Carpenters in Connecticut have been protesting at the new London Plaza Hotel (formerly the Radisson Hotel) against Sandoval Construction of North Carolina. The company does not meet area standards for wages and benefits. It was also issued a Stop Work Order by the Connecticut Department of Labor last week for not having proper workers' compensation coverage.

The New London Patch posted a story, photos and video of the event.

The New England Regional Council of Carpenters and other industry groups are calling on the Massachusetts legislature to make it a felony for employers to fail to purchase workers compensation insurance for their employees. Senate Bill 915, sponsored by Senator Katherine Clark (D-Melrose) and Majority Whip Ronald Mariano (D-Quincy) also has the backing of Attorney General Martha Coakley.

Operating without workers' compesnation insurance is currently a misdemeanor, punishable by upt oa year in prison or a find of up to $1,500. The new law would make the felongy punishapble by up to five years in state prison, two-and-a-half years in jail or a fine of up to $10,000.

NERCC Political Director Steve Joyce said that although union carpenters are always covered by workers' compensation insurance, they are still hurt by those who cheat.

"In an industry where work most often goes to whoever submits the lowest price, any contractor who does not purchase workers' compensation coverage has a competitive advantage right from the start over contractors who follow the law and have coverage," he said. "That negatively impacts any carpenter that works for a legitmate contractor. We're not looking to hurt all employers, we value the role they play in creating jobs. We just want everyone to comply with the law when they do it."

Even the Associated Industries of Massachusetts (AIM), a group that lobbies for businesses, support the bill. In a story by the State House News Service, John Regan, AIM's Executive Vice President described the current situation as unfair to too many.

"Their faliure to have that insurance in place means that if workers working for them get injured, the rest of the employer commnity pays the bill" and that making failure to have coverage a felony "reflects the seriousness of the issue, and conveys how important it is that coverage be in place."

According to the SHNS story, the Massachusetts Department of Industrial Accidents has reported more than 1,000 cses costing the worekrs compensation fund $26 million in the last five years becuase their employer didn't have worers' compensation coverage. In recent years the department has routinely issued Stop Work Orders against more than 3,000 employer found to be operating without workers' compensation coverage.

"Stamford Plan Hits a Speedbump" is the headline of a piece in the national version of the New York Times today. And while the reporter seems to go out of her way to heap praise on the Harbor Point project being developed by Carl Kuehner's Building and Land Technology (BLT), the headline and the substance of the article probably make Kuehner wish the article had never been published. It's become a familiar feeling for him lately.

The Times article is about a dispute between Keuhner's BLT and Stamford's Downtown Special Services District (DSSD), which acts as a guide and clearinghouse for downtown development. The group participated in a grueling process to develop guidelines that B&LT is attempting to ignore with a planned 124-room hotel. The DSSD is digging in its heels and getting strong support from within Stamford, because, despite the Times focus on this single issue, Kuehner and Harbor Point have come under fire repeatedly in recent months for behavior that indicates a consistent, disdainful attitutde toward standards, rules and anyone that attempts to defend them.

The Harbor Point site has been the subject of repeated demonstrations by union carpenters calling attention to the presence of subcontractors on site who do not pay area standard wages and benefits for carpenters on all of their projects.

Local residents became upset and demanded answers from B&LT and Stamford City officials when a previously existing boathouse was demolished in defiance of an agreement to maintain a full service boatyard at the site. Mayor Michael Pavia seemed curiously ignorant of the situation until asked by reporters. The Zoning Board later ordered BLT to stop demolition work.

Not long after, an article in the Stamford Advocate headlined "Developer Shows Signs of Disregarding Rules" detailed a number of instances where the Kuehner and BLT acted as if they were entitled to do just about whatever they wanted at Harbor Point, including trying to restrict the public from using public playgrounds and parking spaces, illegally blocking streets and building without permits.

In recent weeks, union claims about improper treatment of workers were borne out when the Department of Labor issued Stop Work Orders against 8 subcontractors working at Harbor Point for violating wage, hour or insurance laws. Three of the companies were charged with returning to work in defiance of previous Stop Work Orders without permission from the DOL.

