Unions challenge subcontractors at Promenade in Portage
Chicago Tribune
April 2, 2018
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/news/ct-ptb-portage-union-demostrate-st-0403-20180402-story.html
Dozens of union carpenters demonstrated outside of the Portage's highest profile development Friday, claiming two subcontractors working there are breaking state and federal laws.
The carpenters placed giant inflatables of a rat and one called "Fat Cat" in the shadow of the Promenade at Founders Square, a large, mixed-use development in the city's burgeoning, new downtown area.
Local leaders of the Indiana-Kentucky-Ohio Regional Council of Carpenters said Holladay Properties, the developer and general contractor behind the Promenade and the AmeriPlex complex on the city's north side, have known about complaints with the two subcontractors since last November but have failed to act.
Union leaders said they called for the public demonstration before Holladay could begin the second phase of the development.
Union leaders also said they have reached out to the Porter County Prosecutor's office to seek legal remedy but have not heard back.
Holladay Properties officials did not return calls seeking comment, nor did a man listed as an official with one of the subcontractors. A call to the other subcontractor went unanswered.
Union official Ron Necco, who also sits on the Portage Board of Public Works, which is chaired by Mayor James Snyder, was careful to describe the Friday event as a public demonstration and said the dispute is not "a union, non-union issue."
"It's an economic issue for the city," Necco said.
No workers could be seen on the site Friday morning.
Necco said Snyder is "behind us on this," but Snyder did not return a voicemail or text messages seeking comment.
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