MEDIA ALERT: Labor, Community Organizations call on Collins to Pay Workers Back Wages

Please join labor and community organizations Monday, March 21st at 11am, at SEIU200, 1961 Wehrle Drive in Williamsville for a press conference calling on Congressman Chris Collins to pay the wages he owes and treat workers with respect. Six WNY workers have been owed $19,000 by a Collins-owned business for almost two years. The company is now attempting to deny those workers their pay at a hearing before the NJ Department of Labor.

Collins has a history of unscrupulous business. Though four companies owned by Collins have been issued more than 100 OSHA violations in the past 35 years, they still receive millions of dollars worth of government contracts, grants, and stimulus funds and pay the Congressman between $1.25 and $1.71 million every year. Collins has also singlehandedly saved the US Export-Import Bank from dissolution, going against his own party to do so, even though it directly benefited him and his company to the tune of 10 million taxpayer dollars.

Collins has recently garnered media attention for being the first congressman to endorse presidential candidate, Donald Trump, and for stirring up xenophobic paranoia in WNY during the Syrian refugee crisis.

MEDIA ALERT

Contact Information

Marshall Bertram

WNY Council on Occupational Safety and Health

(585)313-0204

WHO:             Richard Lipsitz, President, WNY Area Labor Federation, AFL-CIO

Anna Falicov, Esq., General Counsel, New York Foundation for Fair Contracting

Mike Anastasia, former Audubon Machinery worker

Marshall Bertram, Esq., Coordinator, WNY Council on Occupational Safety and Health

WHAT:            Chris Collins/Audubon Machinery Prevailing Wage Theft Press Conference

WHEN:            Monday, March 21st 11:00 – 11:30 A.M.

WHERE:          SEIU Local 200, 1961 Wehrle Drive, Williamsville, NY 14221

WHAT:            Please join labor and community organizations in calling on Congressman Chris Collins to pay his workers the wages they are owed and to stop lining his pockets at the expense of taxpayers and workers.

The NJ Department of Labor has charged Chris Collins and Audubon Machinery, a North Tonawanda Corporation, for willfully failing to pay the prevailing wage to its workers, resulting in a $38,000 fine and potential debarment from public work for the company, its executives, and the Congressman.

International Union of Operating Engineers Local 17, WNY Area Labor Federation, AFL-CIO, New York Foundation for Fair Contracting, WNY Council on Occupational Safety and Health, Ironworkers Local 6, SEIU 200, Northeast Regional Council of Carpenters are organizing and will be in attendance.

PRESS

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