The issue is not new to BLT or the construction industry. Subcontractors on other BLT projects had been the subject of at least eight Stop Work Orders for misclassifying workers and other violations. One subcontractor, Heritage Drywall, was ordered to pay more than $100,000 in owed wages and penalties on a BLT project. A reporter permitted to do a "ride along" with the DOL on the Harbor Point visit put it in a greater context of an industry spiraling out of control and costing honest businesses and taxpayers more than they know.

Despite the current "speed bumps," the Harbor Point project and a companion hotel will undoubtedly be completed in some fashion and will benefit the City. But Stamford and its residents might suggest a few flashing yellow or red lights for those dealing with Kuehner and BLT in the future.

The Connecticut Department of Labor's Wages & Workplace Standards Division, has issued "Stop Work Orders" against eight contractors working on the Harbor Point project in Stamford, continuing a string of bad practices and bad press for the city and the project's developer, Carl Kuehner's Building and Land Technology (BLT).

The Stamford Advocate has run a significant story on the orders, as well as an excellent piece detailing the Department of Labor's efforts to confront extensive problems in the construction industry. Both are well worth reading and sharing.

Avilik Inc., Flagg World, M&M Construction, Pillar Construction, T.F. Andrews, Brothers Contracting, Continental Tile and Kitchen Classics were the companies cited for various violations of wage, hour, insurance or tax laws by the Department of Labor's Stop Fraud Unit. None of the companies are based in Connecticut. Some are only as close as New York, some have come from as far away as Maryland, according to the Advocate.

Three of those companies--Brothers Contracting, Continental Tile and Kitchen Classics--are being charged with violating a previous stop work order by going back to work without clearence by the DOL.

The project has come under intense criticism in Stamford, where citizens feel the developer and oher companies based in Harbor Point has been given too much control with little or no oversight. Union carpenters have started an online petition calling for Stamford Mayor Michael Pavia to step in and give residents more of a voice. Please read and consider signing the petition here.

Fifty millworkers who are members of UBC Local 8093 working for Indiana Limestone Company have been on strike through the holidays after unanimously rejecting a concessionary contract. Difficult economic times have forced many Americans and union members to watch wages and working conditions slip backwards. And though they have not blindly agreed to every concession demanded of employers, union members and Americans have been flexible and realistic in working with employers to strike a balance between business viability and protecting a decent standard of living.

What's at play in Indiana, though, may have less to do with recent economic conditions than it does with the move my many American businesses from family run and privately owned to investor owned or publicly traded.

A piece by Joseph Varga for LaborNotes explains.

Resilience is the new player in Indiana’s limestone industry. Like Mitt Romney’s Bain Capital, Resilience specializes in “flipping” mid-range “stressed” companies like Indiana Limestone. The private equity firm buys them up, strips them down, lowers their labor costs, and sells them to investors.

It’s the same process that has occurred throughout the country for the past 30 years, turning family-owned businesses into “lean and mean” concerns, in the process destroying good union jobs and shrinking the tax base in communities that are struggling to survive.

While company officials make the usual statements about being fair-minded corporate citizens, the fact is that there had been only one other brief strike in Indiana Limestone’s long history, while in two years Resilience had made it clear it was only about lowering costs in order to resell.

According to the article, among the concessions sought by Resilience are elimination of "just cause" standards for discipline and an end to safety meetings, though the work done can be extremely dangerous.

Varga's piece goes on to detail the context in which the strike is taking place. The state has been at the forefront of battles over rescinding collective bargaining rights and enacting so-called "right to work" laws. It has also seen some pushback from workers--both union and nonunion--as well as younger citizens who have become involved in the "occupy" movement.

New understandings and alliances have been forming between the workers and young people eager to get involved and make a lasting difference in the future.

There's no happy ending to the story, at least yet. And there may not be. But one can't help feeling there could be better results in the future if the conversations between workers and their neighbors continue, creating a better understanding of each other and the common problems they face.

