Chinese kiteskites
kites for salekites for kids

Update: July 24, 2014: SEATTLE, WA- After a long investigation by the NW Carpenters, the Seattle Police Department, Washington State L&I, and many others, Dathan Williams enters a guilty plea for the unscrupulous business practices surrounding his drywall company JRW Structures

Update: September 19, 2014: Williams of JRW Structures sentenced. See attached press release for more information

D.Williams-PR10-19

Williams-PR-92014

John Ward, president of R&H Construction, responded to the union’s grievances, saying, “Obviously, they have something that they are very passionate about and they have decided that our company doesn’t do something they believe in. We are an open shop contractor that pay people great wages and full benefits, some just under what the unions pay and some more. We’ve got a full workforce that has been with us for an average of 12 years, some over 20. They choose to show their beliefs in a way that I don’t necessarily agree with, and they have every right to do so.”

The owner of a Hillsboro construction company was arraigned Thursday in Washington County Circuit Court on charges of money laundering, racketeering and theft.

Stephen Gregory Nagy, 49, was arraigned Thursday afternoon on 24 counts, including criminal antitrust, racketeering, first-degree theft, obstructing governmental administration, tampering with evidence, first-degree forgery, conspiring and money laundering.

The same charges were also filed against Nagy’s company, S & S Drywall Assemblies.

Authorities wouldn’t talk about the basis for Nagy’s charges, but carpenter union representatives said Nagy’s business practices represent an “underground economy” that plagues the construction industry in Oregon.

Jimmy Matta, of the Pacific Northwest Regional Council of Carpenters, said the underground economy consists of contractors who undercut union labor by hiring workers without documentation, paying them low cash wages and not filing taxes.

“Legitimate contractors who have been busting their tails are on the verge of losing their businesses,” Matta said, because of businesses like Nagy’s.

Matta said the union has been working for years to bring to light “contractors who are cheating Oregonians out of tax money.”

Jack Gamboa, the lead Portland representative of the Pacific Northwest Regional Council of Carpenters, attended the arraignment with several other carpenters.

Gamboa said they came to the arraignment to support authorities in their investigation and prosecution of Nagy.

“It’s good to see justice being served here today on someone who has been cheating the people,” Gamboa said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Campbell, who is prosecuting the case in state court, asked the court to set bail at $300,000.

Nagy’s attorney, Michael Sahagian, said that amount of bail was excessive and that Nagy’s willingness to show up to court, knowing what he was facing, illustrated that he wasn’t a flight risk.

Campbell said a high bail was necessary because “the motive to flee is going up with today’s charges.”

Judge Eric Butterfield set Nagy’s bail at $250,000.

Nagy posted bail after the hearing and was released. He is scheduled for a pre-trial hearing Thursday, Jan. 20.

– Emily E. Smith

Neither of the protesters lives in Canby, nor do they work at the local Walgreens store. Their silent protest was part of a broad campaign by the Oregon branch of the Carpenters Union against Walgreens.

The banner, posted outside the Canby Walgreens this past week, is part of a regional labor dispute.

Protesters from Kahului, Maui, Hawaii to Billings, Mont., have been posting nearly identical banners in front of their area stores, claiming that Walgreens has been undermining local labor standards.

The picketers also hand out fliers that proclaim, “Shame on Walgreens for Desecration of the American Way of Life.”

John Eberhardt, one of Wednesday’s picketers, is a Portland resident representing Carpenters Union 247.
“We are doing all the Walgreens in the Portland Metro area,” Eberhardt said of the local union.

The council, which represents carpenters in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming and Montana, is affiliated with the United Brotherhood of Carpenters that is coordinating simultaneous silent protests at 48 locations in 12 states in the western United States.

“Walgreens uses contractors that pay their employees below local standards,” said Eric Franklin, the Kent, Wash.-based spokesman for the regional carpenter council. “We believe working carpenters should have a salary that can support a family and includes a pension and medical coverage. Walgreens hires contractors that provide none of those things. Often, contractors also utilize people who live outside the area.”

The protest may continue outside Walgreens for the next few weeks, he said.

Franklin maintains that Walgreens uses the lowest-bidding contractors to build or remodel its stores across the nation. “Walgreens may be able to point to specific places where they do the right thing, but they haven’t done the right thing across the board,” he said.

Walgreens spokesman Robert Elfinger said the company encourages union contractors to submit bids, and a large number of its construction jobs are performed with union labor.

“We require that all developers and contractors who build or remodel Walgreens stores offer their employees health insurance benefits and a living wage,” Elfinger said. “We require that our developers and contractors bid our jobs to both union and nonunion contractors, and when bids are competitive, we favor union labor.”