Union leader: we warned city about shoddy non-union construction (Philly building collapse)

[Enrique]

http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2013/06/06/head-of-philadelphia-building-contruction-trades-council-unions-alerted-li-about-dangerous-situation-at-construction-site/

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Following a deadly building collapse in Center City, Pat Gillespie, the head of the Philadelphia Building and Construction Trades Council, told WPHT’s Dom Giordano that the unions alerted L&I about the building before it fell.

Listen to the interview here.

“[The building] brought in this contractor…who’s non-union. I do know that a carpenter working across the street…had gone over and warned people, ‘Look, this isn’t going to work,’” Gillespie said, referring to the way the building demolition was being handled.

“On a number of occasions, from what I was told, they alerted L&I about it,” Gillespie added. “They also, from what I was told this morning, had an interview with police.”

Gillespie said that City Council needs to come up with some sort of remedy to prevent a similar event from occurring again.

“There [was] nothing holding that wall up, is what I’m getting at,” Gillespie added, echoing the concerns of others. “We need to get, A, some kind of rules that work, and B, have people take some sort of course of action to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

[East Coast Pirate]

1. Two construction workers that were doing work on nearby buildings

told the Philadelphia Inquirer today that they watched the demolition in disbelief because of the unsafe practices of the demolition workers.

"Never in all my years have I ever, ever, ever seen this," Steve Cramer told the paper. "It was just a total disregard for safety. We [predicted] this last week. I can't believe they allowed the thrift store to be open."

Joe Hauser, another worker, echoed Cramer's concerns, saying that he was planning on saying something to the workers on the very day of the collapse.

"I said, 'That's it, at lunch I'm going to go over there and say something, I have to, I can't go with this no more,'" Hauser told the paper.

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