Carpenters union’s tip leads to felony wage-theft charges

September 22, 2025 by

Ramsey County Attorney John Choi announced charges of wage theft, insurance fraud and tax evasion stemming from work on a public housing site in St. Paul. (photo courtesy Vince Muzik, FCF Minnesota)

Ramsey County Attorney John Choi and law-enforcement leaders credited the local Carpenters union with playing a key role in their investigation of wage-theft allegations on a public housing site in St. Paul, which resulted in criminal charges filed Sept. 3.

Choi’s office charged Jose Herrera, Carrie Gutbrod-Herrera and Joseph Herrera, owners of Bayvista Incorporated, with multiple counts of wage theft, insurance fraud and tax evasion stemming from their firm’s work at the McDonough Homes in 2024. All three owners face felony charges.

According to the criminal complaint, Bayvista procured a contract to provide labor for roofing and gutter improvements at the North End apartment complex, owned by the St. Paul Public Housing Agency, but the company cheated its workers out of over $200,000 in combined wages for their work.

Rather than paying prevailing wages of about $68 per hour for roofers and $84 for gutter installation, as required on the publicly funded project, Bayvista allegedly paid workers between $120 to $200 per day in cash.

Multiple workers told St. Paul Police investigators that “they had been instructed to falsely tell anyone who asks that they were, in fact, being paid at prevailing-wage rates,” according to the complaint.

Seven workers agreed to participate in the investigation, but Choi told members of the media during a press conference that he hopes to win full compensation for 24 victims in all, adding that the investigation is ongoing.

“We can’t hold people accountable if someone doesn’t raise their hand,” Choi said. “Somebody has to say, ‘This happened to me.’

“Thankfully we have a lot of advocates. Unions are very laser-focused on making sure that workers’ rights are upheld in this town. They’re helping us make those reports, but we have to corroborate that.”

A tip from the North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters (NCSRCC) sparked the investigation of wage theft on the McDonough Homes project.

The NCSRCC is among several local labor organizations with staff dedicated to monitoring conditions on construction sites across their jurisdictions. Carpenters business representative Woodrow Piner, who attended the press conference, said the council is now tracking about 1,400 projects – active or in the planning stages – in the seven-county metro area.

Piner and other union representatives developed a relationship with several Bayvista workers after an initial visit to McDonough Homes last year. Eventually, he said, workers disclosed that their wages were not meeting the legal standard.

“We knew it was a prevailing wage job, and when you see a group like this, typically they’re not being paid the proper wage,” Piner said, adding that it took time to gain workers’ trust.

“In a world like this, where you could possibly have compromised documentation, you’re terrified to even say what your favorite candy bar is. It takes a lot to develop that relationship.”

Rarely do those conversations at the job site lead to criminal charges, but they often do empower workers with the information they need to protect themselves from wage theft or misclassification, NCSRCC’s Dominic Andrist added.

“Union or nonunion, we’re just trying to uphold the rights of working men and women, to make sure that when they’re out there and it’s 20 below, they’re getting their just due and the pay that they deserve,” he said.

That’s a point St. Paul Police Chief Axel Henry echoed during the press conference.

“I think some people think that those folks are just looking out for their membership,” Henry said of local Building Trades unions. “They are not. They are looking out for what’s fair and what’s right out in their community.”

The investigation ultimately expanded from wage theft to charges of tax evasion and insurance fraud, as a newly formed Labor Advisory Council tapped into the Bayvista owners’ payroll records, tax returns and insurance policies. Spearheaded by Choi’s office, the working group brings together law-enforcement agencies, state regulators and worker-advocacy groups.

Mike Wilde, director of the Fair Contracting Foundation of Minnesota, a prevailing-wage watchdog, credited the Labor Advisory Council with helping Minnesota lead the country in “stamping out corrupt practices in our industry.”

“Our public infrastructure must be built first on integrity,” Wilde added. “It’s expected by taxpayers, the lawful contractors who bid on this work and the construction workers who actually build it for us all.”

Choi urged anyone who believes that they have witnessed or experienced wage theft to call 651-266-3371.

– Michael Moore, UA editor

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Bloomington workers say banjo maker wants to bust their union by moving to Oregon

February 15, 2024 by

Nechville Musical Products workers and their supporters picketed Feb. 15, a day after their boss changed the locks at the Bloomington shop.

