Gonzalo Valencia is a carpenter in Washington State. On May 8, 2007, he gave the following testimony before a joint hearing of Congressional committees on employee misclassification.

My name is Gonzalo Valencia. I have worked as a carpenter for 18 years.

I went through the Union apprenticeship starting in 1989. I worked for fourteen years on union jobs.

After 9-11-2001 work slowed down. I went out looking for work. I went up to a guy who was framing a house. He said, “Can you frame?” I said, “I can frame anything.” He said, “Can you get two guys to work with you?” I said, “Sure”. He paid me as an independent contractor. I’ve been working that way ever since.

I am good at building houses. I love to build houses. I am an honest man. I have tried to do it right. Many others don’t even try to pay the taxes for the carpenters. The homebuilders have accountants and lawyers who decide how much it will cost to build a new house. I think they know that the footage rates are not enough to pay ourselves a wage and cover our own payroll taxes.

It is very difficult... The homebuilder is a big company. I am a carpenter working with my tools. The builder tells you how much you will be paid. On some houses there is not enough money to keep a wage for myself. The homebuilder provides all of the material. The homebuilder sets the schedule. The superintendent calls and yells at you when you don’t show up for work.

The reason I work as an independent contractor is because nobody tells the homebuilders that they have to pay their carpenters as employees.

I have framed for the same large homebuilder for five years. I understand that this is an ongoing job; so long as I continue to perform they will keep me on. Sometimes the boss says if I don’t do something that he wants he will fire me. Recently he demanded that I fire one of the guys on my crew.

I’m not a contractor like a plumbing or electrical company. I don’t bid work to other contractors, I don’t have an office or a secretary. I don’t have a company name on the side of my truck. I go to work everyday for the same builder. If this was a commercial job I would be a foreman. Building houses I am called a framing subcontractor.

My situation is very common in new home construction. In five years I have seen many framing crews, hundreds of workers. The workers often get paid less than they were promised or don’t get paid at all. None of the tract homebuilders in our area hire carpenters as employees.

Today, my son is working with me. He is learning the trade. I can teach him to be a good carpenter. I can’t teach him how to make a living working on houses.