When workers are profiled, bullied, and harassed

Summary

Podcast Summary: Marketplace Morning Report – "When workers are profiled, bullied, and harassed"

Date: February 19, 2026
Host: David Brancaccio
Guests: Kimberly Adams (Marketplace), Chi Mak (JPMorgan Chase Institute), Oded Shankar (Ohio State University), Julie Robbins (Earthquaker Devices), Maurice Romming (O'Neill Construction Group)

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Episode Overview

This episode focuses on the growing challenges faced by businesses and workers beyond just economics—highlighting how social tensions, specifically bigotry and harassment, are directly impacting employee well-being, staff retention, and business operations. The episode opens with economic reporting on tariffs and their consequences before moving to a candid discussion with Maurice Romming, a construction executive, about his employees experiencing profiling and harassment outside the workplace.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Economic Strains on Mid-sized Businesses Due to Tariffs

[01:20–03:21]

• Tariff Burdens – Marketplace's Kimberly Adams reports on new data from JPMorgan Chase Institute showing tariffs for mid-sized US businesses have nearly tripled since the Trump administration’s policy changes.
• Limited Flexibility – Mid-sized firms lack the supply chain agility of larger corporations, making them especially vulnerable to these added costs.
  • Quote [02:33]:
    "Smaller players typically have less wiggle room ... They often serve a single market."
    — Oded Shankar, Ohio State University
• Real-World Example: Julie Robbins, CEO of Earthquaker Devices, confirms a direct business impact:
  • Paid $80,000 in new tariffs since spring, expecting $200,000 for the year.
  • Already raised prices, anticipates additional hikes.

2. Who Pays the Tariff Costs?

[03:21–04:24]

• Conflicting Narratives:
  • A Federal Reserve Bank of New York study finds that nearly all tariff costs are passed on to American businesses and consumers—not absorbed by foreign suppliers as the Trump administration claims.
  • Kevin Hassett, White House economic adviser, disputes the study:
    • Quote [03:35]:
      "Worst paper I’ve ever seen ... the authors should be punished."
• Broader Impacts: Rising prices contribute to economic pressure on companies and families.

3. Workplace Harassment and Worker Retention: Construction Industry Case Study

[05:11–08:14]

• New Threat to Workforce Stability
  Maurice Romming, co-owner of O’Neill Construction Group (Portland, OR), describes how offsite bigotry and harassment are leading employees—specifically workers assumed to be immigrants—to reduce hours or quit.
  • Quote [05:40]:
    "We're seeing external kind of bullying, harassment off the job site that we can't control...We end up with workers that feel like they need to protect their family, and so they then in turn either opt out of work or reduce their hours."
• Examples of Harassment:
  • Workers get shouted at, harassed, or followed when driving company trucks or running errands.
  • Some employees report abuse and refuse to continue certain assignments or reduce their involvement for their family and personal safety.
    • Quote [06:09]:
      "If they're picking up material, if they're just driving with a company truck ... people are yelling stuff out the window."
• Business Impact:
  • Loss of skilled workers, inability to train replacements, shying away from specific contracts or locations due to risk.
    • Quote [07:34]:
      "You've had people come back from an assignment saying, listen, I'm getting abuse and I don't like it and it's not worth it."
      — David Brancaccio
      "Yeah, we're having that..."
      — Maurice Romming
• HR Limitations:
  • No established HR recourse for harassment that happens in public, not at work. The company is left to "console, comfort, and move on."
    • Quote [06:42]:
      "There is not necessarily an HR thing that we could potentially be doing there. It's like, okay, how do we just consult comfort and move on?"
      — Maurice Romming

4. Personal Safety & Societal Impact

• Workers are U.S. citizens or documented employees but are being stereotyped based on perceived identity.
• Brancaccio’s closing thoughts underscore the societal cost:
  • Quote [08:17]:
    "Disappointing is the word that came out when I was on the line with Mr. Romming. I feel 'despicable' is a better word for the behavior described."
    — David Brancaccio

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Memorable Moments & Notable Quotes

• “We end up with workers that feel like they need to protect their family, and so they then in turn either opt out of work or reduce their hours.”
  — Maurice Romming [05:40]
• "If they're picking up material, if they're just driving with a company truck ... people are yelling stuff out the window."
  — Maurice Romming [06:09]
• "Disappointing is the word ... I feel 'despicable' is a better word for the behavior described."
  — David Brancaccio [08:17]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Tariffs & Business Impact: 01:20–03:21
• Who Pays For Tariffs: 03:21–04:24
• Construction Worker Harassment & Retention: 05:11–08:14
• Summary & Host's Reflections: 08:17

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Overall Tone & Language

The episode maintains a direct, journalistic tone, occasionally turning more personal and somber as Brancaccio discusses the real-world effects on workers and businesses. The language remains factual and empathetic, especially when covering the human consequences of societal bigotry and economic policy.

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For Listeners Who Missed This Episode

This segment provides a revealing look at how larger social issues—like public harassment and profiling—are colliding with business operations and economic pressures, impacting not just bottom lines, but people’s lives and safety. It's a timely exploration of how workplace and societal dynamics interconnect, urging listeners to recognize the real costs of discrimination in America today.

