Out-of-work Dedham Construction Workers Seek Jobs on Avery Project

Out-of-work Dedham construction workers are calling on the town to help them get jobs on the .

Roughly a half-dozen unemployed construction workers have gathered at the intersection of Recreation Road and High Street several mornings in the past few weeks to bring attention to their plight.

The Dedham residents are upset that they voted in favor of the project that causes a tax increase, yet are not receiving work on the project they say they can see from their front yards.

“It’s owned by the town,” said Bob O’Connell, one of the Dedham residents. “Are you telling me they're not obligated to put Dedham residents on the job?”

One worker of the 19 on the project currently is a Dedham resident.

The majority of the construction workers on the site are from either out-of-town or Rhode Island, School Building Rehabilitation Committee chairman Andy Lawlor confirmed.

Several of the residents, who declined to be identified for this article, said the out-of-town workers won’t put the money they earn back into the town by shopping and eating at Dedham businesses.

“I’ve been in the town a long time, it’s just sad to see work in the town, and local guys don’t have a job,” O’Connell said.

The Dedham residents said they wanted to see the town either set a mandate or a goal for the project to have a set percentage of Dedham workers on the building. The town set a 5 percent goal for the construction of   and a goal of 15 percent for .

The current percentage on the Avery project is 5.25 percent, but there is not a percentage goal or a mandate.

“It would be beyond our mandate for what Town Meeting asked us to do,” Lawlor said. “Our mandate was to build a quality school for the budget Town Meeting approved.”

Jim Byrne, the project manager, referred comment to Lawlor when reached Thursday afternoon.

While holding signs reading " local jobs for local taxpayers," the residents said there is much work left to be done that they could do.

“We are want to be taxpayers – we want to work too,” O’Connell said Tuesday morning as car horns honked in support.

Instead of the out-of-work residents – some who said their unemployment benefits are expiring – bringing the matter to the SBRC, they should direct the issue at their local unions that hire the workers for some of the jobs on the Avery site, Lawlor said.

“We don’t control those hiring decisions,” Lawlor said.

With a signed contract with Consigli Construction, who is in charge of hiring subcontractors, Lawlor questioned whether it would be even legal for the SBRC to make such a requirement at this point in the construction.

Without a town ordinance similar to one in the city of Boston requiring a certain percentage of local construction workers on job sites, the SBRC and contractors are not required to meet a set standard.

“From a policy point of view, if every town put in a local labor residency requirement that would put Dedham residents in danger for construction jobs in 350 municipalities in the Commonwealth,” Lawlor said.

Selectman Carmen Dello Iacono said he is seeking to submit a 2011 Town Meeting warrant article that would establish a local labor ordinance. The deadline is Friday.

“I am concerned about local guys not able to put food on the table,” Dello Iacono said Thursday.

The selectman added that while it may not apply to the Avery School project, they would “ensure that future projects in the town do.”

“It will ensure that local people will have a shot,” he said.

While several residents holding signs Tuesday morning spoke in favor of an ordinance, as well, Lawlor said it could also make future projects more expensive.

“The more restrictions and regulations you place on your contractors, the higher price you get,” he said, adding some contractors may not bid if such an ordinance exists.

Lawlor said he would rather see the issue of a town-wide ordinance have a long-term debate to bring out all sides of the issue instead of a hasty decision to accommodate one project.

“It should be the result of a full-fledged debate and discussed before Town Meeting,” he said.  

Editor's Note: Correction: Documents obtained after publication show the town set a 15 percent goal for local employment for the construction of Legacy Place, not 5 percent as previously reported.