Fed up with billions of dollars in lost tax revenue and a business community that is increasingly upset by being put at a competitive disadvantage, California is vowing to make a major push to crackdown on businesses that misclassify workers as independent contractors to avoid paying unemployment insurance, workers compensation coverage and other required feeds. The Los Angeles Times reports.

December 16, 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Mark Erlich

Carpenters continue mass demonstrations at Marriott Copley
Members of the New England Regional Council of Carpenters, Painters District Council #35 and other Boston Building Trades unions will be demonstrating at the Marriott Copley Place this Saturday, December 17 from 11am-1pm to call attention to substandard conditions for construction workers renovating 1100 hotel rooms. Demonstrations featuring as many as 200 members have been held two to three times a week for the last month and will continue indefinitely.
 

Host Hotels, the owner of the downtown hotel, hired Baystate Services, Inc as a general contractor. Baystate and its subcontractors pay substandard wages, and minimal or no benefits. In addition, many of the subcontractors illegally misclassify their employees as "independent contractors", a violation of state and federal tax and insurance laws. Three subcontractors on the site, RB Wallcovering, of Jacksonville Beach, Florida, Jayson Connor, a Marshfield, MA flooring contractor and Installation Plus, a Corona, CA contractor were issued Stop Work Orders (attached) by the Massachusetts Department of Industrial Accidents within the last five weeks for failure to properly cover employees with workers’ compensation insurance.
 

“Host Hotels is part of an unfortunate trend to drive standards down and jeopardize middle-class careers in construction," says Mark Erlich, Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the New England Regional Council of Carpenters. "Host is taking advantage of the recession to bring in low-waged out-of-state workers and hiring contractors that participate in the growing underground economy.”
 

“If guests used the same logic as Host Hotels—that price was the only issue for making a decision—would any of them stay at the Copley Marriott?" asks Jeffrey Sullivan, Business Manager of Painters District Council 35. "Guests pay up to $400 a night while these trades workers make as little as $12 an hour. With room occupancy in Boston back to pre-recession levels, Host has no excuse for these kinds of choices."
 

Video of past demonstrations can be viewed in the nercc.org video gallery under the “Workers Rights” heading. 

Members of the New England Regional Council of Carpenters greeted students and parents arriving yesterday for the fall semester at Quinnipiac with some questions and concerns about the school’s judgment when it comes to its building practices.

The school is in the midst of a 10-year building plan but has had some problems recently with contractors hired to do work. Two flooring contractors were issued Stop Work orders by the state while working directly for the college on small rehab projects.

“Union carpenters and union contractors have done work at Quinnipiac and will in the future, I’m sure” said NERCC Organizer Jeff Wolcheski. “But we think the way they’ve made some of their decisions leaves a bit to be desired. It’s understandable, given they are educators, not builders. Maybe they’re getting bad advice from outside experts who only care about bleeding profit out of the school. Maybe President John Leahy has too many outside interests or has grown complacent when it comes to details and follow-through after so many years here.”

Wolcheski and the union have been making a point that their issue is not strictly a matter of nonunion contractors working on campus. Union carpenters have worked alongside nonunion carpenters at Quinnipiac and on other sites. Union organizers have even built relationships with nonunion carpenters, offering to help them if they encounter wage or safety problems. What’s troubling is the lack of concern for quality and legal compliance by contractors allowed to bid and work on campus.

“We make our living in the construction industry,” says Wolcheski. “We know the good guys, the bad guys and the really bad guys. We know all the scams and shortcuts that hurt not just workers in the industry, but owners like Quinnipiac and the local communities. For the University to simply fold their arms and claim ‘we know best’ seems shortsighted and needlessly close minded.”

The New Haven Register published a story, which includes video comments by NERCC Representative/Organizers Jeff Wolcheski and Bill Jordan. It can be seen here.

A story also appeared on istockanalyst.com, an investment information site.

Members in Central Massachusetts will gather Friday morning to protest the use of substandard contractors at building being renovated for eventual lease to the Worcester County District Attorney’s office.

