Union workers picket at future Walgreens in Hampton Township

[Omaha Steve]

http://blog.mlive.com/bctimes/2008/04/union_workers_picket_at_future.html

Posted by The Bay City Times April 22, 2008 15:39PM

More than 20 building trade affiliates from different tri-county trade unions picketed this morning in front of a Walgreens store rising at the corner of Center Avenue and Scheurmann Road.


Ryan J. Stanton | The Bay City TimesMembers from several area trade unions protest outside the Walgreens store in construction at the corner of Center Avenue and Scheurmann Road.


Holding bright orange signs that read "Local Jobs for Local Workers," at 7 a.m. they peacefully protested the use of out-of-town labor to build the store in Hampton Township.

"I'm supporting my brothers," said Dan Letherer, a pipefitter from Bay City and board member for the Bay County Labor Council.

Kendall Pilarski, business manager for Laborers Local 1098, called it a multi-trade effort involving electricians, pipefitters, bricklayers, carpenters, boilermakers and sheetmetal workers.

"We'd like to do some local work, we're local people," said Vernon Brown, a sheet metal worker from Saginaw. "Instead they're shipping it out of town to Ohio or who knows where."

A sign posted in front of the construction site states that the general contractor and construction manager is C.E. Gleeson Constructors Inc. of Royal Oak. The Times could not reach the contractor for comment.

"When an owner like this comes into our area and asks us to support him financially by shopping at his store, we figure we could at least help him build it," Pilarski said.