WNYLaborToday.com Editor’s Note: Pictured above, Members of Laborers Local 210 were joined by representatives of several other area Unions outside Canisius College Tuesday (August 10th) to protest the use of out-of-town Workers on a New York State-funded asbestos abatement project at the Jesuit College’s Science Hall in Buffalo.  The Laborers Union also says the health and safety of those Non-Union Workers is being placed in jeopardy due to a lack of needed protective equipment.   (WNYLaborToday.com Photos)

(BUFFALO, NEW YORK) – An enormous sign hangs on the side of Canisius College’s Science Hall that heralds the celebration of “150 years of excellence” at the Jesuit College (pictured above), but one Union says Canisius is far less than excellent, alleging the health and well-being of nine out-of-town Workers employed on a New York State-funded asbestos abatement project have been placed in jeopardy due to a lack of protective equipment.

More than two dozen Unionists and Labor Activists are in the third week of protests outside the college’s Main Street campus in Buffalo in order to draw public attention to that and several additional grievances Laborers Local 210 has with Canisius.

They include: The failure to hire local Workers on the project (the Union tells WNYLaborToday.com a couple of its Members actually live in the surrounding neighborhoods and had applied for employment on the project, but were not hired); Paying those Workers New York State-mandated Prevailing Wages; and Contractor adherence to the provisions of an agreed-to National Environmental Agreement - which maintains AAC Contracting of Rochester comply with a 50% Union hiring goal on the $4.4 million project.

Many who took part in the action carried signs that read: AAC Has No Collective Bargaining Agreement With Laborers’ Local 210 - and a nearby truck flashed a series of electronic messages on its sides, including: Stop AAC Contracting From Bringing In Out-Of-Town Workers; Stop AAC Contracting From Lowering Area Standards; AAC Contracting Hurts Working Families; and AAC Contracting Is Unfair To Erie County Workers!

New York State Laborers Organizing Fund Representative Jonathan Fuzak told Your On-Line Labor Newspaper Tuesday (August 10th) that he was recently threatened with trespass after he entered an adjacent parking area located next to the Science Hall where AAC Contracting’s Employees were working - “using brooms with no Tyvek suits or respirators.”

“We wanted to inform those Workers that their health is being placed in jeopardy, but (the Workers) didn’t want to talk,” more than likely “because they are scared,” Fuzak said.

In addition, and as part of Article 8 in the Higher Education (HE) Capital Improvement Matching Grant that New York State provided to Canisius to help pay for the college’s asbestos abatement project, Prevailing Wages “must be paid” to the employed Workers, Fuzak stressed.

While he does not know for sure, it is Fuzak’s assumption the AAC Contracting Workers “are not being paid” the Prevailing Wage.

All this “from a private Jesuit College,” adds Fuzak - which is supposedly dedicated to the human search for truth, value, justice and solidarity, and one that works to inspire its students through the compassion it embodies, as well as through integrity and humility.

“Canisius says ‘they’re not part of it’ (the decisions being made by AAC Contracting), but the Laborers ‘say they are.’  Fifty-percent of their workforce ‘must be Union’ - ‘All are from out-of-town.’  There are ‘no’ minorities or women working on this project.  And all those Workers ‘must be paid’ Prevailing Wage.  ‘We don’t even know if they are being paid a living wage,’” he said. “‘If’ they were Union ‘they’d be making ($30) an hour and another ($27) an hour in a benefits.’”

The Laborers received support from a couple of Buffalo Building & Construction Trades’ Member Unions - UA Plumbers & Steamfitters Local 22 and SMART (Sheet Metal Workers) Local 71, as well as from a contingent of representatives from Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 1133 - which has its own set of problems with Canisius College, thanks to a recent move made by one of the Union’s employers, the Catholic Health System.

(For More On That Story, Read WNYLaborToday.com’s June 16th Labor News Story, Headlined: ‘Swapping Important Union-Represented Jobs For Non-Union Jobs’ At A Local Call Center Has CWA Reps ‘Incensed’ At Catholic Health, ‘Charging It Puts The Well-Being & Health Of Patients & The Buffalo Community In Jeopardy,’ At:  www.wnylabortoday.com/news/2021/06/16/buffalo-and-western-new-york-labor-news/swapping-important-union-represented-jobs-for-non-union-jobs-at-a-local-call-center-has-cwa-reps-incensed-at-catholic-health-charging-it-puts-the-well-being-health-of-patients-the-buffalo-community-in-jeopardy/)

CWA Local 1133 President Jackie Ettipio walked in solidarity with the Laborers, telling Your On-Line Labor Newspaper: “It’s ‘very important’ Unions ‘work together, even though our Members are employed at different companies.’  ‘We all have the same goals - to protect’ our Memberships.  ‘We need to educate the general public as to what is going on with the hope that once they understand, they will support us.’  It’s Labor Unions ‘that uphold the standard of living for all, Union and Non-Union.’”