Northpoint, the General Contractor on the project, has hired a New Hampshire-based company by the name of Drycon to do metal stud and drywall work. Drycon took over from Metro Walls, another New Hampshire-based company that was debarred from performing public work in the state of Massachusetts as a result of misclassifying workers.

The protest rally will take place from 8am-1pm at 184 Main Street in Worcester. All members are invited and encouraged to attend.

The building is owned by 184 Main Street Associates, which is owned by Robert Oftring. The project received a $2.8 million dollar loan from Mass-Development, $600,000 for Historic Tax Credits, and is now seeking $550,000 in Tax Increment Financing from the City of Worcester.

Efforts by Union Carpenters or other advocates to uncover bad deeds often run into a wall of ignorance or denial. But two prominently featured stories on Boston.com today shine a bright light on some significant issues in the construction industry and elsewhere that clearly need some attention.

The first relates to public work being awarded to contractors despite their previous violations of various laws and their failure to disclose those violations as required by law.

The story focuses on stimulus money given to companies for paving projects, but the lack of oversight is clearly a problem that carries into other projects at the state and local level. At it's worst, the problem is intentional, as awarding authorities ignore likely or confirmed violations of prequalification or bidding laws in order to hire the contractor that simply has the lowest price.

A clear example of this can be found in Hanover, where the town awarded a public school project to Callahan Construction, despite multiple warnings from the Attorney General's office that the company had misled the town. At issue there was the company's attempt to prequalify for the project by taking credit for similar work that was done by another company. Though they claim to be a successor, they did not disclose financial problems they would've been required to include in documents if that were the case.

The second is about the massive settlement Wal-Mart just reached with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. This time out, the company is paying $40 million to almost 90,000 workers for illegally lowering workers pay by refusing to pay overtime, manipulating time cards and making workers skip legally mandated breaks.

Yes, 90,000 workers. Hardly a mistake with paperwork. And don't make the mistake of thinking Wal-Mart is being a good corporate citizen by settling the suit; it was filed in 2001!

The Board of Selectmen in Madison, Connecticut has unanimously approved KBE Building Corporation as the construction manager for a $5.5 million senior and ambulance garage, but not without taking measures to prevent the company from hiring subcontractors that have contributed to problems on their projects in the past. The Madison Building Committee will determine and hold all contracts for subcontractors for the project in order to “take KBE out of the picture” according to the building committee chair.
KBE had been the only one in the running for the job until the Board of Selectmen asked that additional companies be considered. Though the interview of two additional companies did not change the end result of KBE getting the job, the town did seem to agree that leaving KBE to select subcontractors could lead to problems.

NERCC Organizers Margaret Conable and Bart Pacekonis were among those who spoke at the Selectman’s meeting on Monday. They discussed KBE’s history of hiring subcontractors that illegally misclassify employees as independent contractors, avoiding payment of Social Security, unemployment and other payroll taxes.

The story, with quotes from Conable and the building committee chair, was covered by the New Haven Register. The article is online at their site.

A comprehensive new study of low wage workers shows that most of them are not even being paid the meager wages they’ve agreed to work for, thanks to cheating employers. In addition most are not covered by workers compensation insurance or are pressured not to report serious injuries to seek workers compensation benefits. More than 4,000 workers in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago were interviewed revealing shocking details of exploitation and pressure by employers to give up legally provided rights.

--26% of workers interviewed were paid less than the minimum wage. Sixty percent of them were paid more than a dollar less than the minimum wage. Even among tipped workers, 30% were not paid the lower minimum wage mandated for tipped employees.

--25% worked more than 40 hours the previous week. Those working overtime averaged more than 51 hours in the week. Of those who worked overtime, 76% were not paid in accordance with overtime laws.

--The average worker in the study was cheated out of $51 the week prior to being interviewed, a 15% cut on their average $339 weekly earnings.

