On Saturday, Sept. 26, 2009, Carpenters Local 195 joined other members of the Illinois Valley Building Trades to picket a new Hampton Inn that is being built in Peru, IL. The Hampton Inn is being constructed in an enterprise zone and will not be paying property taxes for 10 years. They are using materials and workers from Indiana instead of supporting the local Peru economy.
Perhaps this photo says it best.
The builders of the hotel, Sunrise Hospitality, Inc., have been using out-of-state labor and paying substandard wages and benefits while asking workers to work in unsafe conditions. The workers constructing the three-story building are not wearing hard hats, a safety issue that could be life-ending.
Aside from the safety issues, the really galling part of this is that Illinois taxpayers are taking a hit while Indiana workers and businesses benefit. Representatives from Laborers Local 393 and Carpenters Local 195 said that unemployment rates in union halls have bounced between 20-30% all summer long and unemployment rates are expected to grow to 40% during the winter months.
The Illinois Valley Building Trades are asking you to contact Navin Patel, the Director of Sunrise Hospitality, INC., and ask them to use local workers and suppliers to build the Hampton Inn. It only takes a minute. Please call Navin Patel at 309.830.6924.
Building and Trades organizers used a four-prong approach to inform Peru residents that their tax incentives were funding out of state workers.
1) Organizers posted a standing picket and inflatable rat in front of the construction site.
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2) Organizers posted a standing picket at the entrance to the hotel/Peru mall.
3) Organizers distributed literature at the entrances/exits of parking lots.
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4) Organizers used a periodic march around the mall drive outer circle.
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A special thanks to all who came out from organized labor to support the Saturday, Sept. 26, rally.
I would also like thank those who made the call to Patel and those who showed their support by honking or stopping to say that they would not be staying at Hampton Inns. What happens in Peru IL impacts all of us and we can all have an impact on what happens in Peru IL.
Respectfully,
John Laesch
Member, Carpenters Local 195
Tags: building trades, carpenters, electricians, Hampton Inn, Illinois, laborers, operators, organized labor, Peru IL, rat, scab, Sunrise Hospitality
we all at the hampton inn jobsite are very offended that the union has not brought out the rat to the picket line, we wanna see the rat. Its odd though, those rats are made by a non union company, seems like hypocrisy to me
So let me get this straight. You all over at the job site think unions are hypocrites because the inflatable rats they use are made in a non-union shop, even though there isn’t a union-made one available? I think the term you’re looking for here is “irony,” not “hypocrisy”. On the other hand, non-union workers complaining that the unions aren’t pro-union enough? Now that is hypocrisy. I smell a rat.