Carpenters protest in Schenley Plaza

Men holding picketing signs surrounded the green fence in Schenley Plaza on Monday and Tuesday… Men holding picketing signs surrounded the green fence in Schenley Plaza on Monday and Tuesday afternoon to protest what they called unfair wages for the carpenters working on the site.

The Greater Pennsylvania Regional Council of Carpenters organized the protest at the Eat’n Park Hospitality Group’s construction site. The protesters — who varied in number from 10 to 20 over the course of the two-day protest — all held signs that read “We want the public to know Bridges is undermining wages and conditions.”

Mark Davis, the vice president of Bridges General Contractors, the contractor working on the site, said that the protesters have free-speech rights and members of his company will exercise theirs if they feel it is necessary.

His response to the protest was, “There go the unions belly-aching again.”

Mike Sepesy, an organizer behind the protest, said that the group’s complaint is that Eat’n Park and Bridges General Contractors are undercutting wages and area standards that have been put in place for many years.

The area standards Sepesy referred to are ones that the contractors in the area collectively bargain on. The agreed-upon deal is then sent to the state and sets the wages and area standards.  

Davis would not comment on the wages that Bridges provides its workers.

Sam Shilling, an organizer for the protest, said that the protest is directed at carpenter wages put in place by the partnership of the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy and Eat’n Park Hospitality Group, the two organizations responsible for the construction project.

“It’s a crying shame that the Conservancy and Eat’n Park and the multiple people involved didn’t insist on fair carpenter wages,” Shilling said. “We want the world to know that.”

Kevin O’Connell, a spokesman for Eat’n Park Hospitality Group, said that the project was bid out fairly and that Bridges matched the bid. He also said that the carpenters union was included in the bidding but did not bid on the project.

“From our perspective, the process was very fair and Bridges did a good job in making sure the process was done fairly,” O’Connell said.

O’Connell also said that he has talked with the carpenters union concerning future potential projects, but for this project Eat’n Park can only work with carpenters who bid.

Shilling, on the other hand, said that the union did in fact bid on the project. He said that the bidding was by invitation only, which he said was an attempt to keep the union out of negotiations on the project’s terms. Only one out of the five bidders was a representative from the union, Shilling said.

Sepesy said the carpenters union is protesting Eat’n Park Hospitality’s choice of Bridges as the site contractor, since the company pays its workers less than area standards recommend.

Sepesy said that the project is important because it is in the heart of the city of Pittsburgh and Pitt.

“It tarnishes the image that Pittsburgh and the University stand for,” Sepesy said.

He said it costs a lot of money to go to Pitt and students’ parents work hard for their money. The goal of the protest is to make sure workers get fair pay for the work they perform, Sepesy said.

“We just feel that people have a right to know that Eat’n Park and the contractor are trying to get done as much as possible for as least as possible,” Sepesy said. “It’s a tough economy, and now is the time where people like this try to take advantage of these types of situations.”