Congratulations on a job well done to eight union carpenters who pitched in a lot of time and effort to help the Rebuilding Together Boston Program on their National Rebuilding Day. The women members, who participated through the Sisters in the Brotherhood program, worked on three sites in the city, adding experienced, skilled hands to the effort.
Rebuilding Together Boston works on an annual basis to repair and renovate the homes of economically disadvantaged homeowners (including the elderly, veterans, families with children, single parent households, the physically challenged and others in need) as well as non-profit-owned facilities (community centers, schools, worship centers, etc.) in the City of Boston. RTB provides its services at no cost to recipients due to the generous support of foundations, corporations, individuals and vendors.
This year's projects on National Rebuilding Day included: six homes in Mattapan, Dorchester and Roxbury; Pine Street Inn Veterans’ housing, a residence for formerly homeless women, and the Nazareth Residence for Mothers and Children.
Members involved in the effort included: Joan Bennett, Local 33; Theresa Haymon, Local 33; Maureen Owen-Ewings, Local 67; Marcia Williams-White, Local 33; Karen Blandino, Local 67; Judy Sullivan, Local 67; Mikey Myles, Local 67 and Liz Skidmore, Local 118.
Carpenters Local 118 in New Hampshire recently announced that is has endorsed the candidacy of former state senator Maggie Hassan for Governor. The affiliate of the New England Regional Council of Carpenters was the first union to endorse her campaign. She will face fellow former state senator Jackie Cilley in a Democratic primary to replace retiring incumbent Democratic Governor John Lynch.
“There is too much at stake for any of us to sit on the sidelines in this election. We need to support a leader who can win in November and that leader is Maggie Hassan,” said Brother Joe Donahue. “We’ve worked with many candidates and public officials over the years and Maggie’s records as a State Senator and Senate Majority Leader is second to none in demonstrating a firm commitment to New Hampshire’s working families.”
“Maggie is a strong and consistent advocate for the issues important to working people in New Hampshire: protecting workers’ rights to collectively bargain, standing up against attempts to make New Hampshire a so-called “right to work” state, and increasing the minimum wage.”
“I’m honored to have earned the support of the Carpenters,” said Hassan. “They represent some of the best and brightest trades people in our state and I’m excited to have them on board our growing campaign. I’m also proud to have stood with them in their ongoing efforts to prevent the abuse of workers in the construction industry.”
In recognition of Earth Day 2012 the New England Carpenters Training Fund is sponsoring a FREE electronics Recycling on Monday, April 23, 2012 at the New England Carpenters Training Center (NECTC), 13 Holman Rd, Millbury, MA 01527.
Items may be dropped off between the hours of 7:00 AM and 2:30 PM (any day this week or on Monday, April 23).
Please call the NECTC at 508-792-5443 to let them know if you will participating so they have an idea of when you will arrive and the items you will be bringing.
Information sessions are being held for members who would like to learn more about degree programs available through the union at Wentworth Institute of Technology. Two sessions are scheduled in the coming weeks.
Saturday, April 21 at 10AM: 750 Dorchester Ave., Boston, MA
Saturday, May 5 at 9 AM: 13 Holman Rd., Millbury, MA
Learn more general information about the program by clicking here.
While we love the convenience and immediacy of sharing news and information through the “Council Update” and on NERCC.org and social media platforms, we know not every carpenter is active online. So the New England Regional Council is committed to continuing to produce the New England Carpenter magazine and deliver it to every member’s home.
The latest issue of New England Carpenter magazine has rolled through the presses up in Salem, Massachusetts at Deschamps Printing. You’ll notice some changes in this issue, including some new design elements and more (and bigger) pictures of union members and union projects!
We’re featuring a cluster of stories about member involvement in area standards demonstrations and introducing the Union Participation Program, which will plug active members into ongoing union efforts to protect standards and win more work opportunities.
Carpenters who were cheated of tens of thousands of dollars in wages reached a settlement with Capstone Development and Cottage Builders yesterday to receive their pay. The companies are the owners and developers of the “Cottage of Durham,” an upscale housing project where the carpenters were employed. It will serve students attending the University of New Hampshire.
The carpenters solicited help in getting their pay after their employer, Builders Construction Services of Alabama, refused to pay them and then fired them and evicted them from company-provided housing when they asked for their wages.
The Carpenters union and local church, student and community groups supported the carpenters, holding a high profile march and demonstration last week. The event garnered significant local and regional media attention (link) that put Capstone under a public spotlight and raised questions about other troubles the Alabama-based company has had with college housing projects, including one in Connecticut.
“We’re happy that these carpenters are finally going to be paid,” said Joe Donahue a representative of the Carpenters Union in New Hampshire. “Wage theft is a real problem in the construction industry right now. It drives down industry standards and drives qualified people out of the industry. Capstone and other developers and general contractors need to be held accountable for the subcontractors they hire. They should implement better controls and have severe penalties for members of their building teams who break the law.”
Union carpenters will join with church, student and community groups to hold a news conference today at 3pm at the Community Church of Durham (NH) at 17 Main Street to release information about serious violations of state and federal law--including non-payment of wages--at the "Cottages of Durham." The "Cottages of Durham" is a new student housing development for students of the University of New Hampshire. It is being developed by Capstone Development/The Cottages of Durham.
Construction workers at the Cottages of Durham describe multiple and flagrant violations of state and federal labor law.
These workers say that they worked long hours for many weeks without pay. When they complained about nonpayment of their wages, they were terminated and evicted from their housing.
