Weekday construction in East Lansing came to a halt for the first time in months Tuesday.
Picketers from Local 333 of the Plumbers & Pipefitters arrived at the corners of the $30 million City Center development in the early morning, upset with the hiring of nonunion workers for an independent portion of the project.
A contractor hired by Barnes & Noble Booksellers to complete its new location on the corner of Grand River Avenue and Charles Street hired nonunion workers, taking the place of potential union jobs.
Union members allege the workers are making substandard wages with no benefits.
Representatives from Barnes & Noble could not be reached for comment.
“It’s not worth it for them to work for practically nothing,” picketer Bryan Cummings said. “You have the contractor making millions - these guys have no benefits. We just want a better life.
“These guys might hate us for this, but we’re out here for them.”
Although some of the nonunion workers crossed the picket lines to continue with construction, both union and nonunion workers left around noon, abandoning the project. Barnes & Noble is scheduled to open this fall.
“It’s not our intent to slow things down,” said Tim Haggart, a union representative. “I don’t think our contractors were given a fair chance to bid the project. It has been going good. It just seems to have slowed down today.”
But while the picketers didn’t intend to cease construction, City Manager Ted Staton said he is hoping for a quick return to work.
“It could affect construction,” he said. “This is not a city contract. We were impacted by it because it has slowed work on the rest of the block.”
Although city officials do not award construction bids exclusively to union workers, Staton said they’re often impressed by the quality and competitive prices unions tout.
“We award contracts to the lowest and best bidder,” he said. “But obviously, we support organized labor. We do all we can to make awards to union contractors.”
Staton said city officials probably will not step in with their concerns unless it takes too long to come to a resolution and complete construction.
More than 65 union workers had arrived on the site by 8 a.m. to protest the nonunion work, but East Lansing police Officer James Campbell said they weren’t causing any problems.
“Things are going smooth,” he said. “They warned us (Monday). We’ll be out here as long as they are.”
But as city officials and workers wait to hear of a compromise that will continue construction, even the union workers are unsure how long they’ll be picketing in the high heat of summer.
“Nobody seems to want to talk to us,” union business agent Al Rohar said. “There’s not too many people working in there right now. We’ll stay as long as we need to.”
Jamie Gumbrecht can be reached at gumbrec1@msu.edu.
