Picketers representing Laborers Local 190 set up a picket line outside Academy Hall in protest of Bast-Hatfield’s treatment of its non-union employees. Bast-Hatfield was subcontracted to do concrete work by the McCarthy Construction Company, RPI’s contractor for the Biotechnology Center.
The union claims that Bast-Hatfield denies its employees benefits and pensions by forcing them into retirement or putting them on jobs that don’t pay well until they leave.
They want CEO Chris Bast to allow his workers to sign a union contract so they can be protected from these kinds of practices.
“I’d like to see Chris Bast live up to his words,” said Anthony Fresina, business manager for Laborers Local 190.
Bast denies the claims of the union, however. “They’re just a lie,” he said.
He said that workers at Bast-Hatfield get their full pensions, regardless of how much they work or under what circumstances they leave. “In our [pension system], the pension goes totally to the man,” he said.
He argues that the unions are only trying to increase their labor pools in a time when the construction industry is seeing a steep decline in workers because more young people are looking for jobs with the opportunity for upward mobility.
He said Bast-Hatfield has not been hit hard by that problem. “In our company, there is upward mobility.
“They’re intimidated by our system,” he said. “We have a much better system than theirs.”
Fresina stated other intentions. “This isn’t against Bast, it’s for his workers,” he said. “We’re out there fighting for working men and women.”
“The unions have picketed my jobs repeatedly … not one of my men has joined in the picket,” Bast said.
Meanwhile, the construction continues on the Biotechnology Center. Vice President for Administration Claude Rounds said the picketing “has not impacted the construction or timetable.”
Bast said some picketing by the union has caused problems, particularly picketers blocking trucks from entering the construction sites. “So far we’ve been able to work through it,” he said.
At the RPI site, the Department of Public Safety has asked the protesters to maintain order and to avoid interfering with campus activity. Public Safety officers have been monitoring the area regularly.