--Of the interviewed workers who experienced a serious injury on the job, only 8% sought workers compensation claims. Among those who did, 50% were illegally pressured by employers to abandon the claim, were fired, or reported to immigration authorities.

--Only 39% of workers interviewed were illegal immigrants. The rest were either legal immigrants or native born Americans.

One of the reasons the cheating is so widespread appears to be fear of employees to speak up. The study reports that “when workers complained about their working conditions or tried to organize a union, employers often responded by retaliating against them. Just as important, many workers never made complaints in the first place, often because they feared retaliation by their employer.”

The conclusion wasn’t just based on anecdotal research. Twenty percent of workers complained about wages or working conditions and almost half were met with illegal employer retaliation, such as firing, suspension or threats.

The study was completed by the University of California, Los Angeles, and the City University of New York and is available online from the National Employment Law Project.

Congrats to Beth Sturtevant of CCB for being named one of the 2009 Women to Watch by Maine Biz, the state's leading business publication.

CCB is a longtime union signatory contractor in the state and Sturtevant has done radio ads with the New England Regional Council of Carpenters to promote the partnership between contractors and the union. It's a commitment she didn't shy away from in her interview with Maine Biz:

The company prides itself on being a “self-performing” general contractor, meaning it employs much of its craft labor directly, rather than through subcontractors. CCB is also a union shop, one of few of its kind in Maine, an alliance that supplies the company with well-trained and certified employees, she says.

Sturtevant, in her role as a board member for the Associated General Contractors of Maine, has long advocated and lobbied in Augusta for “responsible contracting” practices, or limiting use of independent contractors in the regular work force, a tactic some companies use to avoid providing health insurance, access to workers’ compensation and other benefits.

She’s also dedicated to her employees’ safety, and says the company’s experience modification rate, an insurance calculation that reflects historical safety statistics, has remained below average for years. “Ultimately, the buck stops with me, and the culture and the attitude we have in this company is safety is the priority,” she says.

Members will be rallying at an assisted living facility in Hanover, New Hampshire on Friday to kickoff a public education campaign in the area about Kal-Vin/GNPB/Northrock Construction. Kal-Vin, one of the names used by the collection of companies run out of the same office, is doing work at Kendal at Hanover, an assisted living facility owned and operated by the Kendal Corporation of Pennsylvania. Bannering by members will continue at the facility daily for several weeks.

Members will meet in front of the facility at 8am on Friday, July 31. The facility is located at Hanover-80 Lyme Road, in Hanover. Directions are as follows:

From Southeast or Northwest of Hanover:
Take I-89 to the Lebanon-Hanover/Dartmouth College exit (#18).
Turn onto Route 120 North and follow it until the road branches (at the light). Stay on Route 120 (straight ahead) all the way to the intersection with Route 10. Take a right onto Route 10 North and follow it for approximately 2 miles. Kendal at Hanover will be on your left.

From Southwest of Hanover:
Take I-91 to that Norwich, VT/ Hanover, NH-Dartmouth College exit (#13). Turn right and cross the bridge into Hanover, which will bring you to the Dartmouth Green. Go left at the far corner of the Green (across from the Hopkins Center) onto Route 10 North. Follow Route 10 North for approximately 2.5 miles from the Green. Kendal at Hanover will be on your left.

If you have any questions or problems please call Marty Coyle or Frank SantaFe.

New Bedford Standard Times
Jack Spillane
July 26, 2009

When the national economy goes into the kind of coma it's in now, New Bedford, of course, goes on life support.

And the kind of good-paying jobs that used to be present at construction sites become like defibrillator paddles in an emergency room. There's no shortage of out-for-the-count bodies who want their turn at those paddles.

Which brings me to the situation at the work site for the new Lincoln Elementary School in the North End.

The carpenters union, the contractor and the city of New Bedford have all been competing for the best deal on the Lincoln jobs since the bids for the $20 million project were opened back in April.

But they've yet to come to an agreement that will guarantee that local men and women can obtain all the benefits possible from those defibrillator paddles, er ... job opportunities.