Union carpenters stand in solidarity with these exploited workers and demand that Cottages of Durham/Capstone Development promptly pay these workers what they are owed in wages and overtime.
The Nashua Telegraph yesterday published a piece by Mark Mackenzie, President of the New Hampshire AFL-CIO calling for a New Year's resolution to help workers in 2012. The piece was a good summary of what workers want and deserve, but aren't gettingin today's America. Click through to read the piece and consider sharing it with others.
Legislative leaders in New Hampshire today fell short of the votes needed to override Governor John Lynch's veto on Right to Work legsilation. The result is that New Hampshire will not become a Right to Work state.The vote was 240-139 to override the veto, short of the neccesary 2/3 required. Speaker William O'Brien had promised a swift override of the Governor's veto, but failed to call for a vote through the spring and summer, prompting many to believe that he could not muster the votes to override. Today was one of the final two active days of the current session, meaning if he did not bring it to a vote, the bill would have to be refiled fro scratch in the next session.
Texas Governor and GOP Presidential hopeful Rick Perry addressed legislators and voiced his support for the override vote just an hours before the effort failed, earning boos as well as cheers. Another Republican Presidential candidate, former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman, also spoke to legislators and urged them to support Right to Work by overriding the Governor's veto.
The judgement of both might be qustioned, given that news articles and talk around Concord seemed to indicate O'Brien was certain to fall several votes short, with most legislators holding firm and well known positions on the issue.
Right to work supporters are planning a major event in Concord on Wednesday to coincide with a vote on Right to Work legislation for New Hampshire. There are rumors that Republican Presidential Candidates will attend this rally.
We have beaten back this efforts before and need to do it again. But we need to ensure that our voices are heard and our faces are seen. Please join us Wednesday at 8am in front of the State House for a demonstration in support of workers, in support of unions and against Right to Work.
Again, that’s this Wednesday, November 30 at 8am in front of the State House in Concord. Thank you.
A New Hampshire commission established to consider and make recommendations on existing and potential new business regulations will include the voice of union carpenters. Joe Donahue, a member of Local 118 and employee of the New England Carpenters Labor Management Program was appointed by New Hampshire Governor John Lynch to the "Commission to Study Business Regulations in New Hampshire," a body established by legislative action earlier this year.
The commission will "study business regulations in New Hampshire, the impact they have on employment growth and business profitability, and the costs and benefits associated with the current regulatory environment. The goals of the commission shall be to:
(a) Review New Hampshire’s business oversights that fall under the umbrella of labor and workforce regulations.
(b) Review New Hampshire’s business oversights that fall under the umbrella of environmental and construction/permitting regulations.
(c) Identify potential reforms that could be made to regulations cited above, and develop legislation for the 2012 session to accomplish those reforms."
Donahue has extensive experience in political and legislative issues relating to the construction industry in New Hampshire and has been a key player in the efforts to improve enforcement, particularly relating to the issue of the misclassificaiton of workers.
Residents and workers in New Hampshire or those interested in the state or the construction industry, would do well to follow NHCarpenters on Twitter. Today, he's providing live, blow-by-blow updates on the progress of hearings relating to expanded gaming in the state. NHCarpenters is also a regular source of information on what's going on with carpenters--union and nonunion--in the industry and how contractors are behaving.
Even if you do not use Twitter, you can visit pages of those who do to see what they're up to. Use the link above to see current and past posts.
Tradesworkers in New Hampshire recently rallied to support a legislative initiative that would expand gaming in the state, creating thousands of jobs and desperately needed revenue for the state.
The Manchester Union-Leader, a New Hampshire newspaper that has generally stuck to its very conservative roots even as the politics of the state become gradually more moderate to liberal, printed a two-story feature in it’s Sunday edition about the dark side of the construction industry in the state.
The stories center around Juan Garcia Hernandez, a "jefe" NERCC Organizers also knew as Juan Garcia. Hernandez supplied immigrant drywall workers for several projects in the region, including projects financed by the federal government through the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). He was also arrested by state and federal agents on Easter weekend in New Hampshire’s biggest drug bust when he and some others were caught with 100 pounds of cocaine, worth approximately $4 million.
NERCC Organizers have been talking to employees working for Hernandez and other jefes for a long time, finding low wages promised, though sometimes unpaid. Without a concerted Federal effort to limit illegal immigration, several years ago the union decided it would be better served talking to immigrant workers and helping them fight for decent treatment.
The stories highlight how and why things have gotten so bad in the industry. Hutter Construction, who was the general contractor where Hernandez was subcontracted for drywall work, claimed they didn’t know a thing about Hernandez. Though their website brags about their skills as a company that can manage all aspects of a project including "supervision," "job records and reports," and "establish boundaries and benchmarks," they tried to run from any involvement with Hernandez in the story:
"The actual contract was with Granite State Drywall," said Chad Gibson, Hutter's project manager, adding that he was unaware Hernandez was involved in the project. "It would be very hard for us to police three tiers down the line who is hiring them," Gibson said. "It's somewhat beyond our control."
[emphasis added] The two stories can be read online here and here. The Manchester Union-Leader, like many news sites, allows readers to post comments about a story. Reader comments may appear beneath the story with a form for submitting more comments. Members are encouraged to use this feature and express their feelings about stories they read online concerning union and construction issues. Remember these are public forums, so be direct, but respectful of others. Site editors do reserve the right to remove comments they find objectionable.
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