St. Pius targeted by Carpenters' Union
by Virginia Bruce
 Cedar Mill has become the latest site of a national campaign by the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America (Carpenters Union) targeting contractors that hire non-union workers, and the companies who use those contractors for building projects.
The "Shame on St. Pius" banner is a tactic to call attention to contractor SD Deacon's use of K2MG, a Newberg-based drywall contractor.
At issue are claims that K2MG pays sub-standard wages, does not provide healthcare, makes cash payments to workers and doesn't pay overtime.
The men holding up the banner have been passing out a flyer equating St. Pius X to a rat eating the American flag, "For Desecration of the American Way of Life."
Anthony Vuky, Business Manager of St. Pius X, says, "We are puzzled by the banner that has been erected by our property and the nature of the labor dispute. St. Pius X Parish completely subscribes to the Catholic Social Teaching with respect to the rights of these workers, and rights of workers to a fair wage; so we do not know the basis of the grievance because there is nothing that we are doing that is contrary to fair labor practices."
The banner includes the words "Labor Dispute." In a letter to Willamette Week, which published an article on a similar action in 2009, Tina Slogowski of K2MG Interiors stated, “This is misleading: ‘labor dispute’ is generally understood as an action taken against a company by its employees or their union. K2MG Interiors Inc. is a family-owned business that has been operating out of Newberg since 1991.”
The SD Deacon company has been targeted by the carpenters on previous projects. They're a large company and often work on big, visible construction jobs. They attempted to communicate with the union as far back as 2008 to say that they had followed up with K2MG and were satisfied that none of the claims were true. The Carpenters Union representative responded by threatening to continue their pickets, and extend them to SD Deacon projects in California.
Other area labor unions have expressed concern about the Carpenters Union tactics because they cast all unions in a bad light.
This "bannering" tactic has been employed nationally against a variety of companies that have no overt conflict with the Carpenters. Here in the Portland area, Whole Foods, Home Depot, and Costco have been targeted in the past.
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