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Posted on Wed, Oct. 26, 2005

Union protest planned today in East Falls


The Philadephia Building Trades Council says it will bring 1,500 union members to the Dobson Mills residential-retail construction site in East Falls this afternoon.

The union members as well as Philadelphia Councilman Michael Nutter, who represents the area, are scheduled to attend to protest the use of a non-union workforce by Tocci Commercial LLC, the Woburn, Mass., construction manager for the project. The project includes 285 apartments and 7,000 square feet of retail space.

Union spokesman Frank Keel said the owner of the property, Dobson Mills LLC. had agreed to use union labor, but Tocci Commercial spokeswoman Amy West said her company knew of no such agreement.

West said the company typically runs a "merit-shop," meaning it allows both union and non-union subcontractors to bid on the work. Tocci itself employs no laborers, she said.

West said that the company now has one union subcontractor working along with four non-union contractors.

There would have been more union contractors, she said, but the unions would not allow them to take the subcontracting jobs unless the Tocci and the owners agreed to use all union subcontractors.

The unions say that the subcontractors have used illegal aliens and are paying less than the prevailing wage.

West said Tocci subcontractors are required to promise that their workers are legally entitled to work in the U.S. and that all workers are paid at least three to six times the minimum wage.