Yes, the Lincoln is a prevailing-wage job site, and yes, the Lang administration — after some earlier failures on hiring local people for other city projects — has succeeded in reserving 90 percent of the Lincoln jobs for locals.

But once again, the city failed to live up to its Responsible Employer Ordinance and didn't require the winning bidder, CTA Construction Inc. of South Boston, to demonstrate that it could run apprenticeship programs at Lincoln. Those programs would train unskilled city residents for a future share of local carpentry, iron work and manual labor available at construction jobs.

Attorney General Martha Coakley's office earlier this month called out the city for not complying with its own employer ordinance and ordered it to call CTA back in. She now wants CTA, or whatever contractor finishes the project, to demonstrate it has the required apprenticeship programs. Otherwise, it has ordered New Bedford to give the jobs to one of the other bidders that does run apprenticeships.

The Lang administration says it cares about the apprenticeship program and training local people for future jobs. But it also cares about making its September 2010 deadline for opening the school.

It seems to be looking for a way to keep CTA — which union officials say has a horrible reputation as a labor-friendly employer — staying on the job even though the company has not traditionally always used subcontractors with apprentice programs.

"They were the low bidder. We're going to have to try to work with them," said Mayor Scott Lang.

That doesn't sit right with Ron Rheaume, the Fall River business manager for Local 1305 of the New England Regional Council of Carpenters.

He said that in order to comply with the rules of its ordinance, the city can't use a contractor on the Lincoln school that did not have an apprenticeship program to begin with and that an attempt by Simmons Concrete, a New Bedford CTA subcontractor, to start an apprenticeship program now is too late.

Rheaume asked why a supposedly labor-friendly city is dealing with what he calls an anti-union shop.

"There should be trades there working, the carpenters, the laborers, the iron workers," he said.

On the one hand, the mayor said he has confidence in school business manager Larry Oliveira and purchasing agent Debra Travers, who awarded the contract to CTA, the lowest bidder by just $160,000. But on the other hand, he said CTA should be working with the carpenters' union because the unions have the best contacts with subcontractors who have apprenticeship programs.

CTA has not returned phone calls on the issue.

Meanwhile, a longtime critic of the city's contracts, John "Buddy" Andrade, has begun working with CTA's principal subcontractor, Simmons Concrete, to start an apprenticeship program.

Rheaume said he's worried that the nonunion subcontractor will use Andrade's program to misclassify higher-paid carpenters as lower-paid laborers. He's requested payroll records in an effort to prove it and force CTA out of the job.

"This is not a joke. That's what they're turning this into: a joke," he said, contending that contractors who avoid union shops have brought wages and working conditions crashing in the construction industry.

For his part, Andrade said the attorney general has proved what he has been saying for 11 years: The city of New Bedford is not complying with its REO. "This is a big victory for the community, especially the young workers who are looking for that (training) opportunity."

Lang, who has received union support in his mayoral campaigns, said that if he were CTA, he would work with the unions. They have the most experience running apprenticeship programs. But with CTA locked in a three-year struggle with the carpenters over unionization of their shop, there doesn't seem much chance of that.

Meanwhile, this whole struggle to run apprenticeship programs leaves me wondering when it became so difficult for a union to find work on government jobs in an old-time union city like New Bedford.

It's a new world out there. And a new economy.

And it's not labor-friendly.

To comment on this article on the New Bedford Standard Times' website, click here.

Many news sites allow 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.

The Massachusetts Attorney General’s office ruled that the city of New Bedford must enforce its Responsible Employer Ordinance in response to a bid protest filed by the New England Regional Council of Carpenters. The NERCC filed a bid protest at the Lincoln Elementary School project, charging that the winning bidder, CTA Construction, did not have the required registered apprenticeship training program and had not demonstrated that the subcontractors they would hire had them either.

The AG’s office told the city that it should provide a “reasonable period of time” for all the general contractor’s who submitted bids for the construction project to supply documentation of their apprenticeship programs. Once this information is provided, the city can evaluate which contractor will be awarded the project. The contract must be rebid if none of the contractors can meet the apprenticeship requirement.

