Scabby the rat was onsite outside 28 Liberty Street as members of the Carpenters Union filled a stretch of sidewalk in Lower Manhattan’s Financial District. Union members were out front to protest Metro Walls, a commercial framing, drywall, and acoustical contractor.
According to New York City District Council of Carpenters (NYCDCC) representative Shaun Campbell, Metro Walls is working on a job for the New York State Attorney General’s Office, which has expanded its office space inside 28 Liberty Street.
Campbell said the union’s concern is that Metro Walls is not a signatory to the union and, in the union’s view, is not meeting the labor standards carpenters expect for work in their trades. “The issue is that Metro Walls is fitting out the Attorney General’s workspace, and the fact that they’re not a signatory, and the fact that they’re building the Attorney General’s workspace — that’s the issue. He said Metro Walls does not have to be a signatory, but “they’re not paying the prevailing wage for the work that we do that covers carpentry, that covers woodworking, flooring … anything of that nature.”
Carpenters Union members take part in call and response in front of 28 Liberty Street. (Photo credit: Karen Juanita Carrillo photos)
The NYCDCC represents thousands of carpenters and allied craft workers in New York City. Campbell described the union as a large building-trades organization with members working in several specialties and said it is also recruiting new apprentices. “We have 17 to 18,000 permanent members, and we’re now looking for at least 2,000 more apprentices,” he noted.
For the union, the picket was also meant to show those putting together major Manhattan office projects that they need to work with contractors who pay union-scale wages and benefits, train workers through recognized apprenticeship programs, and follow worksite standards that union carpenters say protect workers and the public.
Carpenters Union members were out to protest Metro Walls, whom they claim is not paying prevailing wages. (Photo credit: Karen Juanita Carrillo photos)
One speaker made clear that the protest was meant to apply public pressure. “We’re going to fight; that’s what we’re going to do right now. We’re not going down without swinging. We’re not going down without telling these people that what they’re doing is wrong and it’s growing, so we’re going to call them out, right?”
Campbell described the goal as a peaceful settlement that would stop the picket and allow the work at 28 Liberty Street to proceed under terms the union could accept.
