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Employee Or ‘Subcontractor’?
Carpenters union pickets Hamden job site over worker classification
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Business New Haven
2/22/1999
By: BNH
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Members of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters & Joiners of America have been picketing the TJ Maxx construction site at Market Place of Hamden, claiming substandard working conditions imposed by the subcontractor, Interior Builders (IB) of Southington.
IB was hired by General Commonwealth Building Inc. of Quincy, Mass. to drywall the Dixwell Avenue site. The carpenters union has charged IB with improperly classifying the workers on the job as subcontractors, saying that the practice illegal. Members of the union have been picketing the site since the middle of January.
In addition, the carpenters union has filed charges against IB for harassing picketers at the site. According to William Callahan, a union organizer, because of the dispute union members have been forced to find employment elsewhere.
“Contractors break the law by calling employees subcontractors,” says Callahan, “then they don't pay proper taxes, Social Security, overtime and workers compensation. This illegal scheme allows them to cut their labor costs by about 40 percent, so they easily win bids over contractors that abide by the law.” Adds Callahan, “It ends up costing the state and taxpayers about $500 million a year.”
Wayne Fasske, owner of Interior Builders, argues that the workers are legitimate subcontractors. “All this is about is replacing those people's jobs with non-union jobs. We have chosen not to be union,” says Fasske. “We're primarily a light gauge metal framing drywall company. We offer advantages that the union doesn't offer.”
“To claim that [our] company just uses independent contractors and takes advantage of them, that's totally untrue,” Fasske adds. “We have a good network of smaller companies ranging from sole proprietors to a few employees. [The union] would like no independent contractors in the construction business.”
According to Fasske, only about 20 percent of construction in Connecticut is performed by union labor.
TJX Companies, owners of TJ Maxx, Marshalls, Homegoods and AJ Wright stores, have been notified by the carpenters union concerning the complaint against IB but, according to Callahan, have not acted on the complaint to date.
Gary Pechie, director of the Wage & Workplace Standards Division for the state's Department of Labor, confirms that the matter is under investigation but would not comment on the merits at this time.
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