felicia hilton

The United Brotherhood of Carpenters picketed a worksite at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln on Friday to draw attention to what it says are unfair labor practices involving contractors working on those projects.

Blowing whistles and marching on the sidewalk at 14th and Vine streets, near an ongoing renovation of Mabel Lee Hall, members of the carpenters’ union said Friday’s action was part of an area campaign.

“Right now, as we speak, there are labor brokers on the project with a number of workers who are being paid in cash,” said Felicia Hilton, the political director of the North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters.

Hilton, who spoke at the NU Board of Regents’ meeting earlier Friday, was joined by about two dozen union members, each wearing a neon vest that read “Standing up to Tax Fraud.”

According to Hilton, the union is seeking to draw attention to construction companies — including those working on the Mabel Lee Hall project, the Barkley Memorial Center on East Campus, and the athletic training complex near Memorial Stadium — that pay laborers under the table.

Workers hired by labor brokers do not receive benefits such as health insurance or workers’ compensation if they are injured on the job, which Hilton told the board can create an added cost to taxpayers.

The companies that hire workers off-the-books, or classify them as independent contractors, also do not deduct payroll taxes, Hilton said, while the workers themselves do not pay state or federal income taxes on their earnings.

Ultimately, not paying health insurance, workers’ compensation, or deducting taxes allows companies to submit lower bids than competitors, Hilton said.

The union said labor brokers are more often involved with sub-contractors on larger projects, but it did not specifically name any companies in protesting unfair practices Friday.

“Our issue is that there are legitimate businesses, union and non-union, who cannot compete for this work, who cannot submit a bid for this work because they don’t practice this model,” Hilton said.

That’s particularly troubling as NU seeks to address an $800 million backlog of deferred maintenance projects through 2062, she said. NU received $400 million in bond financing from a 2021 sale to begin renovating and replacing its aging infrastructure across its four campuses.

“We think it’s a horrible business model, and we think the university should not support a model like this,” she added.

Chris Kabourek, NU’s vice president for business and finance, said the university requires companies to follow all applicable state and federal labor laws when they are awarded projects.

A committee comprised of university and non-university staff responsible for reviewing proposals submitted for projects also asks about a company’s ability to do the work, Kabourek said, which includes following the law.

A call to a spokesperson for Hausmann Construction, which is the general contractor working on several of the UNL projects, was not answered Friday. 

Hilton said the North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters has a questionnaire it says will help vet contractors and sub-contractors who meet best practices.

Kabourek said NU will arrange a meeting between its facilities staff and the carpenters’ union to hear its concerns and see if they can address the issues raised at Friday’s meeting.