Carpenters Union Pickets Atrium Construction Site

Representatives of the Northeast Regional Council of Carpenters are currently picketing outside of the construction site claiming that contractor R & W Concrete Construction fails to offer area standards in wages and benefits.

Council representative Anthony Verrelli, leading a group of more than two dozen marching men all armed with signs and whistles, said the Lansdale, Pa. Company fails to pay area standards as established by the union.

Thursday was the first day the union picketed the construction site, where the Atrium, a senior-living high rise, is expanding with a second tower. It was unclear how long council representatives planned on picketing the site.

According to the NRCC website, the union represents, provides benefits for, and trains more than 30,000 members in the northeast. The council, less than a year old, is the result of a merger between the Empire State Regional Council of Carpenters and the New Jersey Regional Council of Carpenters.

Springpoint Senior Living, the company that owns the Atrium, , 60-unit midrise addition in June. The new building is expected to cost $35 million.

Attempts to reach L & W were not successful in the late morning, early afternoon Thursday as an automated answering service repeatedly said lines at the company were busy.