Union pickets local company at Mount Pleasant job site

By Paul Sloth
Journal Times

Wednesday, July 23, 2008 1:53 PM CDT

MOUNT PLEASANT — About a dozen members of a union that represents heavy equipment operators in the state marched along a stretch of Highway 20 Wednesday picketing a local contractor that is doing work at the site of the future Mount Pleasant International Commerce Center, near the intersection of Highway V.

Organizers with the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 139 came to Racine County this week to picket O & M Excavating and Grading, Inc., a Union Grove company that started doing the initial excavating and grading work at the site.

Union organizers say the company pays substandard wages and benefits to its employees. The union represents nearly 500 workers in the Racine and Kenosha area. The union represents more than 9,000 workers statewide.

A company representative disagreed with the claims. The company, which has been in business for the past 15 years, has between 30 to 40 employees working at the site, a representative said. The company started working at the site about two months ago and expects the work to continue through November.

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