NERCC Organizers have been working to shine a light on CTA, specifically their history of hiring substandard subcontractors. Organizers have discovered a multitude of CTA projects with repeated prevailing wage violations and numerous labor law violations, including failure to file true and accurate payroll records, misclassification of independent contractors, and cash under-the-table payment to workers.

There are many CTA subcontractors that have been cited by the Attorney General’s office. Two recent stories published on NERCCBlog.com include Phat’s Hardwood Floor and Garcia Drywall.

To check out the New Bedford Standard Times’ coverage of the Lincoln Elementary school project, click here.

Many news sites allow 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.

Attorney General Martha Coakley’s Office has cited a Lynn flooring company, Phat’s Hardwood Floor, and its owner, Phat Q. Du, age 65, of Newton, for intentionally violating the Commonwealth’s record keeping laws by failing to submit certified payroll records on a weekly basis and failing to submit true and accurate certified payroll records to the Arlington Housing Authority over a nine-month period in 2008. The citation orders Phat and his company to pay a $10,000 fine for each violation.

In January 2009, the Attorney General’s Fair Labor Division received a complaint from the Arlington Housing Authority alleging that Phat’s Hardwood Floor failed to submit certified payroll records for work performed on the Menotomy Manor Housing project from March 2008 through December 2008. Employers who work on public works projects are required under state law to submit weekly certified payroll records to the appropriate awarding authority. The Records Keeping Laws allow state agencies to monitor the spending of taxpayer funds on public construction projects. Phat’s Hardwood Floor was performing hardwood flooring and sanding work as a subcontractor for CTA Construction, Inc., a South Boston-based general contractor, on the project.

Investigators reviewed the company’s certified payroll records which were submitted to the Town in January 2009, nearly nine months late, and discovered inconsistencies with the records which were provided by Arlington’s project managers. The Town Manager’s logs showed that the company had more employees working at the job site than were listed on the certified payroll records.

Last week, another CTA subcontractor, Garcia Drywall, reached a settlement agreement with the Massachusetts Attorney General in regards to complaints that the company failed to properly pay prevailing wages and overtime to carpenters employees. Twenty-six carpenters who worked for Garcia on projects in Dartmouth, Boston and Chelsea Massachusetts will be paid $41,600 in restitution. Garcia Drywall, Inc. and its president, Emanuel Garcia, agreed to pay over more than $18,000 in fines for intentionally violating Prevailing Wage and Overtime and Record Keeping Laws. In addition, Garcia and his company have agreed to a one-year debarment, which prevents them from bidding on any public construction projects, as well as from accepting any contracts for public work for a one-year period in the Commonwealth.

Garcia Drywall has reached a settlement agreement with the Massachusetts Attorney General in regards to complaints the company failed to properly pay prevailing wages and overtime to carpenter employees. Twenty-six carpenters who worked for Garcia on projects in Dartmouth, Boston and Chelsea Massachusetts will be paid $41,600 in restitution.

Garcia Drywall, Inc. and its president, Emanuel Garcia, have agreed to pay over more than $18,000 in fines for intentionally violating Prevailing Wage and Overtime and Record Keeping Laws. In addition, Garcia and his company have agreed to a one-year debarment, which prevents them from bidding on any public construction projects, as well as from accepting any contracts for public work for a one-year period in the Commonwealth.

The AG’s investigation began in January when they received a complaint that employees weren’t being paid the prevailing rate.

Investigator’s from the AG’s Fair Labor Division reviewed a self-audit prepared by the company and discovered that the company had misclassified 26 employees at four public construction sites, including: two projects at UMass-Dartmouth; the Massport State Police Station at Logan Airport; and the Prattville Apartments in Chelsea.

Additionally, Garcia Drywall failed to submit certified payroll records to the awarding authorities at these job sites. Investigators also discovered that the company failed to pay time and a half to employees for working more than 40 hours in a work week.

Click here to read the Attorney General’s Press Release.

