Workers from a Chicago-based carpenter’s union spent all day Thursday protesting against a local contractor on Church Street and Benson Avenue.
The union, Local 58, a division of the Chicago and Northeast Illinois District Council of Carpenters, said the contractor is paying its employees substandard wages for the construction of a retaining wall west of the El tracks behind the Church Street Plaza.
As construction workers from the office building development at Church Street Station crossed Church Street on Thursday, a Local 58 picketer was heard yelling: “This is your next battle, guys. This is worse than not working for a union.”
The picketer, Ian Main, is an organizer from Local 58. The local says workers from G & L Contractors, 7401 St. Louis Ave., are receiving substandard wages. G & L workers are unionized by Local 707 of the National Production Workers Union.
Main and about 10 other carpenters stood on the sidewalk entrance of the construction site behind Urban Outfitters, where deliveries for the wall were being made throughout the day. The group began picketing at 5:30 a.m. Thursday and stopped at about 3 p.m., when Main was the only one left protesting.
Main said the group plans on picketing until the job is finished later this month.
Guy Battista, G & L president, said the group’s claims are bogus. He said G & L offers its workers more benefits than is standard.
“(Local 58’s claims concerning) substandard wages are totally false — we do more than they do,” Battista said. “As long as we’re organized and complying with standards, our employees are happy.”
Battista, who visited the site with two representatives from Local 707, said Local 58 members are picketing because they want G & L’s employees to join their union.
“They’re picketing us because we don’t belong to their union,” he said. “They might try to intimidate us, but that’s all. And they can’t block the driveway or I’ll have them arrested.”
Cmdr. Michael Perry of the Evanston Police Department said Local 58 is not allowed on the private property of any business, and its members are not allowed to block car or pedestrian traffic.
The representatives from Local 707, Jos
