Picketers demand work at Museum

A handful of union members picketed outside the University Museum yesterday after a non-union plastering company began refurbishing one of the galleries last week. The protestors from Plasterer's Union Local Eight said that they had done work at the University before and were nervous that employing a non-union firm for this job would set a precedent against hiring unions. But University officials said they had hired a unionized contractor, Sean Conlon, and that later, Conlon, not the University, had decided to subcontract a non-union company to do the plastering. "We try to go with union people," University Museum Superintendent Don Fitzgerald said yesterday. "We have union employees here and we want to keep positive working relationships." Conlon was hired and began to rehabilitate the Mesopotamian Gallery earlier this month after the University considered the bids from two other firms. "We went out and got the bids the way the University requires," Fitzgerald said. "We got three bids -- lowest bid gets the job." Fitzgerald said that all three companies, including Conlon, are unionized. But picketers, who wore placards alleging Conlon was destroying wages and standards of the industry, said that the job was large and should be reserved for unionized workers. "It's a big ceiling," Local Eight Business Manager Eugene Curry said. "They had seven workers on it." Fitzgerald said he could not disclose how much money the total renovation project cost, but said that it was in the five digit range, and Conlon said only two workers were employed to plaster. "We can't let this snowball," picketer Tom McFadden said. "[Conlon] didn't give us a fair shot -- just pick a union company." Conlon said last night that he is currently negotiating with the union to see if they can find a middle ground. "At the moment, I've been discussing the matter," Conlon said. "We were discussing today what their interests are." Fitzgerald added that the University is stuck in the middle of the debate between the union and the contractor, and said he was hopeful that the two could come to an agreement.

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