New York, NY – The de Blasio administration is insisting that New York City remains a “union town” despite the prevalence of irresponsible nonunion contractors ripping off millions from workers and putting their lives at risk.
“New York City is a union town and will continue to fight to all uplift workers, both union and non-union alike,” a spokesperson for Mayor de Blasio recently told LaborPress. “The City’s Office of Labor and Policy Standards protects and promotes labor standards and implements policies that create fair workplaces to ensure all workers can realize their rights. We encourage any worker in need to reach out by calling 311 to get connected with resources.”
Earlier this month, a steel fabrication company in Maspeth, Queens called AGL Industries agreed to cough up more than $6 million to the group nonunion welders and ironworkers it was ripping off for about four years.
The nonunion workers only got help, however, after seeking the aid of Ironworkers Local 361.
This past Wednesday, a group of trade unionists protesting the CIM Group’s continued use of nonunion labor for it big ticket development projects called on the de Blasio administration and the rest of government to “step up” and help stop the race to the bottom that nonunion labor creates.
“At some point, de Blasio has to step up, New York City has to step up, the Department of Labor has to step up because they’re responsible for this,” Joe Scopo, a Cement and Concrete Workers District Council organizer told union construction workers rallying outside CIM’s Madison Avenue offices on Wednesday. “This is happening under their noses. Workers are not being paid and they know what’s going on.”
While the CIM Group touts its 25 years of “enhancing communities and creating value for our stakeholders,” the Cement and Concrete Workers District Council insist that the organization, which also involved with numerous pension funds, has a responsibility to hire responsible union contractors that pay middle class workers and safeguards workers.
“CIM is getting a lot of pension money from different pension funds, so they do have a responsibility since it is pension fund money,” organizer Kieran Brosnan told LaborPress.
Cement and Concrete Workers District Council members are vowing to return with even bigger protests in the coming weeks.
1 thought on “NYC Trade Unionists to de Blasio: We’re Fed Up with the Race to the Bottom”
Di blasio is a liar he wants open borders to allow more of these non citizens to take our jobs all dems are liars and our union leaders keep telling us to vote for these traitors ,they are betraying the American workers open your eyes. They want your vote and they want to make them citizens or just give them the right to vote so they will always be in in power. Think about any democratic leader none ever held a real job and they want to tell us how to live our lives we pay for their salary welfare ;food stamps all which we are not entitled to. They take our taxes and bribe those who don’t work to vote for them. They don’t care about us, just being in control. Wake up why should we listen to these traitors they don’t wake up at 5 am every morning and have to bust their ass to keep their jobs ,we do and then at the end of the month sometimes we don’t have enough money to pay our bills ,they could care less.