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Navy contractor accused of using illegal immigrants

GROTON, Conn. -- The U.S. Navy has been asked to investigate allegations by a carpenters union that subcontractors working on new military housing in Connecticut and Rhode Island have hired undocumented workers and paid them substandard wages.

The allegations sparked a series of demonstrations this week at the housing projects outside the submarine base in Groton and in Portsmouth, R.I.

"Our guys found they were being paid less than they were supposed to be paid," said Bert Durand, spokesman for the New England Regional Council of Carpenters. "Any time employers are able to hire workers and exploit them, it has a trickle down effect on other workers. That becomes the industry practice."

Connecticut U.S. Sens. Christopher Dodd and Joseph Lieberman, both Democrats, have asked the Navy to investigate.

"The Navy is aware of the allegations," said Chris Zendan, a spokesman.

Navy officials have had discussions about the issue with GMH Military Housing, which oversees the projects, Zendan said.

Bob Rulli, regional project director with GMH, said he had not received proof that any workers were undocumented. He said GMH and Centex, which hired the subcontractors, were not in the practice of actively seeking out undocumented workers.

"If, in fact, we determined or became aware that someone was in fact working on any of these jobs and was here illegally, we would make sure that they were removed," Rulli said. But we can't do that on innuendo or rumor."

He said certified payrolls given to GMH did not reveal any problems, though he acknowledged the possibility that workers could have provided fraudulent documentation.

Meanwhile, the union has filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board alleging that one of the subcontractors, Gargiulo Construction Co. of Durham, this week illegally fired eight workers in Groton who were undocumented and wanted to join the union.

In Rhode Island, another subcontractor, Shawnlee Construction, has faced similar accusations over wages and illegal immigrants.

The work involves 559 housing units in Groton and 82 in Rhode Island, being overseen by GMH Military Housing.

Centex Construction denies it has hired undocumented workers.

"The claims made against this project have been thoroughly reviewed and researched and we have found no credible evidence to support any of these accusations," said Winn Maddrey, a Centex spokesman.

Gargiulo denied firing the workers, saying there was no more work available for the eight employees. The company says it pays the federal prevailing wage of between $12.50 to $16 per hour and all its workers have proper documents.

Union officials said they visited the construction sites and recorded interviews with workers who said they were illegal laborers. Several also identified themselves as illegal workers to a CBS news crew.

"Our belief is they didn't look hard enough and didn't find anything because they didn't want to find anything," Durand said.

"We will continue to ask political representatives and military representatives to look into this," he said.

The alleged firings sparked a walkoff by other workers who want to join the carpenters union, Durand said.

The NLRB is investigating an unfair labor practice charge the union filed against Gargiulo over the eight firings and a petition to organize a union, said Michael Cass, supervisory examiner with NLRB. A hearing on the election is planned later this month.