The New Bedford Standard Times reported on the AG’s filing today. The Herald News also ran a story in today’s paper.

Many news sites allow 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.

Following a May 21 rally at the Worcester Crowne Plaza, members of Carpenters Local 107 have seen a good deal of solidarity and local support in the community. Upset that the hotel had hired a general contractor and drywall contractor from Maryland and Virginia for a $3-4 million renovation, members rallied in front of the hotel. The New England Regional Council of Carpenters Apprenticeship Contest moved events that were scheduled to take place at the hotel to another location. Now, as reported in the Worcester Telegram and Gazette, other labor and political organizations are following suit, offended that even local nonunion contractors were not given an opportunity to bid or work on the project.

Below is an article that ran in the paper last Saturday. The Telegram and Gazette, 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. There have been more than 75 comments made about this article on the site, many of them very negative toward unions. Members are encouraged to use the comment feature and express their feelings about the story. Remember these are public forums, so be direct, but respectful of others. Site editors do reserve the right to remove comments they find objectionable. Members are encouraged to visit the site and add their opinions.

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."

Members of Local 107 and several other NERCC affiliates demonstrated at the Crowne Plaza in downtown Worcester last Thursday to alert the public that two out of state contractors have been hired to do renovations at the hotel. Local politicians and other unions also joined union members to show their support.

First Finish from Maryland was hired as the General Contractor and a company out of Virginia (!) is being used to do the drywall work. This is despite the annual presence of the Carpenters Union at the hotel for the New England Carpenters Apprenticeship Contest and Banquet and the use of the hotel for events by other unions, the Democratic Party and numerous other local groups.



Reports have been coming in that several large groups have canceled their events at the hotel as a result of the Crowne Plaza’s refusal to use even a local nonunion contractor for the project. The Apprenticeship Contest banquet is being moved to another location.

Worcester City Councilor Kate Toomey was one of the speakers at the rally, blasting the Crowne Plaza's one way version of partnership.

"For the Crowne Plaza to be a viable local entity, they need the patronage of Worcester and Worcester County residents. For Worcester and Worcester County to be viable, we need companies like the Crowne Plaza to reciprocate by using local contractors.

"Although the project is underway, I hope that [the Crowne Plaza's parent company] Lodgian and Crowne Plaza will reconsider and give local business3es and tradesmen the opportunity to work on this project."

A video with sights and sounds from last week's Workers Memorial Day observance at the State House in Massachusetts has been posted to YouTube by NECarpenters.

Confirming what many in the field already knew, an audit by the Labor Department found that under the Bush administration, a highly touted OSHA program didn't do what it was supposed to, even before it was curtailed last year.

From a Washington Post story:

A special government program to improve worker safety in hazardous industries rarely fulfilled its promise, a Labor Department audit concluded yesterday, and over the past six years, dozens of deaths occurred at firms that should have been subjected to much tighter federal safety enforcement.

Picketing at a B Street site in South Boston has targeted Comprehensive Construction II, Inc, a Newton company run by Nick Zagarianakos. Comprehensive is self-performing carpentry work at the site for a development company called N&P Associates.

Different crews made up of entirely Brazilian carpenters working for between $10-15 an hour have been rotating through the job and reluctant to talk to union picketers. They are all brought to and from the job together in a van.

The line has not been without effect, though. When picketers first arrived at the site, none of the workers had hardhats or harnesses. Union members questioned and educated the workers about the issue and soon saw hardhats and harnesses issued to every carpenter on site.

Joists are now being put in place for one of the two buildings, which will be flat roof structures allowing 47 loft-style units. There is also work being done on a foundation for the second four-story building.

Some union leaders have been able to talk to N&P about standards in the industry for wages, benefits and working conditions which are not being met by Comprehensive. The hope is that N&P realizes the negative implications for the industry when contractors like Comprehensive are given work and that more responsible contractors can be hired for future carpentry work at this and other N&P sites.

Even if that doesn't occur, there are now crews of carpenters working on site with hardhats, harnesses and a better chance of going home safely, thanks to union members.