From:

As you well know the Starwood Organization, the parent company of the Sheraton Hotel chain, is planning to build a twenty-five story hotel on 222 Duffield Street in Brooklyn. the general contractor on this development is Flintlock Construction from Greenwich, CT and the primary contractor will be a company called U.S. Reinforce Concrete. Investment in Brooklyn is certainly something that all of us applaud, but only if it is responsible development that will benefit the community and the workers of the community.

I can tell you that Flintlock Construction as well as U.S. Reinforced Concrete are two corporations that do not value the community or workers at all. I can tell you this because both of these corporations are in the process of finishing anothe. r Starwood project at 330 West 40th Street in Manhattan where the working conditions were nothing short of exploitive for the manhattan community and workers. what happened in Manhattan is about to happen in Brooklyn.

Our union started talking to the workers on the Manhattan construction project by Flintlock and U.S.R.C. in early February in an effort to educate them on their rights to join a union. The vast majority of these workers are new immigrants, many of them undocumented, that are forced to work sometimes more than twelve hours a day. Their wages are one-fourth of what union members in the community earn and none of them have any benefits at all. When the workers decided to use their democratic right to join a union, their employer U.S.R.C. forced over eighty of them to the Brooklyn construction site for a "captive audience meeting".

At that meeting the workers were told by management that, ”unions were only for white people”, that management would have to be “shot” before it ever signed a union contract and that the workers “Questionable” legal status would prohibit them from any right to join a union. At the end of the hour long meeting the workers were told to write on a piece of paper whether or not they supported the union and sign their name to it.
Naturally all of these acts violate a workers right to join a union and our union is in the process of fighting this company at the NLRB ( National Labor Relations Board). Ultimately many of these workers were scared away from supporting the union.

On June 8th 2007 at 1PM, a rally to support the workers for U.S.R.C. and Flintlock Construction will be held at 222 Duffield Street in Brooklyn. Attending this rally will be thousands of union members that live in Brooklyn, community organizations, labor activists and of course the media. We urge you to attend this rally as well as send the very important message that workers have rights in the workplace and that Brooklyn is not a safe haven for labor exploiters, especially when huge multi-national corporations are going to profit off the community like the Starwood Organization will.

 

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more on this story can be found in previous articles

 

heres a list of the Starwood hotels and resorts :

 

Four Points By Sheraton

Sheraton Westin Hotel ALoft W Hotels St.Regis Le Meridien The Luxury Collection ____________________________________________________ also from that site above: To all local merchants we are a community group called “Buildsafe”. We represent many workers who reside in this community. Shortly, construction will commence on a new Sheraton Hotel which will be located at Duffield Place, Between Fulton and Willoby Streets. We write to you because build safe, your community group, are concerned that the Sheraton will be using a contractor who engages in unsafe work practices which could result in loss of life or serious injury to the worker or to innocent pedestrians walking by. Also the Sheraton’s contractor will be providing jobs to non-Brooklyn residents. Buildsafe will not sit idle by and allow this to happen to our community.

Build safe plans a job action at the site of the Sheraton’s construction project. Our goal is to save jobs for Brooklyn residents and to force the Sheraton to build safely! This action will cause many traffic tie-ups which may negatively impact the local economy. This disruption can be avoided with your help. Please call the Sheraton Hotel at 1-800-325-3535 and also call the Starwood Management Group at 212-841-6550 and speak with Joe Gelcion. Please alert your local politicians about this problem.

When you speak to the Sheraton or to your local politician tell them that you want the hotel Built Safely and Union, with workers from our community.

Thank You in advance for your loyal support,

Buildsafe ______________________________________________________________

Save our Brooklyn Community From Greedy, Lawbreaking Developers!

This is your opportunity to say “NO” to another developer who breaks the law and exploits taxpayers for his own greedy purposes. Developer John Lam, along with his cronies Flintlock Construction and Superstructure are building two new Sheraton Hotels in Brooklyn at 222 Duffield Street.

These undesirables have long histories of breaking the law, spending much of their time in federal and state courts defending themselves against violating labor and tax laws; using undocumented, uninsured and unskilled laborers; exploiting children; and creating safety hazards for workers and the public. Developer John Lam and Flintlock Construction hire unskilled, undocumented and uninsured laborers, and then overwork and underpay them. Without skilled workers, construction will take double the time causing unneeded traffic jams. Without insurance, taxpayers are forced to pick up the hospital tabs for workers hurt on the job. And without documentation, laborers are subject to abuse and exploitation that you wouldn’t wish on any human being.Join Brooklyn’s community leaders and put a stop to these shady developers who are abusing their workers, exploiting taxpayers and creating unsafe working conditions that are a hazard for everyone in our community.

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Stop the Sheraton Construction Now!!!

John Lam, Flintlock Construction & Superstructure
-Undermining Labor Laws
-Using Undocumented, Unskilled, Uninsured Labor
-Creating Safety Hazards for Workers & the Public
-Using $100 Million of our Taxes to Build a Parking Structure-
-Hiding Behind Bankruptcy Laws Instead of Fairly Compensating Laborers

 

 
Related links:
http://unionreview.com/new-york-politicians-speak-out-against-non-union-brooklyn...