Non-union labor at UB’s new law center angers its top donor, Peter Angelos
Above: Peter Angelos’ law associate, Tom Minkin, walks the picket line.
Peter Angelos is hopping mad that non-union labor is constructing the University of Baltimore law center that will bear his parents’ name.
The labor lawyer, who donated $10 million for the project, has thrown his support behind picketers protesting the use of non-union workers at the construction site, according to his longtime law associate, Thomas Minkin.
The Mid-Atlantic Regional Council of Carpenters has set up a picket line at the site at Mt. Royal Ave. and Charles St. The group alleges that Schuster Concrete Construction has hired only non-union workers and has misclassified jobs in order to pay lower wages.
“The union I understand has requested a fraud investigation by the National Labor Relations Board regarding a misclassification of laborers vis-à-vis carpenters by the contractor,” Minkin said yesterday. While Schuster Concrete is not required to hire union workers, it is required to pay the prevailing wages for each trade, Minkin added.
Two messages left at Schuster Concrete, based in Owings Mills, seeking comment were not returned.
The law center's concrete foundations are currently under construction. (Photo by Sarah Thrower.)
Known also as DGS Construction, Schuster Concrete describes itself as one of the largest concrete construction companies in Baltimore. It lists its projects as including the 28-story Legg Mason Tower at Harbor East, the Ritz-Carlton waterfront condominiums near Federal Hill and the Inner Harbor Pier 5 parking garage.
University: No Comment
Officials at the law school (which is part of the University System of Maryland) did not comment on Angelos’ dissatisfaction with the project.
Late yesterday, Ed Fishel, a spokesman for the University System, reiterated in an e-mail: “These allegations are between the contractor and the union. Neither the University of Baltimore nor the University of Maryland, Baltimore staff who manage construction projects for several USM campuses in the Baltimore area, are in a position to comment on these allegations.”
The picketing carpenters said they hope to obtain 40 or so carpentry jobs that exist in this stage of concrete construction and want to secure more jobs in the future stages for carpenters and other trades.
Boasting its “Green” Credentials
The 12-story, 190,000-square-foot law center began construction last fall and is expected to open in early 2013.
On its website, UB promises the center will be “one of the greenest buildings in Baltimore” and is destined to become an architectural landmark. The new facility will generate more than 1,200 jobs, according to the university.
An inflatable skunk carries picket signs along Mt. Royal Ave. (Photo by Sarah Thrower.)
Angelos is a 1961 graduate of the law school. Minkin, a 1965 graduate, walked on the picket line to express Angelos’ support for the carpenters council.
The two lawyers built their practice by representing workers suffering from the disabling effects of exposure to worksite asbestos. Since the 1980s, the Angelos firm has represented thousands of plaintiffs who worked in the once dominant shipbuilding yards and steel mills in Baltimore. Minkin said about 95 percent of those plaintiffs were union workers or family members of union workers.
In 1993, Angelos led a group of investors that purchased the Orioles baseball team, where he remains chairman and CEO.
His law office currently represents the Baltimore Building and Construction Trades Council, Sparrows Point Local 9477 of the United Steelworkers, Western Maryland Building and Construction Trades, and Maryland State and District of Columbia AFL-CIO, according to lawyers.com.
Carpenter Paul Joseph Isom watches the picket line south of Penn Station. (Photo by Sarah Thrower)