Craftsmen who make banjos for Nechville Musical Products in Bloomington are on the picket line today after their boss asked them to load a U-Haul with tools and materials that he plans to relocate to Oregon, leaving local employees out of work.

The move comes less than a month after Nechville’s six workers – five full-time and one part-time – announced they had formed a union with the North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters.

Union members called the relocation plan retaliatory, saying ownership gave them no indication that it intended to move until Jan. 16, when they requested recognition of their union. In fact, they say owner Tom Nechville engaged with them in a robust annual planning session just one week earlier.

“The meeting before we told him about the union was a meeting about the goals for 2024 and how to organize ordering so that the finances would be in line,” John Potts, who has worked for Nechville the last five years, said. “Our goal for the year was going to be 180 banjos.”

Potts showed up to the Bloomington facility yesterday and turned over his keys to Nechville, who had already changed the locks. He and other workers were left wondering if they had been locked out of their jobs or laid off permanently.

“It’s not necessarily a lockout, but it is a situation I’m working on right now,” Nechville said when reached by phone yesterday at the Bloomington shop. He refused further comment and then ended the call.

Union members picketed Nechville Musical Products, located at 9700 Humboldt Ave. S., this morning. About a dozen community and labor supporters joined them on the line.

The Carpenters union filed charges of unfair labor practices against Nechville earlier this month. More are likely coming. Threats to close a facility or lay off workers if they form a union are considered forms of retaliation under federal labor law.

What’s more, the Carpenters contend that Nechville voluntarily recognized the union and has been illegally refusing to bargain since announcing plans to relocate. Workers said the owner granted recognition in messages about the timing of the Bloomington facility’s closure, which he changed from the end of February to this Friday.

“It’s all gone so chaotic,” Nechville worker Gareth Bly, who crafts banjo fretwork and neck shaping, said. “It’s difficult for any of us to parse what (Nechville’s) motivation is. Why does he think that we’re doing this, and what’s so bad about it?”

Bly and Potts said workers’ main goal in forming their union was making their careers more sustainable. Potts described most workers’ job descriptions as “nebulous,” and he attributed recent turnover in the shop to “some sort of falling out with Tom over control issues.”

Additionally, Nechville workers do not receive paid time off, paid holidays or health benefits. They only began earning paid sick time after Bloomington passed a municipal ordinance establishing the labor standard.

Bly said he first considered the idea of forming a union before his first Thanksgiving on staff, when he realized celebrating the holiday would take money off his paycheck. Nechville, according to Bly, later clawed back sick time that he and other workers had been told they’d earned before Bloomington’s ordinance took effect.

“That’s when we started saying this can’t stand,” he said.

Any hopes that Nechville would approach the union in a collaborative spirit – or share their enthusiasm for putting a union label on the brand’s banjos – have evaporated over the last month, leaving workers both disillusioned and worried about their economic security.

Potts, the kind of worker who Bly described as someone who “put himself out there for every single dirty job that had to get done,” said he “oscillates between being extremely sad and extremely angry.”

“I love my job,” Potts said. “I’ve had a great time in the past with Tom, hanging out at bluegrass festivals, taking various trips with him. Ultimately, I want Tom to be doing well. So it’s really sad to see him kind of dismiss our value and assume that we’re trying to hurt him.”

– Michael Moore, Union Advocate editor

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Wilfs’ company turned deaf ear to warnings of wage theft at Viking Lakes development

May 10, 2022 by

Abel Susteito speaks at a Capitol press conference about his experience with wage theft on the Viking Lakes apartment project in Eagan.

Tradespeople who worked on the Viking Lakes luxury apartments in Eagan went public last week with accusations of wage theft on the project, owned and developed by the same family that owns the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings.

Worker advocacy groups, including the North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters (NCSRCC), pinned responsibility for the alleged labor abuses on the Wilfs, whose company, MV Ventures, ignored the groups’ repeated warnings that subcontractors awarded work on the project had a track record of labor violations and dishonesty.

“MV Ventures is a Wilf-family company. MV Ventures develops the project, hires the subcontractors and has control of the project from start to finish,” Carpenters General Council Burt Johnson said. “They are responsible.”

The union said it has heard from more than 40 workers on the Viking Lakes project who said they were not paid what they were owed, and two workers at a Capitol press conference May 5 confirmed reporting the wage theft to Minnesota’s Department of Labor and Industry.

But any civil or criminal penalties resulting from an investigation are likely to fall on the subcontractors, prompting calls from community leaders for the Wilfs and MV Ventures to do the right thing now.

