Fleet Farm’s tactic is not only raising concerns about the safety of the temporary workers but also the quality of the work that is going into the mammoth retail structure, where thousands of shopping families will visit day in and day out.
A leading local labor union for trade workers is furious and the Carver County commissioner who represents the city is gravely concerned that the out-of-town company behind the $20.5 million project is cutting out highly skilled tradesmen in the Twin Cities area and undercutting well established area standards of wages and benefits.
Breitbach Construction, headquartered an hour’s drive west of St. Cloud, is collaborating with a national temp agency chain, Labor Ready, of Tacoma, Wash., to pay many workers on the Fleet Farm site only $7.25 an hour. That’s the rock-bottom minimum wage, not the going rate in the community for skilled tradesmen.
“Fleet Farm should be ashamed that it’s taking the cheapest and riskiest route possible to put up this outlet in Carver,” said Tim Mackey, business manager for Twin Cities-based Local 563 of the Laborers’ International Union of North America.
“Fleet Farm and its contractor are leaving on the sidelines the most highly skilled workers in the trades that Minnesota has to offer,” added Mackey, whose union has been handing out “Shame on Fleet Farm” fliers near the site. “Their abilities cannot be underestimated when it comes to getting the job done to the highest standards in a safe environment and leaving behind a project that citizens can trust each time they walk through the door.”
The city of Carver approved tax subsidies for construction of the Fleet Farm outlet and the surrounding infrastructure that is valued at nearly $1 million. City officials also recently adopted what are called Business Subsidy Policies, a common practice among municipalities that are tied to these kinds of citizen investments.
Fleet Farm’s pursuit of the cheapest labor available from out of the area appears to conflict with the intent of those policies, which encourage recipients of public funds to retain locally based, high-quality jobs and promote and secure good employment opportunities for residents of Carver and neighboring communities.
“I think taxpayers need to hear from Fleet Farm and its contractor about why they are dodging their responsibilities to those who live in and near Carver,” said County Commissioner Randy Maluchnik.
Specifically, the policy notes, these types of taxpayer inducements should be targeted to businesses that will “retain high quality local jobs, create high quality local job growth and provide diversity in that job base.”
“I’d like Fleet Farm to meet the letter and the spirit of the specific guidelines in the Minnesota statue required for tax increment financing,” Maluchnik added.
Mackey cautions that his concern about Fleet Farm’s labor cost shortcut is not limited to the Carver project. The company also has expansion plans for its Lakeville store along with a new outlet at an undisclosed site in the north metro.
“If our most-qualified craftsmen allow the Carver project to go ahead unchallenged,” Mackey said, “other communities in the Twin Cities run the same risk of having Fleet Farm build on the cheap in their backyards as well.”
Local 563 represents nearly 5,000 skilled construction craft laborers that are trained in many facets of the construction industry. These laborers apply their trade in 32 counties in Minnesota and the state of North Dakota. Local 563 is affiliated with Laborers’ International Union of North America LIUNA, based in Washington, D.C.
For more information
Visit the Local 563 website.
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Fleet Farm’s tactic is not only raising concerns about the safety of the temporary workers but also the quality of the work that is going into the mammoth retail structure, where thousands of shopping families will visit day in and day out.
A leading local labor union for trade workers is furious and the Carver County commissioner who represents the city is gravely concerned that the out-of-town company behind the $20.5 million project is cutting out highly skilled tradesmen in the Twin Cities area and undercutting well established area standards of wages and benefits.
Breitbach Construction, headquartered an hour’s drive west of St. Cloud, is collaborating with a national temp agency chain, Labor Ready, of Tacoma, Wash., to pay many workers on the Fleet Farm site only $7.25 an hour. That’s the rock-bottom minimum wage, not the going rate in the community for skilled tradesmen.
“Fleet Farm should be ashamed that it’s taking the cheapest and riskiest route possible to put up this outlet in Carver,” said Tim Mackey, business manager for Twin Cities-based Local 563 of the Laborers’ International Union of North America.
“Fleet Farm and its contractor are leaving on the sidelines the most highly skilled workers in the trades that Minnesota has to offer,” added Mackey, whose union has been handing out “Shame on Fleet Farm” fliers near the site. “Their abilities cannot be underestimated when it comes to getting the job done to the highest standards in a safe environment and leaving behind a project that citizens can trust each time they walk through the door.”
The city of Carver approved tax subsidies for construction of the Fleet Farm outlet and the surrounding infrastructure that is valued at nearly $1 million. City officials also recently adopted what are called Business Subsidy Policies, a common practice among municipalities that are tied to these kinds of citizen investments.
Fleet Farm’s pursuit of the cheapest labor available from out of the area appears to conflict with the intent of those policies, which encourage recipients of public funds to retain locally based, high-quality jobs and promote and secure good employment opportunities for residents of Carver and neighboring communities.
“I think taxpayers need to hear from Fleet Farm and its contractor about why they are dodging their responsibilities to those who live in and near Carver,” said County Commissioner Randy Maluchnik.
Specifically, the policy notes, these types of taxpayer inducements should be targeted to businesses that will “retain high quality local jobs, create high quality local job growth and provide diversity in that job base.”
“I’d like Fleet Farm to meet the letter and the spirit of the specific guidelines in the Minnesota statue required for tax increment financing,” Maluchnik added.
Mackey cautions that his concern about Fleet Farm’s labor cost shortcut is not limited to the Carver project. The company also has expansion plans for its Lakeville store along with a new outlet at an undisclosed site in the north metro.
“If our most-qualified craftsmen allow the Carver project to go ahead unchallenged,” Mackey said, “other communities in the Twin Cities run the same risk of having Fleet Farm build on the cheap in their backyards as well.”
Local 563 represents nearly 5,000 skilled construction craft laborers that are trained in many facets of the construction industry. These laborers apply their trade in 32 counties in Minnesota and the state of North Dakota. Local 563 is affiliated with Laborers’ International Union of North America LIUNA, based in Washington, D.C.
For more information
Visit the Local 563 website.