Burlington’s new Memorial School had some unexpected visitors this week as picketers from the New England Regional Council of Carpenters, Local 26, protested along Winn Street. The union workers held a large sign calling attention to what they claim is an “utter disregard for quality” on the part of the general contractor, CTA Construction Co. 

The group passed out literature that alleged prevailing wage violations and quality issues at the Memorial School and other CTA construction sites.

The documents provided to Patch by the protesters allege that Advanced Walls and Ceilings, Inc., a subcontractor to CTA Construction Co., has been cited on at least two occasions by the Attorney General of Massachusetts for violations of Massachusetts Wage and Hour Laws. According to copies of the citations obtained by Patch, the subcontractor was fined $6,000 on one occasion and $23,000 on another occasion for failure to pay prevailing wages.

Nick DiGiovanni, Business Manager for Local 26, clarified the importance of this issue stating that if subcontractors cheat on prevailing wages, they can lower their bids by as much a 30%.

That’s not a level playing field,” said DiGiovanni. “Contractors know there aren’t enough inspectors to go around to all the jobs and the fines are light,” he added.

Lyle Coghlin, Principal of CTA, acknowledged that Advanced Walls and Ceilings is a subcontractor but explained that as the General Contractor, his firm does not hire or pay the actual workers.

“We require all subcontractors working for us on public school projects to pay the prevailing wage rate and carry required insurance coverage.  We do the best we can to ensure this happens, and when we discover issues, we will demand the subcontractor rectify the situation and we will notify authorities,” said Coghlin.  “We value our subcontractors and their employees because they deserve to be paid for the great quality they deliver.”

According to Craig Robinson, Director of Finance and Operations for Burlington Schools, it is also the goal of Burlington Schools to insure that its contractors abide by all state local laws including prevailing wage laws.  Robinson detailed that Paul Griffin, the on-site construction management professional, collects all the payroll documentation and certifies that everything appears compliant with the law.

DiGiovanni’s literature also claims that a second subcontractor on the Memorial School project, Action Floors of Rindge NH, is a debarred contractor “with a history of failure, low quality and structurally deficient work.”

Coghlin disputed this claim and stated that although Action Floors was debarred, it was for failure to have a workmen’s compensation plan in place in Massachusetts.

“We only recently became aware of this oversight and unfortunately, we had to explain to Action that we had to replace them on the job. It was not due to quality or bad work, just the workmen’s comp issue that occurred in 2009,” said Coghlin.

Coghlin also explained that Action rectified the problem and had a workmen’s compensation policy in place when hired for the Burlington project, but was let go due to the debarment. Action Floors is debarred from public work in Massachusetts until November 2012.

DiGiovanni scoffed at this explanation stating that the debarment was a matter of public record and CTA should have been aware of the situation when Action was first hired.

“This is a very important issue,” insisted DiGiovanni. “If a worker had been injured on a job while there was no policy in place, that worker would have no coverage.”

The union literature also claimed several quality issues at Memorial School including faulty foundations and walls, and leaks in the roofs and skylights.  Robinsons acknowledged that there was a minor issue with water leaking into one skylight in the main hallway. The problem has been fixed and the skylight was retested and passed inspection. Robinson also stated that he requested and received an extended warrantee on the skylight at no additional cost to the town.

The other quality issues raised in the literature were soundly rejected by both Robinson and Coghlin.

Coghlin stated that the quality claims were “completely inaccurate and false.”

“The quality of the work on Memorial School met or exceeded my expectations from all trades,” said Robinson.

When questioned about the quality claims in his union’s literature, DiGiovanni declined to support the claims and stated that he was not aware of any structural or safety issues at the Memorial School.