[POLL] Local Laborers Union Says Company Should Have Hired Their Union Workers at Metropolitan Plaza

Members of a local laborers union have been pacing back and forth in front of ’s Main Street development for more than a week to promote the hiring of Westchester union laborers. 

“There are so many people out of work in Westchester,” said Dario Boccarossa, the business manager and secretary-treasurer for Laborers’ International Union of North American (LIUNA) Local 235.

“We shop, pay taxes and live in Westchester—yet we can’t work in Westchester anymore. We believe jobs should be kept in Westchester too.”

Boccarossa says Perform Concrete Inc. of Bethel, Conn. should have contracted with his labor union—which mainly serves construction workers in Westchester and Putnam counties—to perform the work on Metropolitan Plaza LLC.'s project, instead of hiring non-union workers. The Conneticut company is currently working on the construction site at 250-270 Main St., which will be a hotel and retail/office space.

Boccarossa says that local people should be hired for local jobs since they contribute to the local economy. He believes that hiring non-union workers allows employers to hire out-of the-area and even illegal workers who don’t pay local taxes for unfair wages and benefits.

“This is nothing new,” said Boccarossa. “We’ve been doing this, picketing, for 110 years when a contractor is non-union. We try to put our local people to work, and get decent wages. Why not put our people to work? They pay taxes, they get a decent wage and they do everything right. Non-union workers are from out-of town and they don’t pay anything in Westchester County, or New York State for that matter.”

According to Boccarossa, Perform Concrete had a contract with Local 235 years ago when they were hired for a local job, and since then the Connecticut company hasn’t done much work in Westchester and Putnam.

Perform Concrete did not return a phone message to White Plains Patch to confirm or respond to any of Boccarossa’s statements or assertions.

“They haven’t done work in Westchester in a long time—but when they came back, they started using non-union people,” said Boccarossa.

“We are hoping they’ll sign an agreement and put our local people to work,” said Boccarossa.

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