By G. Jeffrey Aaron
November 13, 2009
Ithaca Journal
Work at the $88 million CVS warehouse project in the town of Chemung can continue today, but it came to a temporary halt Friday after the arrest of seven undocumented workers from Mexico.
By Friday evening, the subcontractor who hired the workers -- Walker Electric of Nashville, Tenn., -- was suspended indefinitely from the job site by contractor Gray Construction of Lexington, Ky., and the town of Chemung agreed to lift a stop-work order, said County Executive Tom Santulli.
Gray Construction also agreed Friday afternoon to hire seven local electricians to replace the seven who were arrested, Santulli and town of Chemung Supervisor George Richter said.
At a press conference held earlier Friday, Santulli and county Sheriff Christopher Moss said the sheriff's office will regularly monitor the site to ensure all who work there have the proper documentation.
Local labor union officials have complained since summer about how few local union workers have been on the job site. They hope the news of the arrests leads to a change.
"I have about 60 guys who are out of work and I'd like to talk with the county executive, CVS and Gray Construction to see about getting local guys working," said Ernie Hartman, business manager for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 139 in Elmira Heights.
CVS, of Woonsocket, R.I., and Gray Construction did not return this newspaper's calls for comment on Friday.
Three-month probe
The arrests, which took place Thursday evening, were the result of a three-month investigation into reports of undocumented workers at the construction site.
Those arrested and charged with federal administrative immigration violations were: Carlos Javier Viveros, 38, of Mississippi; Jose Cristian Viveros, 23, of Mississippi; Martin Viveros, 35, of Georgia; Rodolfo Viveros Leon, 29, of Florida; Sergio Viveros Leon, 28, of Mississippi; Marcos A. Malpica, 30, of Tennessee and Rafael Viveros Leon, 24, of Georgia.
Moss said he unsure if those arrested were related, although he believed two were brothers.
He also said a federal weapons charge was lodged against Jose Viveros after a shotgun was discovered in the Waverly area apartment where the men were staying.
Santulli said county officials received complaints about illegal workers at the CVS site as early as August, but were unable to verify them.
Santulli also said CVS and Gray Construction were told about the concerns, but they assured him proper procedures were in place to screen workers at the site.
Sheriff's deputies went to the site and ran license plate checks and found nothing amiss. But Moss said his officers kept an eye on certain vehicles and workers.
At about 5 p.m. Thursday, near Exit 59A of state Route 17, deputies pulled over two Dodge minivans carrying the seven Mexican workers, charged the men and notified U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement of the arrests.
All seven were transported to the Buffalo Immigration and Customs Enforcement office for possible deportation proceedings.
On Friday morning, Richter said town of Chemung code officer and building inspector Larry Lanterman met with Gray Construction officials and shut down the project.
Richter, who noted that Gray officials were very cooperative, said the town building inspector also enforces state building codes that require contractors to comply with state labor laws, including Worker's Compensation statutes that mandate legal documentation of workers.
Union noticed workers
According to local union officials, up to six subcontractors, with a combined workforce of 100 to 200 workers, are on the project.
Local union representatives began to pay close attention to the Walker Electric workers, Hartman said. And not soon after, the crew was using a different gate at the work site.
Hartman wants a full investigation into the work status of all out-of-area workers at the site.
"If the sheriff's department has a presence there, then we don't have to worry about raids on Route 17," said Hartman.
"We're just trying to get local people jobs and it's unfortunate it takes something like this to get them to open their eyes."
Push for local jobs
Hartman also said the local tradesmen will continue to monitor the CVS worksite and push for a local workers' agreement on future building projects in which the county Industrial Development Agency is involved.
The IDA is responsible for bringing electricity, water and sewer lines to the CVS project site, off White Wagon Road, as well as improvements to the road and the state Route 17 interchange nearby.
The total cost for the infrastructure work is about $6.2 million. The bulk of the money, about $3 million, is for electrical work.
The concept of more local jobs has the support of Chemung County Legislator Andrew Patros, who has raised the issue at meetings of the county legislature.
"This points to some of the issues we face with out-of-state companies and the easiest thing to do is hire locally," said Patros.
"In this case, that's seven local people that could have been employed."
County officials have been reluctant to impose a local labor mandate on building projects handled by the IDA, out of concern for interfering with the competitive bidding process. However, such an agreement was put in place for the recently approved Schlumberger Ltd. construction project under way at The Holding Point in Horseheads, county and union officials said.
http://www.theithacajournal.com/article/20091113/NEWS01/911130375/1124