Veronica Mendez Moore, co-director of the Twin Cities-based worker center CTUL, said MV Ventures should meet with unions to resolve the allegations stemming from Viking Lakes, and sign a pledge with the Building Dignity and Respect Standards Council requiring all contractors on its developments to uphold basic labor standards.

Javier Mendez Velasco speaks to reporters about his experience installing siding at the Viking Lakes apartments.

Mendez Moore also noted the Wilfs benefited from nearly half a billion dollars in public subsidies to build the Vikings’ new stadium in Minneapolis.

“This is a family that needs to be held to a higher standard,” she said. “They need to partner with the community to better ensure standards for all of the people in our city.”

‘Constantly tired’

Despite working for different subcontractors, Javier Mendez Velasco and Abel Susteito described similar labor standards on the 261-unit, luxury apartment project at Viking Lakes. Both said they were paid wages lower than what they were initially promised, with no overtime or holiday pay and no vacation or health insurance benefits.

That was a standard arrangement, Mendez Velasco said, at subcontractors like Advantage Construction and Property Maintenance and Construction (PMC), which employed him to do siding work on the Wilf family’s Eagan development site. In over three years with Advantage and PMC, Mendez Velasco said he never received overtime pay, despite working six or seven days per week, sometimes from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.

“We were constantly tired, but our boss wasn’t understanding,” Mendez Velasco said through a Spanish-language interpreter. “He would never help us out.”

Susteito hung drywall at Viking Lakes from November 2020 to August 2021 as an employee of Absolute Drywall, a company local unions have been calling out for several years, pointing to past citations for child labor, misclassification of workers and failure to pay overtime. The state Labor Department also found that Absolute Drywall submitted false and misleading claims in response to an investigation.

“I want to ask the Department of Labor to keep fighting for our rights, and for better pay for us,” Susteito said at the press conference.

Carpenters union official Adam Duininck says he and others suggested ways the Wilfs’ company could prevent wage theft on the Viking Lakes project. “Our suggestions just were not taken seriously,” he said.

Profit before public interest

Advocates for construction workers say exploitation is baked into the industry’s business model, with layers of contractors, subcontractors and labor brokers that insulate developers like the Wilfs from responsibility for working conditions and standards on their projects.

Immigrant workers are particularly vulnerable.

“We came here to work, and we have our own dreams. But we were taken advantage of,” Mendez Velasco said. “As immigrant workers we are taken advantage of for our hard work, for our dedication, but also because we don’t have the knowledge and the available resources.”

Union representatives warned the Wilfs’ development company, MV Ventures, about their subcontractors’ checkered background “ad nauseam,” according to Adam Duininck, NCSRCC’s director of government affairs. He said the union also urged the developer to be proactive in preventing wage theft.

“We suggested a number of ways to get ahead of wage theft, including jobsite monitoring and working with outside groups to monitor payroll,” Duininck said. “Our suggestions just were not taken seriously.”

As a result, workers like Susteito, Mendez Velasco and dozens of others are still waiting to be made whole for their work building luxury apartments that are now renting at prices between $1,600 and $2,245 per month.

“These workers take great risk when they come forward and talk to the public about what’s going on,” Johnson said. “We need to believe them.”

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Union carpenters spotlight tax fraud in construction industry

April 14, 2022 by

Members of the North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters demonstrate outside a development site in northeast Minneapolis.

Union carpenters across the Midwest this week are calling out contractors who commit payroll fraud to gain an unfair leg up in bidding on construction jobs, a practice that drains $136 million from state coffers each year in Minnesota alone, according to one recent study.

In northeast Minneapolis Wednesday, members of the North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters picketed a residential construction site, taking aim at Wisconsin-based Painting America Inc., a contractor on the project, for undermining area wage and benefit standards.

Painting America has faced charges from the Minnesota Department of Labor Industry for illegally misclassifying employees as independent contractors, and union representative Woodrow Piner said former employees have reached out to the Carpenters for help recovering lost wages.

“At some point workers get frustrated by how they’re being treated and look for a change, and they find their way to our office,” said Piner, the NCSRCC’s director for central and southern Minnesota.

“A number of workers from Painting America Inc. have reported being paid off the books, not having withholdings or taxes held off their checks, and not being paid overtime after 40 hours,” Piner said. “And these were workers directly under the supervision of Painting America.”