Transcript

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[David Brancaccio]

A new cost to Businesses Bigots on the street hassling employees because they think they're immigrants David I'm David Brancaccio in Los Angeles. Good morning to you. First, there's new data today on how the Trump administration's tariff policy is affecting businesses. The JPMorgan Chase Institute dug into its data on mid sized businesses, which it defines as having between 50 and about 500 workers, or $10 million to $1 billion in revenue, and found that those mid sized companies tariff payments nearly tripled starting early last year, Marketplace's senior Washington correspondent Kimberly Adams reports.

[Kimberly Adams]

Mid sized businesses are often regional business anchors, says Chi Mak, business research director at JPMorgan Chase Institute. And with their tariff payments tripling in

[Chi Mak / Julie Robbins]

the last year, they can only absorb it. If they have been absorbing it for so long, this is going to come out in potentially lower profit margins. They may be looking to pass on the cost to their customers.

[Kimberly Adams]

These businesses often don't have the same flexibility as larger firms to switch up their supply chains, says Oded Shankar, who teaches management and human resources at the Ohio State University.

[Oded Shankar]

Smaller players typically have less wiggle room because they have less alternative. They often serve a single market. They sometimes have a single or a very limited range of product.

[Kimberly Adams]

And that holds true for even smaller businesses. Julie Robbins is CEO of Earthquaker Devices in Akron, Ohio, which manufactures guitar effects pedals. It's already paid almost $80,000 in new tariffs since the spring.

[Chi Mak / Julie Robbins]

We've developed the supply chain over 20 years, and just because the administration thinks we should be doing something differently, the reality doesn't exist.

[Kimberly Adams]

Robbins expects that this year that tariff bill will creep close to $200,000. She's already had to raise prices once and anticipates another price hike coming soon. In Washington, I'm Kimberly Adams for Marketplace

[David Brancaccio]

and White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett is unhappy with a separate Federal Reserve bank of New York study that finds that we are paying the of the taxes on imported goods. Those higher tariffs we were just discussing, Hassett says the authors should be punished. Worst paper I've ever seen, hassett said. The data supported study found that just about all of the tariffs last year were passed on to American businesses and consumers through price increases. This cuts against the administration's view that foreign suppliers tend to eat the costs. The price of crude oil traded in New York is up 1.5% now, given what's being called the biggest buildup of US air power near Iran since the Persian Gul. The US and Iran are in talks about Iran's nuclear program. A barrel is trading above $66.

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[David Brancaccio]

I learned something disturbing talking to the co owner of a construction company in Portland, Oregon. Maurice Romming of o' Neill Construction Group brought up safety as one reason he can't retain workers that he needs. What was shocking was that he wasn't talking about safety as in hard hats or dangerous heavy equipment. This contractor, whose people help build commercial buildings in the Pacific Northwest, was talking about his staff getting bullied by random bigots when they have to leave the job site to, for instance, pick up materials.

[Maurice Romming]

Here's his account we're seeing external kind of bullying, harassment off the job site that we can't control. And how that's playing out is that we end up with workers that feel like they need to protect their family, and so they then in turn either opt out of work or reduce their hours. And so it has some pretty significant impacts.

[David Brancaccio]

Wait, so bad behavior in wider society is affecting the decisions that your workers

[Maurice Romming]

are making when they're off the job site, if they're picking up material, if they're just driving with a company truck. Right. And people are yelling stuff out the window. And so it's a unique and different feeling. But we have had employees that opted out and or reduced hours.

[David Brancaccio]

I'm trying to understand this better. Maybe you have an employee who you send out to pick up something at a warehouse and then runs into people who are not your employees, hassling them, profiling them.

[Maurice Romming]

Maybe that is correct.

[David Brancaccio]

I see.

[Maurice Romming]

There is not necessarily an HR thing that we could potentially be doing there. It's like, okay, how do we just consult comfort and move on? We have other employees. You know, they're concerned about their elderly parents, and so they choose to opt out to make sure that they can safely get to point A to point B, which then I'm losing talented people. And then it basically reduces our ability to do additional work when we lose those individuals.

[David Brancaccio]

And if you're employing them, these are people with documents. Right? These are people who have the right to work in America.

[Maurice Romming]

Yeah, they're just being profiled. And so that profiling is what's causing them to say, okay, I need to take care of my family. Which we totally understand. But it's unfortunate because then we lose good people and can't train additional people in the market.

[David Brancaccio]

So you've had people come back from an assignment saying, listen, I'm getting abuse and I don't like it and it's not worth it.

[Maurice Romming]

Yeah, we're having that. We're having where they're being kind of followed or watched as they go on job sites. There are particular prime that we tend to now kind of shy away from in certain environments because we recognize that we're going to end up putting our people in a position where it's uncomfortable for them to feel safe at intense

[David Brancaccio]

time that we live in and so many levels. A disappointing time when you tell these stories. Contractor Maurice Romming is president of o' Neill Construction Group out of Portland, Oregon. Thank you so much for your time.

[Maurice Romming]

Thank you, Dave, for having me.

[David Brancaccio]

Disappointing is the word that came out when I was on the line with Mr. Romming. I feel despicable is a better word for the behavior described. In Los Angeles, I'm David Brancaccio. Marketplace Morning Report from apm, American Public Media

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