JERSEY CITY, N.J., July 17, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/
-- Today, the Northeast Regional Council of Carpenters (NRCC)
will begin a campaign to raise awareness for the business and
employment practices of Structure Tech, the subcontractor
responsible for construction of the concrete super structure, on
the new 37-story Park and Shore residential/retail development at
75 Park Lane in Jersey City.
NRCC members will begin picketing activities outside of the Park
and Shore job site today to raise awareness to the fact that
Structure Tech is failing to pay the area wage standards, health
and retirement benefits to its workers and employing workers from
out of State to work on the Jersey
City project.
"Simply put, this is another example of a project that exploits
middle class workers, uses cheap, non-local labor and banks on
foreign investors for hundreds of millions of dollars in funding in
exchange for U.S. visas," said Bob
Satriano, NRCC's Director of Organizing. "Our organization
fights every day to protect the wages, benefits and retirement of
hardworking middle-class Americans and we want to raise awareness
to just what's going on behind the scenes on high-rise construction
projects like this one in New
Jersey and elsewhere throughout the country. Structure Tech
is not paying area standard wages and not employing local
Jersey City workers who have
families here, spend money in the City and pay taxes to our
State."
The Park and Shore luxury development, near the Hudson River
waterfront, is utilizing controversial EB-5 visa financing from
overseas investors in order to build the project. Two years ago,
Strategic Capital, the United
States arm of Chinese State Construction Engineering
Corporation, raised $110 million from
the EB-5 program from 220 foreign investors for the development of
the $442 million Park and Shore
development. The EB-5 program offers visas to foreign investors who
provide more than $500,000 to a
development project that generates more than 10 jobs per
investor.
During the concrete super structure construction phase of the
project, Structure Tech, based in Yonkers, NY, will not be using local labor and
will be employing approximately 100 workers from outside of the
State of New Jersey.
"Northeast Carpenters' Local 253 has nearly 135 Jersey City residents who could have
benefitted themselves and their families by working on a large
development project like this," said Alex
Lopez, NRCC's Hackensack Team Lead and Council
Representative. "Our carpenters have the skills, training and
expertise necessary to safely build a project like this one and
have worked for decades with law abiding and honorable contractors
on projects throughout North Jersey."
Of the approximately 135 Jersey City carpenters, 54 of them are
young adults enrolled in the NRCC's 5-year Apprenticeship Training
Program; a rigorous program that requires individuals to annually
complete hundreds of hours in the classroom and more than 1,500 to
2,000 hours of on-the-job training with skilled union
carpenters.
About the NRCC
The Northeast Regional Council of
Carpenters (NRCC) represents nearly 40,000 hardworking men and
women in Delaware and New Jersey and portions of Maryland, New
York, and Pennsylvania.
NRCC is one of the largest trade unions on the East Coast. The NRCC
equips professional men and women carpenters with the skills,
training and quality workmanship that are demanded in today's
construction industry. For more information on NRCC, please visit
our website: www.northeastcarpenters.org; Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/NortheastRegionalCouncilofCarpenters; or
Twitter: https://twitter.com/nrccarpenters.
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SOURCE Northeast Regional Council of Carpenters (NRCC)