Posted by
NERCC
on May 15, 2012 at 11:30 AM
Dan Rego, a union carpenter and organizer who successfully ran for City Council in Fall River, is starting to shake things up in the Southeastern Massachusetts City. At a Monday night hearing for the Fall River Housing Authority, Rego raised questions about the agency's awarding of construction contracts and the payment and treatment of workers.
The Fall River Herald News reported on Rego's questions in today's paper. The Housing Authority cut off Rego's statement and went into Executive Session, ultimately voting to begin an independet investigation of the allegations, according to the paper. Rego has already discussed improprieties he has found on FRHA sites with Fall River Mayor William Flanagan as well as the offices of Attorney General Martha Coakley, Inspector General Gregory Sullivan and State Auditor Suzanne Bump.
Rego told the Housing Authority that he has found issues with projects that are valued at less than $10,000, which are done with very little oversight.
Posted by
NERCC
on May 14, 2012 at 02:14 PM
Braintree, Massachusetts-based Northeast Interiors has been ordered by the state to pay $20,000 in fines and make restitution of almost $16,000 to twelve employees. The company cheated workers on three projects in Arlington, Swampscott and Salem.
Civil citations were issued against Northeast Interiors and owner Kevin Fish for failure to pay prevailing wages for work performed ($5,000), failure to submit true and accurate certified payroll records ($7,500) and failure to keep true and accurate payroll records ($7,500). Violations occured when the company was doing work at Arlington Menotomy Manner, Swampscott Thomson Building and Salem Rainbow Terrace.
The case was handled by the Fair Labor Division of the Office of Attorney General Martha Coakley. Workers who feel their employer has paid them less than what they are owed, in violation of previaling wage laws or other wage and hour laws (ie, overtime) may contact the New England Regional Council of Carpenters for assitance or may file a complaint directly with the Attorney General's Office using this page.
Posted by
NERCC
on February 09, 2011 at 12:00 AM
The Connecticut Mirror published a story last week about the growing debate between municipalities and labor unions over prevailing wage. Town leaders feel the system imposes unaffordable labor charges, while labor leaders point out the system protects towns from unscrupulous contractors who undercut companies that play by the rules.
Connecticut’s prevailing wage law is gearing up to be one of the more hotly contested topics during the state's 2011 legislative session. Approximately 25 bills related to the prevailing wage statute have been introduced during the session, which began Jan. 5 and will run until June 8.
Currently, communities must pay the prevailing rate on renovation projects costing more than $100,000 and new construction over $400,000. Some argue this threshold should be raised to $500,000 for renovations and $1 million for new construction, while others propose a $1 million floor for all projects.
Glenn Marshall, newly appointed Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Labor and former Regional Business Manager for Connecticut Locals 24, 43 and 210, is quoted in the article:
“I totally understand in the economic climate we’re in that people want to cut costs, I personally don’t believe it should come off the backs of the workers.”
Marshall points out that the industry has been harmed by the growing underground economy and he fears that raising the threshold for prevailing wage projects could open a new series of projects for unscrupulous contractors to pursue.
The Labor and Public Employees Committee held a public hearing on prevailing wage at the Legislative Office Building in Connecticut. In addition to proposing revisions to the prevailing wage law, municipal leaders also called for the state to revise the binding arbitration mandate. In binding arbitration, when the two sides can’t reach an agreement on a union contract, an arbiter fashions a contract after hearing from both sides.
Mark Erlich, Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the New England Regional Council of Carpenters testified at the hearing in opposition to the suggested changes. He presented data that shows that the notion that repeal of the prevailing wage law would save taxpayers money is overblown. Erlich’s testimony can be read here.
Erlich noted that “the intent of prevailing wage legislation is to ensure that taxpayers get value for their public construction investment.”
“Weakening the state’s prevailing wage law in any fashion would hurt workers, hurt the painfully slow process of economic recovery, and ultimately lead to unsafe conditions on public projects and the delivery of shoddy construction products subsidized by taxpayer dollars.”
Erlich wrapped up his testimony saying “…If this committee wants to perform a public service by re-evaluating the current status of the prevailing wage law, please do not consider elimination of the statute. Instead, I would urge you to review all sources of public funds that do not currently trigger the use of prevailing wages. Extend the application of this valuable law; don’t remove it.”
To read more about the hearing visit Hartford Courant’s website.
Posted by
NERCC
on December 28, 2010 at 12:00 AM
In California, the ABC has been pushing cities to drop prevailing wage requirements on municipally funded jobs. In response to this push, a web-based resource was created for elected officials, UBC members and the public, illustrating the benefits of prevailing wage. The website -
SmartCitiesPrevail.org - educates the public, news media and decision makers within city governments about how prevailing wages paid on public projects benefit Californians by preserving quality local jobs for working families.
The site contains some great resources including statistics, facts/myths about prevailing wage, and links to research and case studies collected from cities and states that have kept or eliminated prevailing wage. The site also offers useful tools and downloads, including a prevailing wage fact sheet.
Visit
SmartCitiesPrevail.org to learn more!
Facebook users can also follow the group online
here.
Posted by
NERCC
on July 22, 2010 at 12:00 AM
Santangelo Flooring and Mark Santangelo individually have been ordered to pay fines totaling $1500 and pay back workers money they are owed as a result of the company’s violating prevailing wage laws in Massachusetts.
