guys pound in one big Board (pun intended) with that one. Just amazing and it read like a novel and given more space, like say 350 pages, it would be a best seller. It cast a doubt about whether there are any honest public officials or high ranking figures left in the world anymore; very debatable. From what I’ve seen over the years, regarding all matters of governmental action, there is almost always some form of corruption ensuing, most likely I believe because all of the players want to pocket most of their time in office and play nice with big money and their influences, to later obtain opportunity and support from them.
Ok I am not a specialist, but I found a point in your articles that I’d like to chime in on a tidbit: The subject of affordable housing and the fate of the working class – mostly people working for low wages in the hospitality industry in the Keys. You might already know this, but some of the various hotels, mostly the chains, have found a solution to this problem already.
As I have witnessed myself in the case of the [local hotel franchise] there is a large contingency of foreign workers, that are provided with housing either in the company buildings or some off premises apartments rented by the company and subleased as a form of dormitory to their workforce. Rent is deducted from their pay, from $350 a month in the company buildings where they have to share a small one bedroom efficiency with 3 or 4 coworkers, and around $500 monthly for the off premises condos were they also have to share with up to six coworkers, 2 in each bedroom. It can be cramped at times but their only salvation relies on the fact that management is very apt at mixing workers from different shifts to alleviate the potential continuous overcrowding. It appears to me to be very similar to work camps of yesteryear draped in some appearance of luxury, as in some instances some condos have a pool and some form of gym. Just wondering ??? how many hotel workers are in this same situation in the Keys ?
Oh well, if there is dirt there, I am sure the Blue Paper will someday dig into it. Once again congrats you two for a great job. Hope you are getting some satisfaction (though probably not so much sleep) from a job well done . Don’t worry, a few people probably still like you, most likely your kids. Lol! Keep up the great work!
Denis Pelletier
Key West (often)