Unions charge that illegal workers are at TK

Friday, April 17, 2009
By JEFF AMY, Business Reporter

Leaders of local construction unions are demanding a crackdown on what they believe are illegal construction workers at the ThyssenKrupp AG site in Calvert.

The leaders of the Mobile-Pensacola Building and Construction Trades Council say it's unfair that a project eligible for at least $811 million in state and local incentives isn't employing more Alabama residents.

Temple Black, a spokesman with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said Thursday that he understood Customs and Border Patrol, a separate agency, had detained a number of workers earlier this year because they were in the country illegally, but those actions did not occur at the construction site. Officials with Customs and Border Patrol could not be reached late Thursday.

Black said his agency has taken no action regarding ThyssenKrupp.

ThyssenKrupp spokesman Scott Posey said Immigration and Customs Enforcement had visited the site several times and found no problems.

Washington County Sheriff Richard Stringer said that arrests in his county have increased since construction began on the site, and many of those detained did not have documentation.

Contractors at the site say they follow the law, and at least one company singled out by union leaders says it uses E-Verify, a federal electronic database meant to ensure workers are in the United States legally and not using forged documents. A ThyssenKrupp spokesman said the company is doing its best to ensure only legal workers are employed at the $4.65 billion complex on the Mobile-Washington county line.

The accusations come as local contractors struggle for work in a nationwide construction bust.

The Building Trades Council bought a full-page ad in Sunday's Press-Register, and council Secretary Donnie Adams said the group plans public protests. State Rep. Joseph Mitchell, D-Mobile, wrote a letter to Gov. Bob Riley on Monday supporting the claims.

"ThyssenKrupp, in coming here, got a lot of incentive money from the state of Alabama and local governments," said Adams, also the business manager of Local 505 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. "We felt a lot of local people were going to get to work up there."

There's no language in the incentive contract local and state governments signed with ThyssenKrupp requiring the company to hire local firms or workers.

Posey said the company has spent more than $120 million with firms based in Mobile or Baldwin counties and almost $500 million with firms based in Alabama.

Adams and council President Larry Fincher said contractors working some of the most labor-intensive jobs on site have done no local hiring. They claim those contractors are relying on labor brokers to supply illegal workers from distant points.

Many construction crews on the site primarily work in Spanish, and many signs are posted in Spanish and English. Adams and Fincher said union members working there believe most Spanish-speaking workers are using forged documents, though they offer no proof.

Not everyone who speaks Spanish is an illegal immigrant. Nationally, studies estimate at least 14 percent of construction labor is here illegally.

ThyssenKrupp's Posey wrote in an e-mail that the company writes to contractors about U.S. and company rules and talks about them in training.

"While our contractors are legally responsible for immigration compliance in the hiring of their employees, we take this issue very seriously and have in place a number of programs designed to help ensure our contractors are meeting their legal obligations," Posey wrote.

ThyssenKrupp won't release the names of all contractors working on site. Adams and Fincher said they believed the worst offenders included United Forming, a concrete finishing firm based near Atlanta; Baker Concrete Construction of Monroe, Ohio; Titan Steel Reinforcing of Orlando, Fla., and Scott Bridge Co. Inc. of Opelika.

Officials with United and Titan could not be reached Thursday. Those with Baker Concrete and Scott Bridge denied any illegality.

Jack Swarthout, executive vice president of Scott Bridge, said his firm, which is building the site's barge terminal, uses E-verify to check for forged documents.

"ThyssenKrupp is very particular on who they let on their site," said Swarthout.

Todd Wilkowski, general counsel for Baker Concrete, said his firm has hired a number of local workers, and that ThyssenKrupp recently reviewed employment documents. Baker has poured concrete pilings and is building concrete structures in parts of the complex.

(Staff Reporter David Ferrara contributed to this report.)

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