LIUNA unionists attack non-union workers

Police needed to quell violent labor protest

Members of a local labor union exchanged shouts and obscenities at a major construction project in downtown Cleveland (OH) Tuesday morning. About 60 members of Laborers Local 310 showed up at the site of the renovation of the Atrium Office Building at 668 Euclid Avenue. They were protesting the hiring of a non-union company to do internal demolition and asbestos removal. Police were called when there were reports of rocks being thrown, but no arrests were made.

The Atrium Office Building was recently sold to The K&D Group of Willoughby, which is undertaking a $65 million renovation of the historic structure.

K&D Group spokesperson Tracey Bradnan says the developer is "shocked and dismayed" by the protest.

"We requested bids from ten companies on this work. Five of them were union shops, yet none of them submitted bids," Bradnan tells Channel 3 News. "You can't award jobs to someone who didn't bid."

The contact for internal demolition and asbestos removal was awarded to Reliable Maintenance, a non-union Cleveland company.

"They're a local company and we're committed to providing work to local companies," said Bradnan.

Local 310 Business Manager John Kilbane tells Channel 3 News the protest was needed. "Obviously K&D does not support local labor," said Kilbane.

"Due to the scope of public financing on this project we believe at least prevailing wage ought to be paid," Kilbane explained, "but right away you see non-union presence on the job."

The Atrium Office Building deal contains a $5.1 million TIFF loan from the City of Cleveland, a $1.1 million loan from Cuyahoga County, and various historic and other tax credits.

"If this is the pattern being set for future development in Cleveland," Kilbane said of the presence of the non-union workers, "then there's going to be a lot of unrest in the construction trades."

K&D's Bradnan said meetings between representatives of the developer and union labor have taken places and that K&D has assured the unions "they will have every opportunity to bid" on other work on The Atrium Office Building project.

On Cleveland's west side another union protested the use of non-union labor at a public job site. Members of the Concrete Mason's Local 404 picketed at Cleveland new Thomas Jefferson School.

The Local is upset a non-union company, Accurate Concrete Systems, is allowed to do curb and concrete work surrounding the new school.

Dennis Radloff with Accurate Concrete tells Channel 3 News his company was sub-contracted by Giambrone Construction of Hudson and that "nothing illegal is going on."

Radloff says he does not have to use union labor on his job because he signed the contracts before Ohio Governor Ted Strickland signed new legislation requiring paying prevailing wage.

"My guys got to eat too," says Radloff.

(wkyc.com)