He said contractors like Bovis, Skanska and Balfour Beatty are "replicating" their experience here to win contracts elsewhere.
With more people at the corners, day laborers said, contractors will hire whoever agrees to work for the lowest pay.
By the end of that project, Mr. Durst said, contractors had come around.
Beyond the leadership void, he said, contractors behave differently on publicly financed projects than private jobs.
Michael Miller, a senior official at the agency, said contractors would hire Africans to do the spraying.
Once they arrive, the report said, contractors have complete control over their welfare, often taking their passports and leaving them nowhere to turn when wages go unpaid.
After passing a written exam, she said, contractors will need to apply to the health commissioner for a $200 license.
The court papers, which are based on accounts provided by 10 cooperating witnesses, said contractors sometimes had to pay off inspectors just to get them to show up.
In addition, Mr. Kshirsagar said, contractors installed new heating and air-conditioning, an automatic sprinkler system and new carpeting and ceiling tiles.
But Jasper Hempel, executive vice president of the Western Growers Association, a group of 3,000 fruit and vegetable growers, said contractors were good for growers and workers alike.
