Tradesmen protest UML bid

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More than 500 union tradesmen marched downtown yesterday morning, above, to protest what they say was UMass Lowell Chancellor Marty Meehan's bypassing of competitive bidding laws in an agreement with a developer to lease as a dorm a new building on Marginal Street. Below, Lou Antonellis of Billerica, background with megaphone, speaks at a subsequent rally at Fox Hall on campus. SUN PHOTOS / DAVID H. BROW

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LOWELL -- More than 500 union tradesmen formed a rolling rally from Tsongas Arena to the steps of City Hall yesterday, accusing UMass Lowell Chancellor Marty Meehan of bypassing competitive bidding laws in the university's plan to lease a new dorm.
Chanting "Marty must go" and being led by a float with a huge inflatable rat, Jeff Sullivan, president of the Merrimack Valley Building Trades Council, told the crowd of construction workers that union representatives attempted to deal with Meehan, "but he's trying to skirt the law."
As part of the protest, the group walked in the rain from the Tsongas Arena, to Fox Hall, then to City Hall and ended at The Sun offices.
At one stop, Frank Callahan Jr., a union representative from the Mass. Building Trades Council, said public bidding laws are important because they "protect us from waste, fraud and abuse."
Last August, state Attorney General Martha Coakley forced UMass Lowell officials to sever an agreement with Brasi Development Corp. of Lowell to lease as a dorm a new building Brasi was building on Marginal Street. Coakley said the agreement violated the competitive bidding law because this is a public construction project being disguised as a private project.
As a public project the prevailing wage laws apply, which requires the builder hire union workers at union wages and benefits. In a private project, union officials argue that non-union workers can be hired for substandard wages and little

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or no benefits.
UMass Lowell officials and Brasi President James McClutchy previously argued this is a private project, so it is not subject to the competitive bidding laws.
After a Lowell Superior Court judge overturned Coakley's decision, the attorney general last week filed an appeal to the state Appeals Court. No hearing date has been scheduled.
Although UMass Lowell's involvement in the Brasi project may be tied up in legal red tape, union members at yesterday's rally said

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they still wanted to send a message.
Lowell resident Gary Desmond, a mason, said he's had a hand in building most of the major construction projects in Lowell, from the Federal Building to the UMass Lowell recreation center. Now he's unemployed.
"I've worked on all these projects," he said. "I know times are tough, but now is the time to do what's right."
Although Meehan has become a union lightning rod for the dorm project, UMass Lowell spokeswoman Patricia McCafferty said the Brasi dorm project was started long before Meehan was named chancellor. To avoid any perceived conflict of interest, Meehan recused himself from the Brasi project, she said.
A UMass Lowell committee in conjunction with the UMass Building Authority put out requests for proposals and Brasi came back with the lowest bid, she said.
McCafferty noted that what the union doesn't mention is that the university has a number of ongoing public construction projects that have created many union jobs.