Contractors who follow the law and pay workers fairly struggle to compete on cost with unscrupulous bidders, driving down standards in the industry. Piner said the practice is most prevalent on multifamily, wood-frame construction sites.

But construction workers aren’t the only ones hurt by employee misclassification and other forms of payroll fraud. It costs taxpayers, too.

In a study issued in January 2021, researchers from the Midwest Economic Policy Institute found Minnesota loses $136 million in state revenues annually due to construction payroll fraud, including $65 million in lost income-tax revenue. Nationally, tax fraud in the construction industry costs the public $8.4 billion per year, according to the Carpenters Union.

“That means hardworking taxpayers are picking up the slack,” Piner said.

Construction payroll fraud also drains $13 million from the state’s unemployment insurance fund and $58 million from the workers’ compensation pool, according to the report. Adding insult to injury, workers misclassified as independent contractors or paid off the books are not eligible to access those funds if they are laid off or injured on the job.

Although payroll fraud persists in Minnesota, the state’s new wage theft law – touted by supporters as the strongest in the nation when it passed in May 2019 – gives state regulators new tools and more resources to crack down on the practice. County attorneys in the metro are increasing their attention on wage theft, too.

That’s good reason, for carpenters on the picket line in northeast Minneapolis, to keep shining a spotlight on the multifamily, wood-frame construction industry.

“We’re looking for elected officials, developers and contractors to pay more attention, to be accountable for what is happening on these projects,” Piner said. “Not only does it hurt the taxpayer, it’s about the dignity of workers.”

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Report: Union construction sites draw fewer safety violations

December 13, 2021 by

A new analysis of Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) inspections at construction jobsites in nine midwestern states backs up what unionized tradespeople have long been saying.

Union jobsites are safer jobsites.

The report, released Nov. 30 by the Illinois Economic Policy Institute (ILEPI) and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s Project for Middle Class Renewal, found that unionized construction workers were exposed to 34% fewer health and safety violations in 2019 than their nonunion counterparts.

“With our nation readying at least $1.2 trillion in new infrastructure investments, it is vital to understand safety trends in construction because it is one of our economy’s most physically demanding and dangerous occupations,” study co-author Frank Manzo IV, director of the ILEPI, said. “The data makes clear that the unionized side of the construction industry is producing vastly superior outcomes.”

In Minnesota, OSHA inspectors found 40% fewer violations per inspection on union worksites than they did on nonunion sites in 2019. Violations turned up, on average, 5% less frequently on union sites.

The union advantage

Local union leaders said the study points to an often-overlooked advantage of their construction model. Union members have a voice over their working conditions and, when they need to speak up about unsafe conditions, the protections of a union contract.

“When you walk on a union jobsite you know that safety is not just a buzzword or toolbox talk,” said Chris Peltier, a business agent for LIUNA Local 563. “We can have confidence knowing that every contractor on site has provided all of their employees with the best resources in the industry and quality training. We know that every worker on the jobsite shares the same culture and has the same goal – that every worker returns home to their families safe and sound at the end of the day.”

Adam Duininck, director of government affairs for the North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters, said construction unions “make it a priority to work together with our contractors, developers and members to prevent workplace injuries and ensure members return home safely to their families at the end of each workday.”

Safety is a cornerstone of union training programs, too. Unions and their signatory contractors partner to sponsor, develop and administer world-class apprenticeship programs in Minnesota and across North America.

“We start by providing new apprentices with OSHA training and continue to provide more advanced safety education throughout our members’ careers,” Duininck said.

A public cost of unsafe sites

In conducting their analysis, researchers examined data on more than 37,000 OSHA inspections conducted in 2019. They found that union jobsites were 19% less likely to have any health and safety violations. The number of violations per inspection was 34% lower on union jobsites.

Robert Bruno, a professor at the University of Illinois and co-author of the study, said the lax health and safety practices more prevalent on nonunion construction sites put workers at risk and increase strain on the workers’ compensation system.

“Construction worksites with OSHA violations are more likely to suffer workplace injuries, which can impose billions of dollars per year in added burdens on businesses and state workers’ compensation systems,” Bruno said. “Employers that take preventative and proactive steps to lower the risk of injuries and illnesses experience greater levels of output on the jobsite, and ultimately save money for both themselves and taxpayers.”

