JAMAICA HILLS — Union leaders are planning to rally outside a meeting of St. John's University alumni over the college's use of contractors who pay low wages to non-union workers painting dorm rooms on campus.
District Council 9 of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades says the university has been using contractors that don't pay standard wage for the projects for more than three years.
Painters working the gigs, who make as low as $15 an hour or are paid "off the books," approached the union to talk about their low wages and lack of benefits three years ago, according to the union's political director.
"Every project that St. John's does, workers should be getting paid the right way," Davon Lomax, from DC 9, told DNAinfo.
Union painters make between $25 up to $70 an hour for these jobs, depending on what's being painted — and also have benefits and pensions, he said.
The union first met with officials from St. John's three years ago but the university continued to use the contractors, he said.
A spokeswoman for the university said it has a "long and strong history of hiring organized labor, including our unionized faculty."
"Our practice is to give fair consideration to all companies (union and non-union) who submit competitive bids for consideration for labor projects at our New York campus locations," Elizabeth Reilly wrote.
"St. John's has routinely met with union representatives to inform them of our bidding process."
The union will hold its rally outside the alumni association meeting Friday at the Hilton in Midtown to highlights the situation to alums — many of whom donate money to the university, representatives said. The rally begins at 11:30 a.m.
Local politicians also blasted the college for the non-union gigs.
"This decision undermines St. John’s reputation as a New York institution founded on Respect, Opportunity, Excellence and Service," State Sen. Leroy Comrie and City Councilman Rory Lancman wrote in a letter sent to the college president, Conrado Gempesaw.
Lomax said the lower wages even undermine the college's Vincentian mission — which encourages social justice and fights the causes of poverty, according to the university's website.
"We try to represent workers that are getting exploited and not getting paid the right way and don't have health benefits for their families," Lomax said.
"A prestigious school that charges high tuition — why shouldn't the workers get the benefits of that?"
