Building Trades protest out-of-state Marriott workers

McLean County union trades are protesting the remodeling work at the Uptown Normal Marriott, which is using out of state labor through a Missouri contractor, ECI construction.

The workers are lodged in the hotel and doing the remodeling work floor by floor.

On November 15, it was reported that the Illinois Department of Labor visited the site to investigate any legal violations.

Laborers Local 362, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers 197 and Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 99 have maintained the vigil outside the hotel.

“It is shameful that the Town of Normal gave the Marriott subsidies to originally built this hotel and now they turn their back on the local trades,” said Livingston & McLean Counties Building & Construction Trades and IBEW 197 business manager Mike Raikes.

In 2004 the Town of Normal spent $17 million to attract the hotel development; this included land acquisition and construction of a conference center and a parking garage. These projects were done with union labor.

Showing union solidarity, Illinois State University faculty, organized as the United Faculty ISU through the American Federation of Teachers, sent a protest delegation to the hotel.  Since the university uses the hotel for many functions and to lodge guests, the faculty union promised to withhold their support.

In their letter, the ISU faculty union members wrote: “At Illinois State University, the spring semester -- beginning in January -- is when we faculty and staff host numerous visitors: families of our nearly 22,000 current students and thousands of prospective students, as well as future candidates for faculty positions. Planning for such invites is already underway. Should this dispute not reach resolution, we intend to encourage our 38 departments and colleges who host ISU visitors to remove the Marriott-Normal from its roster of suggested overnight accommodations. Furthermore, when our own families visit, we will ask them to stay elsewhere. Normal is a Union town and our members will respect the picket line.”

The Associated Fire Fighters of Illinois, who have held seven conferences in the last decade at the Marriott, also addressed the hotel.  Associated Fire Fighters of Illinois President Chuck Sullivan wrote to the Marriott that: “By bringing out-of-state workers to do the work, those wages are not going to be spent in McLean County or Illinois.  They won’t support local taxing bodies that fund the fire department. The out-of-state workers hired are not paying mortgages, buying groceries or making car payments in our local community.  Those local wages are what make a stable community and help ensure adequate fire protection and funding.”

The Illinois AFL-CIO is spreading the word to its affiliated local unions.

Laborers 362 business manager Ron Paul noted: “when people come to stay at the Marriott, that builds our local economy.  When local workers are hired, those workers pay local taxes and shop in local businesses.  It is shameful that the Marriott is turning its back on the local community.”