DENVER, July 25, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following is being released by the Ironworkers International Union:
While the city of Denver and the Regional Transportation District celebrate the long-awaited and delayed grand opening of the Denver Union Station, for many workers who helped build the DUS, the experience is bittersweet. According to Ricky Martinez, "I'm glad the Denver Union Station project is finally finished but we shouldn't forget about the workers who suffered while building it and work to stop worker abuse on other projects. These types of injustices really taint the reputation of the projects and the builders."
Ricky Martinez works for Rocky Mountain Reinforcement, a reinforcing steel contractor that helped build the Denver Union Station and is currently working on the construction of the RTD Eagle P3 line and the I-225 Rail Line.
Payroll records on the Denver Union Station project from the Regional Transportation District indicate RMR underpaid workers from the level set by the Department of Labor for the project dozens of times. RMR was forced to pay restitution to workers on multiple occasions between 2010 and 2013. In mid-2013 the U.S Department of Labor initiated a new investigation into RMR. That investigation is still not closed.
Federal records indicate RMR failures to pay proper wages on other projects as well. The U.S. Department of Labor found misclassification of workers, failure to pay proper wages and other violations on both the RTD Eagle P3 project and the Veterans Administration Replacement Hospital project in Aurora. In each instance, the Labor Department required RMR to pay over ten thousand dollars in back wages and restitution.
According to Mr. Martinez, "Rocky Mountain Reinforcement also acts with little regard for our safety. We have been made to perform dangerous tasks in unsafe conditions such as in slippery, rain and snow. RMR has also failed to provide proper work safety gear and drinking water as required by federal OSHA requirements."
According to Ricky Martinez, "The RTD should establish a set of common-sense ethical standards that screen out repeat offenders and deters future abuses or it'll just keep happening."
SOURCE Ironworkers International Union
