Members of the New England Regional Council of Carpenters (NERCC) held a demonstration in conjunction with the Brazilian Worker Center, El Centro Comunitario de Trabajadores, and Fuerza Laboral last Friday at Belclare, a mixed-use project under construction in Wellesley. The demonstration was in support of four workers who are owed $35,000 by a subcontractor employed on the site.
The project is being built by Callahan, Inc of Bridgewater, MA. The subcontractor is Empire Construction Group, run by William Ashmore. Despite owing these workers $35,000, Ashmore is still working on site. The project is also suffering from serious delays, having missed their end of summer deadline.
NERCC has asked that Callahan condition the disbursement of any payments currently pending to Empire Construction, requiring the payment of the four former employees who have unsatisfied wage claims against William Ashmore and his companies. They have further asked Callahan to sit down and negotiate the adoption of guarantees to assume ultimate responsibility for wage theft by their subcontractors on future jobs.
This is hardly the first problem found with Callahan projects. Callahan is a general contractor with few direct employees of their own. Therefore, the practices of its regular subcontractors define Callahan’s business model – Callahan attempts to distance itself from the situation, but it is ultimately responsible for the consequences of choosing dangerous, illegal and unethical subcontractors.
