The North Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters demonstrated in front of the Joyce Cummings Center for a third time on Aug. 31, protesting Tufts’ use of general construction contractors who hire subcontractors accused of wage theft and other labor law violations. Currently, six Tufts buildings are under renovation: 123 Packard Avenue, the East Wing of the Science and Engineering Complex, Eaton Hall, Halligan Hall, Blakeley Hall and Bacon Hall.
The protest ended around 11 a.m. with demonstrators walking from the Cummings Center to the Memorial Steps. They were tailed by a brigade of vehicles heralding signs that read “STOP WAGE THEFT.” Two trucks displayed inflatable animals as symbols of protest: a rat as well as a cat in a suit strangling a construction worker.
Some workers at the protest claimed that, over the past several years, Tufts has not involved unions in construction projects on campus.
Union representatives say there are stark differences between the protections given to union carpenters and nonunion carpenters. When the union is a signatory to the contracts between Tufts and general contractors, the construction workers have an advocate that ensures the working conditions are safe and employer practices are fair. Nonunion construction workers lack the medical benefits and retirement plans assured to union carpenters that protect their livelihood during and after their careers.
Noel Xavier, director of organizing for the North Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters, said the organization’s mission is to “fight for the rights of workers.”
“There’s a lot of renovations going on on campus, and none of the contractors at this moment are union contractors,” Xavier said. “They’re all nonunion contractors that haven’t made a commitment to train their workforce, haven’t made a commitment to pay fair wages to their workforce [and] haven’t made a commitment to pay benefits to their workforce, and that’s why we have a problem with it,”
Barbara Stein, Tufts’ vice president for operations, described how Tufts selects firms for the tiered system of contractors — general contractors and subcontractors — that are used on a given construction project. In her statement, she wrote that the contractors that Tufts hires are responsible for hiring their own subcontractors.
“In all our relationships, our goal is to support our mission and to follow a set of principles, including providing quality learning and research opportunities, ensuring a safe and respectful work environment, individual and institutional accountability, efficiency, and flexibility,” Stein wrote. “In recognition of its fiduciary obligations, [Tufts] chooses the lowest-cost, qualified contractor.”
Recent studies detail widespread worker exploitation within the construction industry. In Massachusetts, 6.6% of construction workers are misclassified as independent contractors by their employers.
Marc Russell, a carpenter for the North Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters who entered the field through an apprenticeship program, said he experienced exploitation at multiple sites before joining the union.
“At Harvard University … [the contractor] was charging $78 an hour for me, [while] paying me $12 [and] making $66 an hour on top of me,” Russell said.
When workers are withheld wages or overtime, paid substandard cash wages, or overworked, their options for recourse may be limited. Oftentimes, nonunion construction workers — who are sometimes undocumented — will reach out to the union for help.
“The exploitation in the construction industry is multilayered,” Xavier said. “[The] sub[contractors] start breaking [the projects] down into second and third tier levels of subcontracting, and that’s where we find the exploitation.”
The council says it has contacted Tufts numerous times to ensure administrators understand the allegations of exploitation leveled by workers against the contractors. After the protests began, Tufts offered the union a meeting, which union leadership said consisted of reiterations of budget concerns for the university without a commitment to change its hiring practices.
One form of exploitation that the union is protesting is when construction companies deliberately mislabel employees as independent contractors — a violation of labor law. In order for a worker to be considered an independent contractor in Massachusetts, they must be free from control, performing a service outside the usual course of business of the employer and regularly engaged in an independent profession similar to the work they are performing. Misclassification at construction sites when construction workers who are classified as independent contractors do not meet these standards.
Demonstrators at the Aug. 31 protest expressed hope that growing numbers of community members are joining their cause.
“I’ve seen a lot of camaraderie across the different groups… I’ve seen a multi-generational cohort of people out here,” Lauren O’Connor-Korb, SMFA professor of the practice and a member of Service Employees International Union Local 509, told the Daily. “The mood in this country is changing about what unions can do, and people are cottoning on to the idea that unions are here to help workers protect themselves.”
The council sees their recent protests as the beginning of a longer battle between the union and the Tufts administration.
“We’re going to continue our efforts to [inform] the public peacefully and legally like we’re doing today,” Xavier said. “We’re going to be writing letters [and] reaching out to a lot of different people in connection with Tufts — professors, alumni and leaders on the board — and letting them know this is what’s happening, and it’s not fair and it’s not right.”
