Members of Local 19 of the Council of Carpenters, out of Rock Tavern, protest near the Orange County Choppers garage, near the intersection of Route 17K and Factory Street in the Village of Montgomery.Times Herald-Record/Alexa James
By Alexa JamesTimes Herald-Record August 23, 2007
Montgomery — Orange County Choppers is building its new world headquarters "off the backs of the little people," or so claims Sam Fratto, a union business agent.
He is with Local 363 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. Earlier this month, he posted a video about the labor dispute on YouTube, an online video forum.
"They got scabs building this place," he tells the camera, broadcasting in front of the OCC construction site off Route 17K in the Town of Newburgh. "This is hurting Orange County businesses and families, people who really work for a living, not just act like jackasses and make millions of dollars."
Video from local labor union on the Orange County Choppers
In so many words, the people behind the Choppers project say it isn't so.
A spokesman for the Teutuls referred matters to Full Throttle Construction Management LLC, a domestic limited liability company formed in July 2006. Full Throttle project manager Henry Kroll said the company is independent of Orange County Choppers. However, the address Full Throttle lists with the Department of State is 10 Factory St. — the same address as the Choppers garage and offices.
Kroll said the world headquarters job is an open shop, and currently employs at least 50 percent union labor. "Everyone had an opportunity to bid on the project," he said. "We support everyone's right to work."
The electrical workers, along with the Empire State Regional Council of Carpenters, say they don't care who's hired to build the Choppers' chrome kingdom, as long as the contractor pays what the union deems as fair, standard wages.
Carpenters with Local 19 out of Rock Tavern earn about $45 an hour, benefits included, on a typical job. Paying less, the union argues, sets the bar lower for everyone.
In a letter last month from DECA Development Inc., a general contractor out of Lynbrook, to a representative from the carpenters, owner Russell Asch wrote, "I respect and applaud your efforts to keep the union area standards alive and well in the region. I am also sympathetic to your position, but I do not think that we will be able to come to a compromise if you cannot negotiate the rate of pay for the men."
Asch writes that negotiations were necessary for the contractor to meet its budget. "It is not about 'sticking it' to the union," Asch wrote, "or trying to degrade the area standards."
The unions' shame campaign has been gaining momentum around the Orange County. "Shame on you" signs and billboards have popped up in front lawns, near the Choppers' retail store in the Town of Montgomery and even alongside the road to their garage in the Village of Montgomery.
The union crews and anti-OCC propaganda have made a bizarre welcoming party for tourist bikers and fans of the Choppers' hit reality TV series, "American Chopper." A German tourist who stopped to talk with protesters along Route 17K told them he was a laborer, too, and, should he happen to meet the famous Paul Teutul Sr., would put in a good word for the carpenters.
Local 19 of the Council of Carpenters is planning a rally on Saturday at OCC's retail store off Route 17K in the Town of Montgomery. The protest will coincide with the store's third anniversary celebration.
