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| School construction site draws protesters |
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| Written by John Saiz / Patterson Irrigator | |
| Wednesday, 22 October 2008 | |
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Picketers showed up at the Walnut Grove School construction site at Walnut Avenue and Hartley Street on Friday. About five men carried signs in front of the site and inflated a large inflatable rat. The men would not identify themselves except to say if people wanted information, they should read the signs and call Union Local 81. “That’s all there is to say,” one picketer said as he pointed to his sign. The signs read, “Horizon Roofing Inc. does not meet conditions established by roofers and water-proofers in this area.” Doug Ziegler, business manager for Union Local 81, responded to calls to the union. He said the union sends picketers to different locations each Friday. Last week, they were targeting Horizon Roofing. “They won’t sign a contract for their wages,” he said. There are several businesses listed with the words Horizon Roofing in their names. Those companies all said they were not working in Patterson. Ziegler did not respond to a request that the union clarify which business they were picketing.  A group of roofers, accompanied by a giant inflatable rat, pickets in front of th Walnut Grove Schol construction site Friday. Elias Funez / Patterson Irrigator Stuck in the middle of the dispute is the Patterson Joint Unified School District, which is in the process of having the school built. When complete, it will be the first school on the east side of town. District Superintendent Patrick Sweeney said the district would not have been directly responsible for hiring Horizon Roofing. Instead, the contractor the district hired to oversee the project would have selected the roofer. However, the attention put the district in a precarious situation. The district is seeking voter approval for Measure V during Nov. 4 elections, a bond that would put millions of dollars in the district’s coffers to pay for a slew of facility improvements and new construction. The bond would be funded through an increase in property taxes. With elections looming, district officials worried about negative publicity. Back at the work site Friday, picketers were packing it in before noon, but before they left they yelled a few words at the workers. “We’ll be back,” one of the men said. To reach John Saiz at the Irrigator, call 892-6187 or e-mail him at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Comments
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Basically the roofers union 81 wants to make a point that a union contractor did not get the work. That is too bad, but competition from open shop saved the district and tax payers money.
The bids with public monies involved are very detailed and fair. NO contractor can get away with paying lower than prevailing wages (same wages that Union 81 pays workers) and follow strict reporting guidelines. I am sure Local 81 is asking for prevailing wage reporting from the district and making sure EVERYONE is being paid properly per guidelines set. If the local 81 contractors cannot be competitive it is because there material or business costs are too high.
Thank you,
Terry Herzog, Patterson CA