The violations occurred on several public jobs in the Commonwealth, mostly in 2009. NERCC Organizers found workers were not being paid properly and reported it to the state, which led to the investigation and workers being paid a total of close to $7,000.
Posted by
NERCC
on June 21, 2010 at 12:00 AM
Lockheed Window Corporation and its President, Michael Kosiver, both of Rhode Island will be paying workers more than $56,000 in back wages after the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office found them to have violate state prevailing wage laws. They will also pay a $10,000 penalty to the Commonwealth.
"investigators discovered that during work performed at 26 public works projects from September 2006 through February 2009, the company failed to pay the proper prevailing wage rate to 22 employees who were installing windows."
"Workers who believe they have been misclassified or that their rights have been violated are strongly urged to call the Attorney General’s Fair Labor Hotline at (617) 727-3465. More information about the wage and hour laws is also available in multiple languages at the Attorney General’s Workplace Rights website: www.massworkrights.com."
More information.
Posted by
NERCC
on March 02, 2010 at 12:00 AM
At least two workers employed on a project to convert a former hospital building into affordable housing in Bridgeport, Connecticut are receiving checks totaling close to $50,000 for back wages owed to them. Despite public money funding the project from at least three local and state agencies,the workers were not paid at the legally mandated prevailing wage rate by their employer, Fairfield County Drwyall. The Bridgeport-based company was a subcontractor for Viking Construction.
The workers received help in getting their wages from NERCC Organizers in Connecticut, including Ted Duarte, who says the initial contact was a byproduct of the good work of Organizers in the Empire State Regional Council of Carpenters.
Duarte said that a carpenter on a job in New York was assisted in getting wages he was owed by Empire State Council Organizer Rich Craven. That carpenter was a friend of one of the drywallers on the Bridgeport job, who suspected he was owed wages. Craven spoke to him and facilitated a meeting with Duarte, who helped get state authorities involved.
"This is the way a lot of nonunion carpenters come to us, how they get to know about us and what we do," Duarte said. "They have a buddy who got stiffed on a job and got paid because a union organizer helped them. When we help them get paid hundreds or thousands of dollars, that word can really get around. Rich did good work for the carpenter in New York and it led to us being able to help two more guys get paid here."
One of the workers in Bridgeport was recently given a check in excess of $32,000 for sixteen weeks of pay he was owed. Duarte said he should be getting an additional $1,500. The other carpenter was paid about $11,000 and could have more coming, too, Duarte said.
Prevailing wage laws exist at the federal level and in many states to ensure contractors do not gain a bidding advantage by underpaying workers. Wage rates for building trades crafts workers are established through local area surveys, which determine the fair market value for hourly wages. Prevailing wage laws have helped protect a decent standard of living for the nation's construction workforce. They also ensure highly skilled crafts workers build with public dollars, rather than whoever is willing to work for less.
Posted by
NERCC
on March 20, 2009 at 12:00 AM
The following question and answer is taken from a transcript of a Town Hall meeting President Barack Obama had at the Orange County Fair and Event Center in Costa Mesa, California on March 18, 2009.
Q I'm President of the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California, the umbrella organization for construction unions. I would like to thank you for your leadership on the stimulus package, and particularly for trying to get construction workers back to work.
But during the last eight years, the administration chose not to enforce the Davis-Bacon requirements, chose not to enforce wage and hour conditions, and many thousands of workers were denied the wages that they were legally entitled to. What can your administration do to make sure that people get the wages that they're entitled to in this terrible economic downturn?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, look, I have already said that we are going to promote Davis-Bacon. We think it is important that unions have the opportunity to organize themselves. (Applause.)
Now, you know, sometimes, you know, the business press says, oh, that's anti-business. And whenever I hear that I'm always reminded of what Henry Ford said when he first started building the Model T -- and he was paying his workers really well. And somebody asked him, they said, why are you paying your workers so well? He said, well, if I don't pay them well, they won't be able to buy a car.
Think about that. Part of the problem that we've had with our economy over the last decade at least is that -- well, there are a number of problems. Number one, it turns out that a huge amount of the growth that was claimed was in the financial services industry. And now we find out that a bunch of that stuff was just a paper growth that wasn't real and vanished as soon as somebody pulled the curtain.
Another part of the problem with our economy and the way it was growing was that wages and incomes for ordinary working families were flat for the entire decade. Now, I don't need to tell you this because you've experienced it in your own lives. You're -- just barely kept up with inflation while people at the very top -- and look, I'll be honest with you, because I'm now in that category -- we were seeing all the benefits.
So when I say that we should make it easier for unions to organize and observe Davis-Bacon, all I'm trying to do is to restore some balance to our economy so that middle-class families who are working hard -- (applause) -- they're not on welfare, they're going to their jobs every day, they're doing the right thing by their kids -- they should be able to save, buy a home, go on a vacation once in a while. You know, they should be able to save for retirement, send their kids to college.
That's not too much to ask for; that's the American Dream. And the only way we get there is if we have bottom-up economic growth instead of top-down economic growth. (Applause.) And that's why -- that's why the debate about this budget is so important.
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