Steel fabrication firm targeted by coalition, union
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A union-backed effort to expose a local steel fabrication firm has state Sen. Jim Ferlo considering tighter standards for publicly backed contracts.
Since September, the Three Rivers Coalition for Justice and Ironworkers Local 3 have been leafletting the plant and job sites of Rankin-based W&K Steel LLC, and they say they have sought meetings with Urban Redevelopment Authority officials and Mayor Luke Ravenstahl. They allege a poor safety record, financial troubles and disparate treatment of refugees -- charges the company's owners vehemently deny.
Mr. Ferlo, D-Highland Park, is a member of the URA board, which backs local building projects, including some that use W&K's steel. Though he has not done independent research on the company's performance, he said the concerns of the coalition and union have illuminated a problem in URA-backed contracting.
"I think we want to not only achieve the moral high ground, but we also don't want people victimized" while doing publicly backed work, he said Friday. "It's not in the public's interest to have [subcontractors] or prime [contractors] consistently involved in victimizing workers."
He said he intends to work with the coalition and the union over the summer to examine the language the URA uses to ensure the responsibility of contractors on its projects, with the intent of crafting objective standards that would extend to subcontractors.
The URA could compel the developers and prime contractors it works with to rule out subcontractors who are "in flagrant violation of the [federal] Fair Labor Standards Act" or Occupational Safety and Health Administration rules, or who have tax problems, he said.
The idea got a measured reception from URA Executive Director Rob Stephany, who said the agency already talks with prime contractors about the ability of their proposed subcontractors to do jobs. He said deeper involvement in ruling in or ruling out subcontractors could confer liability on the URA.
Driving the discussion is the coalition, and its campaign against W&K.
Two W&K fabricators, Aung Oo and Timothy Hand, went on strike last year, though they are not represented by a union. They've turned their strike into a public relations effort.
First Published May 24, 2010 12:00 am
