By Lisa Redmond, lredmond@lowellsun.com
Updated: 05/06/2009 11:30:50 AM EDT
LOWELL -- Awash in a sea of work boots and blue jeans, more than 500 union tradesmen formed a moving rally from the Tsongas Arena to the steps of City Hall Wednesday, accusing UMass Lowell Chancellor Marty Meehan of bypassing the competitive bidding laws in its 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.''
The union, Sullivan said, wants the dorm project on Marginal Street shut down.
State Attorney General Martha Coakley says the contract with Brasi Development Corp. violates the law.
Coakley is appealing a Lowell Superior Court judge's recent ruling that overturned Coakley's decision that UMass Lowell improperly entered into a lease agreement with Brasi Development Corp, of Lowell to construct a new dormitory.
UMass Lowell officials and Brasi President James McClutchy have argued that this is a private project so it is not subject to the competitive bidding laws, which also ensures that prevailing wage laws are followed. Without applying the prevailing wage laws, the union argues that Brasi can hire non-union workers for substandard wages and little or no benefits.
At this point, UMass Lowell has no arrangement to lease the Brasi building, but as the university continues to be
squeezed for dorm space UMass Lowell will "keep its options open,'' said UMass Lowell spokesperson Patricia McCafferty.
But she stressed, "This is a private project, not a university project.''
Although Meehan has become a union lightening rod for the dorm project, McCafferty said the project was started long before Meehan was named chancellor and to avoid any perceived conflict of interest he recused himself from the project. A UMass Lowell committee, along 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, including the renovation of Fox Hall, that have created many union jobs.
For more on this story see Thursday's Sun or visit http://ww.lowellsun.com.
© Copyright 2008
Media News group