Unions protested Wednesday outside a meeting of the non-union Associated Builders & Contractors, where an out-of-state contractor was being honored for making inroads into Minnesota construction.

"The ABC has chosen to honor this company for breaking the mold," said Dick Anfang, president of the Minnesota Building & Construction Trades Council. "These are Minnesota contractors honoring an out-of-state contractor for taking work that they could have. It's just so ridiculous."

The Minnesota Chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors, a trade organization of anti-union contractors, held its annual meeting at the Holiday Inn Select near the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Their featured speaker was Michael Uremovich, CEO of Starcon International, an out-of-state company that has done millions of dollars worth of work at the Ashland-Marathon refinery in St. Paul Park.

The Minnesota Building Trades estimate that at least 200 Minnesota workers could have been employed on the project, but were put out of a job by Starcon's out-of-state workforce.

At the demonstration, hundreds of Building Trades members and supporters from other unions circled the hotel and chanted, "ABC, can't you see -- Minnesota workers don't agree" and "Starcon -- go home!"

Non-union, out-of-state contractors lower the standard of living when they do projects in Minnesota, Anfang said. "Where there's no labor contract, there's no work rules, no guarantees" for the workers.

Laborers Organizing Director Alan Kearney (above, with microphone) led the chanting outside the ABC meeting. The Carpenters union (below) was among the many labor organizations that participated.