Attack unions, undermine safety

The difference between violation rates on union and nonunion jobsites was notably greater in Michigan (49%), Wisconsin (59%) and Indiana (64%), states where Republican lawmakers have repealed prevailing wage and passed right-to-work laws in recent years.

Prevailing-wage laws require employees working on state-funded projects to be paid wage rates comparable to those paid for similar work in the region. With a prevailing wage built into all bids, contractors bidding for public projects compete on skill, productivity and other factors – not on who can scrape together the cheapest workforce.

“A safe workplace is filled with workers and an employer that puts safety before profits, something we rarely see on nonunion worksites,” said Duininck.

The report makes clear, authors said, that measures to weaken unions and their collective bargaining power come at a potentially steep cost.

“Safety problems are not just a threat to the health of the construction workforce our nation needs right now, they impose real burdens that hurt productivity, shrink output and increase costs,” Bruno said. “The data is very clear: embracing the institutions that correlate with better safety outcomes in physically demanding occupations can be a win-win-win for workers, businesses, and taxpayers alike.”

Apprenticeship is key

To promote safer construction worksites across the country, the researchers suggest that policymakers seek to promote institutionalized training and high safety standards with prevailing wage laws, responsible bidder ordinances, project labor agreements and the repeal of so-called “right-to-work” laws, which have been linked to weaker apprenticeship systems in previous research.

“Registered apprenticeships aren’t just attaching workers to middle-class construction careers, they are training workers in industrywide best practices for operating heavy machinery, working with hazardous materials, and avoiding preventable accidents on the jobsite,” Manzo added. “There is no doubt that this work isn’t just paying off from the standpoint of reducing fatalities, but also from the standpoint of preventing the very health and safety violations cause these tragedies.”

Matt Johnson, a senior instructor at the Laborers’ Training Center in Lino Lakes, said workers who make the jump from non-union firms to his union apprenticeship program often tell him they wish they would have had his safety training when they worked non-union.

“I love being able to pass on the knowledge that I have learned over the course of my years working and help others prevent mistakes that I myself have made,” said Johnson, who worked in the field as a construction Laborer for nearly 18 years before going to work as an instructor.

“Unfortunately there’s a misconception for a lot of owners that safety training costs more money than it is worth,” Johnson added. “I see it differently. Work injuries not only cause bodily harm, they also cost money, and we can help prevent that with good training.”

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To open more eyes to apprenticeship, Carpenters open training center doors

November 15, 2019 by

Latesha Hayes, pictured in the yellow hard hat, and Shetara Round, pictured speaking, lead a tour of the Carpenters’ St. Paul training center.

Latesha Hayes’ career path came full circle this morning.

A fourth-year apprentice with the Carpenters union, Hayes was one of six tradeswomen who led 33 eighth-grade girls from Roseville on a tour of the union’s St. Paul training center. The students put on hard hats and safety glasses, worked with tools of the trade and peppered their tour guides with questions about the craft.

Afterward, Hayes, 31, remembered being at a similar event just six years ago. Her son’s class went on a field trip to JA BizTown, an experiential learning lab for youth that simulates life in a city.

“He got to play the role of a carpenter,” Hayes said. “When I got a look at his benefits and wages, and I had to ask if it was accurate. They told me it was, and I knew I had to look into it.”

On Day 1 of their union apprenticeship, local Carpenters earn $21 per hour with great health and retirement benefits, “even without ever having held a hammer in your hand,” Scott Panek, an assistant training director with the union, told students.

That’s more than Hayes was making as the manager of a local cell phone store. It’s more than her fellow tour guide, first-year apprentice Shetara Round, was making at Victoria’s Secret before she joined the union.

And forget swinging a hammer. Round fully admits she “didn’t even know what the hell” carpentry was back then.

“Somebody on Facebook shared a post and was like, ‘Hey, anyone interested in a career in carpentry?’” Round remembered. “And I’m like, ‘Oh, so they lay carpets and stuff?’”

Cynthia Reif, a first-year apprentice, demonstrates using a sheet-rock router.

Much has changed in the last year, as Round, 34, now works on a job site in East Bethel, building an addition to the local hospital.

“I wish I would have done an event like this when I was their age,” Round said of the middle-school students touring her training center.

The fact is Building Trades unions are doing a lot more outreach events these days – and this week, in particular. It’s National Apprenticeship Week, and unions locally and nationally are hosting open houses, tours and celebrations inside their training centers.

