More building trades union members — fed up with Gov. Charlie Baker’s refusal to order a statewide shutdown on construction and concerned about their safety as the coronavirus pandemic escalates — are walking off the job on Monday.
The Painters and Allied Trades Union is directing its 4,000 members in Massachusetts and across New England to stop working following the close of business on Monday and ordering them not to return to work “until it is safe to resume.”
“Business representatives and organizers have visited job sites and reported to me that there is an unsafe risk of exposure to COVID-19. Many of our partner contractors have made strong and sincere efforts to protect our members on the job. Despite these efforts, I am now convinced that construction sites in
Massachusetts are not presently safe for our membership,” Jeffrey Sullivan, the union’s secretary-treasurer said in a letter to members.
The directive comes alongside a series of other actions by local trades unions concerned about workers’ safety on job sites where they say close quarters makes it almost impossible to protect their members from the highly infectious virus.
Last week, the North Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters directed its 13,000 members in Massachusetts to stop working effective Monday “until it is safe to do so.”
The Massachusetts Building Trades Council — an umbrella group representing the state’s skilled trades unions — last week urged Governor Charlie Baker to order a statewide construction shutdown, something Baker has so far declined to do. The governor has stopped work on commercial, retail and hotel projects, but has allowed residential work to continue.
“Our members want to work, but they’re scared. They don’t want to work in an unsafe environment,” said trades council President Frank Callahan.
Cities including Boston and Somerville have enacted their own construction bans on all but emergency projects citing concerns over the ability to take proper safety precautions to contain the virus, but construction continues across most of the state.
The Baker administration on Thursday issued updated guidance including requiring social-distancing protocols and a “zero-tolerance policy” for infected workers on the job. Sites not in compliance are instructed to “secure the site and pause construction,” but union leaders said enforcement is not happening and workers are being put at risk.
“I’ve seen with my own two eyes that enforcement is not happening,” Callahan said, saying workers aren’t getting enough protective gear or given the opportunity to practice distancing.
