In early February, HM Brandt, LLC demolition workers picketed outside the parking garage they were set to demolish at 415 N. Lake Street as part of their contract with Stevens Construction Corp. Picketers at the site of the $36 million project for the City of Madison, which will include a Bus Rapid Transit terminal, student housing and a new public parking structure, said HM Brandt, LLC was not paying workers fair wages, according to previous reporting from The Badger Herald.
Picketers placed a giant inflatable rat outside the work site in similar fashion to other union campaigns across the country, International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 139, Organizing Director Mike Ervin said.
But, in mid-March, the picketers disappeared along with the inflatable accessory, as HM Brandt, LLC completed demolition work on the garage, according to Ervin.
Flyers distributed by the picketers said a standard economic package in the area is $43.23 per hour with 100% employer-paid pension and healthcare benefits, due to the dangerous conditions construction employees often work in.
In February, Stevens Construction Corp. CEO Mark Rudnicki said all contractors working on the project were compensating workers in compliance with their contracts.
“The construction industry, our job, is one of the most dangerous jobs out there,” Ervin said in February. “They deserve better.”
Ervin said employees’ demands still had not been met, and that the protests will not stop until they are.
The union’s campaign against the company is in its second month, and is currently engaged in picketing outside three of their work sites in Milwaukee, Ervin said.
“We can only lawfully be wherever they are working and we’re going to continue to spread that message wherever they go,” Ervin said. “HM Brandt paying their workers substandard wages and benefits suppresses the market, because now they can undercut contractors that would love to have that work and are paying the area’s standards.”
The City of Madison is not able to require a certain wage to be paid to workers after a 2015 policy change, City Attorney Michael Hass told The Badger Herald in an email statement. He said the City has not received reports of unpaid wages for workers on this project. HM Brandt, LLC did not respond to The Badger Herald’s request for comment.
