Unions to protest at Brooklyn Bridge Park meeting Wednesday oversubcontractor that doesn’t even have a Buildings Department license

Starwood Capital Group and Toll Brothers are building this condo and hotel development in Brooklyn Bridge Park — but union members say a subcontractor doesn’t treat workers properly.

A contractor selected to build part of a new luxury hotel and condo tower inside Brooklyn Bridge Park does not currently have workers’ compensation and disability coverage and has an expired Buildings Department license, records show.

As a result, union workers will show up en masse at Wednesday’s meeting of the Brooklyn Bridge Park corporation board to slam the hiring of Empire Pile and Foundations to build part of the Toll Brothers and Starwood Capital Group complex.

"Our primary concern is worker and public safety," said Gary LaBarbera, president of Build Up NYC, a trade union advocacy organization. "Having a contractor that does not play by the rules on a project being promoted by city government is not acceptable."

Brooklyn Stand Up!!!

Empire cancelled its workers’ comp coverage in 2010, leaving the developers and the Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation legally liable to pay for any injured worker at the site, according to the union.

In addition, Empire’s disability benefits policy to help workers with long-term injuries or illnesses was cancelled in 2009, records show.

The Buildings Department requires an any contractor performing excavation work to have an active general contractor license, but Empire's license expired in 2009, records reveal.

Source: http://m.nydailynews.com/1.1412124