In recent years, with the construction industry facing a shortage of skilled tradespeople, unions and contractors have boosted their marketing and recruitment efforts. Amanda Phillips, an apprenticeship instructor with the North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters, said the union is doing outreach events several times a month.

“And I can tell it’s having an impact,” Phillips said. “In their first week of training, apprentices introduce themselves and talk about how they found out about the union. It’s becoming much more prevalent that they mention they came on a tour or know someone who did and told them about it.”

The eighth-grade girls, whose tour of the training center was just one stop during a day of career exploration activities arranged by local contractors, likely won’t make their decision about what to do after high school anytime soon. But if they didn’t know a union apprenticeship was an option before today, they know it now.

“If you’re just riding past a job site, you’re like ‘oh those are construction workers,’” Hayes said “No, there are electricians, laborers, carpenters, pipefitters – and they all come from different unions to put it together.

“It’s basically generalized as a man’s job, but women can do this too. We can do whatever we put our minds to.”

Learn more about apprenticeship opportunities in the Building Trades online at constructioncareers.org.

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Carpenters say prominent developer turns blind eye to abuse allegations

October 2, 2019 by

Samuel Saucedo (L) and Eric Macias (R) attended the Sept. 16 Roseville City Council meeting with their union rep, Jorge Duran, to share their experience working on construction sites managed by Reuter Walton.

What might have been a routine redevelopment deal instead prompted members of the Roseville City Council last month to weigh their oversight responsibilities when it comes to developers reaping tax benefits from the northern suburb.

During a final round of public comment on an arrangement between the city and Reuter Walton Companies, two carpenters stepped forward and detailed abuses they experienced while working on the Minneapolis-based developer’s construction sites.

Samuel Saucedo of Minneapolis and Eric Macias of Rochester say they are still owed thousands of dollars in unpaid wages for work they did on Reuter Walton projects over the course of more than a year.

The two men, who often worked side by side, decided about a year ago to stop accepting jobs arranged by a common “labor broker,” Jose Merino. That included jobs on Reuter Walton sites.

They subsequently filed complaints with the state Department of Labor, but dropped them, Saucedo and Macias told council members Sept. 16, after receiving hostile phone calls from Merino.

In an interview before the public hearing, Macias remembered answering the phone call while his wife, who had recently given birth, looked on.

“You don’t know me. I’ve got money. I’ve got people. Somebody will find you,” Macias remembered hearing. “He said he’s going to kill me and kill my wife and my daughter, just because I want to get paid the money he owes me.”

After the call, Macias’ wife began hiding whenever anybody came to the door. Even when it was Eric.

A shell game with wages

At the public hearing, a representative of Reuter Walton denied any involvement in the allegations made by Macias and Saucedo. The developer has only two minor labor violations on its record, which resulted in fines totaling $1,000, he said.

The developer also claimed to have cut ties with a carpentry subcontractor that, workers say, did business with Jose Merino, Caliper Building Systems.

But Jorge Duran, a representative for the North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters, said a muddled network of contractors, subcontractors and brokers breeds worker exploitation on large construction projects. And it won’t change unless developers are ultimately held accountable.

“Reuter Walton, they claim they don’t know what’s going on, but what does that really tell you?” Duran said. “That’s why the City of Roseville needs to keep an eye on who this developer hires.”

For Saucedo and Macias, trying to get paid for their work on Reuter Walton projects was a demoralizing cycle that left them spiraling further and further into debt. Subcontractors would say they were waiting to get paid by the contractors; contractors would say they had paid the subcontractors in full.

Macias said he finally approached a Reuter Walton representative. “I said, ‘I’m at your jobsite every day, seven days a week, 12 hours a day. Why don’t you guys pay us?’” Macias remembered. “He said I don’t know. So you go to Caliper, and they say I don’t know. You go to Jose, he says I don’t know.”

Macias said he remains over $9,000 in debt.

Unsafe working conditions, unsafe living conditions

Wage theft wasn’t the only abuse workers recruited by Jose Merino say they experienced. Saucedo said his two teenage sons found work with Merino, despite being minors. (They weren’t paid either.)

And safety wasn’t even an afterthought, Saucedo added, resulting in “a lot of injuries.”

Merino “never provided safety equipment for us – no glasses, harnesses, hardhats, gloves, nothing,” Saucedo said. “People used to get shot with the nail gun, and he wouldn’t pay the hospital bills.”

Workers say Merino recruits them to move to the Twin Cities – Saucedo relocated from North Dakota, Macias from California – with promises of housing for themselves and their families, in three-bedroom, two-bathroom apartments.

The apartments turned out to be real, Saucedo and Macias said, but there were more than a dozen other construction workers already living in them.

And while he didn’t always get paid by Merino, Saucedo added, Merino never failed to collect the $300-per-week rent.

“I would work 70 hours per week, and he would pay me for 45,” Saucedo said. “And he would never pay me overtime.”

Both Saucedo and Macias regret ever moving to the Twin Cities.

“You drive with your family downtown Minneapolis, see so many big Reuter Walton signs,” Macias said. “It makes me really mad. I can’t believe they aren’t paying people.”

Union steps up pressure

Since walking away from Merino a year ago, Saucedo and Macias have joined the Carpenters union. Macias laughed when asked about the difference between working for Merino and working union. “It’s unbelievable,” he said.

But the two have also provided union representatives like Duran a window into the shadowy world of nonunion construction. Duran said he has talked to at least 150 other workers, many of whom are immigrants, who have experienced exploitation and wage theft at the hands of a labor broker.

“This is a very bad, infected virus in construction right now,” Duran said. “And it’s happening all across the state.”

In Roseville, council members didn’t go so far as to dump the redevelopment deal with Reuter Walton, but they did add language allowing the city to withhold and “claw back” tax financing dollars if Reuter Walton or any of its subcontractors on the project are found guilty of wage theft. And the language will be included in all future development deals.

The Carpenters union, meanwhile, plans to continue shining a light on the stories of Macias, Saucedo and other workers who allege mistreatment on Reuter Walton projects. The union also raised its concerns at a St. Paul City Council meeting in August, briefly putting a zoning change requested by Reuter Walton in jeopardy.

The union’s objective, public affairs director Richard Kolodziejski said, is to prevent future abuses by increasing public scrutiny at every level. Developers know Minnesota has a new wage-theft law on the books, and both the Attorney General’s Office and the Department of Labor have announced plans to put that new law to good use.

“The enforcement is going to come now,” Kolodziejski said. “The state is going to be holding (developers) accountable, not just the wage broker.

“So we’re going to keep ratcheting this up and, hopefully, tighten things up in our cities.”

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Carpenters union’s free workshops a hit with kids

January 11, 2016 by
Luca LaFerla puts the finishing touches on his treasure box during a Kids Build workshop at the Carpenters training center in St. Paul.

Luca LaFerla puts the finishing touches on his treasure box during a Kids Build workshop at the Carpenters training center in St. Paul.

Jim Hendricks clapped his hand five times, and the room bustling with more than 30 busy children Saturday morning fell silent. Everyone turned to face Hendricks, a business representative for the Carpenters union, awaiting his instructions.

Holding up two pre-cut pieces of wood, Hendricks demonstrated the method for fashioning them into the sides of a “treasure box,” the carpentry project for this month’s Kids Build workshop in St. Paul.

Some looked puzzled, others determined; but for Hendricks, the young faces staring back at him from the floor of his union’s training center made it worth spending a Saturday morning at the office.

“There are a lot of ups and downs through the week of work, but you always walk out of here with a smile,” Hendricks said. “I don’t know a kid who doesn’t like to build things.”

Launched locally in September by the North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters, Kids Build has become wildly popular with both families, who fill up the available space within an hour of registration opening, and volunteers, including retired and apprentice carpenters.

Nick Vevea retired in June, but he returns to the training hall on the second Saturday of each month to assist with the two-hour workshops.

“I love working with the kids,” Vevea said. “It’s a great opportunity to share your knowledge.”

“We’re encouraging the spark in the next generation that’s going to come into the career of carpentry,” Local 322 apprentice Jarid Freund said. “But it’s also great to be able to see kids enjoying this work.”

Yuqi Zhao, 7, of St. Paul lines up a screw.
Local 322 apprentice Jarid Freund assists 8-year-old Colin Anderson of Hugo.
Abe Mulrooney, 7, of St. Paul works with his father, Tim.
Parents and grandparents take pictures at the end of the workshop.
Each Kids Build participants gets to take home his or her project and receives a personalized certificate.
Ten-year-old Aiden Kirchoff of St. Paul sizes up his project.
Emma Johnston (L) of Fridley and Skylar Hofer, both 8, share a laugh.
Lead instructor Jim Hendricks, a business rep for the Carpenters union, demonstrates a step in building treasure boxes.
Carpenters staff rep Jose Marrero works with his daughter Elise, 10, of Maplewood.
Participants show off their finished projects.
Seven-year-old Mina Howitz (L) and 8-year-old Avery Kaneakua, both of Minneapolis, show off their finished projects after working with Samantha Kaneakua, a fourth-year Carpenters apprentice.

Open to children ages 5 to 12, Kids Build has been so popular in St. Paul that the Carpenters council has spun off workshops at training centers across its jurisdiction, including in Papillion, Neb., Fargo, N.D., Madison, Wis. and Rochester.

The workshops offer the public an introduction to “who carpenters are and how we help our communities,” apprenticeship director Paul Trudeau said. Kids Build is also an opportunity for the union to show off its world-class training facility and, potentially, recruit new workers to the trade.

“All our members are trained here,” Hendricks said. “That’s why we’re able to build projects like the new stadium. We take pride in the training and safety of our members.”

The events are always free, with materials and tools provided by the union, and the project changes each month, so families are encouraged to return. Previous and future projects include bookends, a birdhouse, soapbox derby cars and more.

“We’re not on a computer – this is hands-on,” Trudeau said. “And when they go home, these kids have something to show their grandparents, their siblings, their neighbors.” Trudeau said.

As Avery Kaneakua, 8, and Mina Howitz, 7, added glitter glue and paint to their treasure boxes, they agreed they’d had fun completing the project, and said they planned to use the boxes to store their electronics.

“And as much pride as every one of those kids has right now, we do too,” Trudeau said.

For more information on Kids Build, go to www.facebook.com/KidsBuildworkshop.

Filed Under: Community, Union Events Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Carpenters pile on TruStone for undermining area labor standards in Burnsville

November 9, 2015 by
Carpenters call out TruStone outside the credit union's new Burnsville location.

Carpenters call out TruStone outside the credit union’s new Burnsville location.

 

Already embroiled in a dispute with its own employees’ union, TruStone Financial got an earful today from local Carpenters, who called out the credit union for working with a contractor that does not meet area standards for wages and benefits.

Members of the North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters erected a banner reading “Shame on TruStone Financial” outside the credit union’s new Burnsville branch today, just three days after Office and Professional Employees Local 12 staged informational picketing during the location’s grand opening celebration.

Carpenters distributed fliers urging the public to “join members of North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters and their families by not patronizing Trustone” after the credit union used Friedges Drywall to build the Burnsville branch.

Fridges fails to compensate carpenters with wages, family health benefits and retirement benefits that meet area standards, according to the union.

“When carpenters are not paid area standards, they have fewer dollars to spend in the communities where they live and work, and where their children go to school,” the flier said. “Whether through greed or lack of understanding, TruStone Financial has made a choice not to support our local tradesmen and women. Please ask your family and friends to join you in not patronizing TruStone Financial.”

Formerly Teacher Federal Credit Union, TruStone’s membership base includes thousands of union members and retirees.

But some teachers are reevaluating their relationship with the credit union after Local 12, which represents tellers, personal bankers and other employees at branches across the Twin Cities, accused TruStone of union busting in charges filed with the National Labor Relations Board this fall.

The Carpenters are urging supporters to call Timothy Bosiacki of TruStone at 1-800-862-1998 and urge him to see that area labor standards are met in Burnsville – and at all future construction projects.

Filed Under: Organizing, Union Events Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Carpenters plan hiring fair, open house April 8

March 11, 2015 by

north-country-carpentersInterested in a career in the construction industry? The North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters will host a contractor hiring fair and open house April 8 from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the union’s headquarters and training center in St. Paul.

The free, public event will feature contractors looking to hire new construction workers, tool vendors showing their wares, demonstrations by apprentices and a tool “shop-n-swap” with quality pre-owned tools for sale.

Community members also will have an opportunity to learn more about the Carpenters, with information available about the union’s crafts (carpenter, millwright, pile driver, floor coverer), its apprenticeship program, wages and benefits, and how to become a member.

The union also will host an American Red Cross Blood Drive at its hall the day of the event, from 2 to 6 p.m. To register to give blood, go to www.redcrossblood.org and enter “Carpenters” as the sponsor code.

The NCSRCC Carpenters Union and Training Center is located at 710 Olive Street.

For more information, go to www.northcountrycarpenter.org.

Click here to download a flier for the event.

Filed Under: Community Tagged With: , , , ,
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