Rally for Housing Justice brings labor and tenant unions to Warwick against exploitation and wage theft
"We’re here today to say that we want to build housing here in the State of Rhode Island, but we need that housing to be affordable to working families, and it can’t be built on the back of workers."
On Saturday at noon, the Rhode Island labor movement, community organizers, and housing advocates gathered on Post Road in Warwick for a Rally for Housing Justice as part of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) Community Day of Action.
They assembled on a thin stretch of sidewalk at 2119 Post Road, across from the airport, where construction of a new luxury “Class A” apartment complex has begun, spearheaded by an out-of-state developer. Recently, union officials said the site has come under scrutiny as contractors face an active investigation into alleged wage theft and worker misclassification.
“We’re here today to say that we want to build housing here in the State of Rhode Island, but we need that housing to be affordable to working families, and it can’t be built on the back of workers,” said Justin Kelly, Business Rep for the IUPAT and the organizing director for the Rhode Island Building Trades. “You can’t balance the equation by exploiting your way through it, and that’s what developers and contractors like this do. They try to balance the equation on the backs of workers, and the only difference is that they put the money in their pocket while we sit and suffer and struggle, and life gets harder and harder for working-class Americans and Rhode Islanders. Are you all right with that?”
Here’s the video:
“We need affordable housing for Rhode Island, and we need to build housing at all levels to achieve that,” said State Representative David Bennett. “We can’t exploit workers to solve the problem. It’s a bad plan that won’t work. It’s illegal and immoral when workers are allowed to be exploited at sites like this. The whole industry is dragged down. We need reforms at the State House to ensure that we protect the workers while housing is being built. Wage theft and misclassification are illegal.”
“We all know what the Trump Administration is trying to do in this country by dragging us into a goddamn dictatorship,” said Kelly, riling the crowd. “Are we a dictatorship?”
“No!”
“We’re a democracy, right? We’re a democracy in the halls of power and at work in a union!” continued Kelly. “Sadly, a lot of our friends from the immigrant community are being terrorized as they’re being sent to a gulag in another country - legal residents - people here doing the right thing, trying to make a living. Like I said at a recent conference, if you’re going to come for us, you will go through me, right? If we stand in solidarity with one another, that solidarity is stronger than anything under the sun. It’s stronger than the strength of steel!”
Rob Hill is an organizer with Fuerza Laboral, a workers’ rights center that educates, trains, and organizes workers to become community leaders.
“I do a lot of work on wage theft at Fuerza Laboral,” said Hill. “We’ve got dozens and dozens of folks who, on a weekly basis, come in with wage theft complaints, and we help set them up with the Department of Labor. We’ve seen those complaints increase as housing developments like this have increased. Wage theft is rampant in this industry - it’s part of their business model to exploit people. We won’t exploit the people who build the affordable housing needed to solve this crisis. It doesn’t make sense, it doesn’t work, and we know that.”
“You cannot terrorize your way into a good economy,” said Kelly. “You cannot make people fearful, push them into the shadows, and expect things to get better for working and middle-class Americans.
“Representative Bob Craven was instrumental in ensuring that we passed laws to make wage theft and employment misclassification a felony offense, because when bosses rip off workers, they should be treated with the same severity as anybody who tries to knock over a store or rob somebody. There’s an old saying from Woody Guthrie, a folk singer, ‘Some will rob you with a six-gun, And some with a fountain pen.’”
“It was my honor on behalf of organized labor to be the prime sponsor of the bill that Mr. Kelly referred to as wage theft, a couple of years ago,” said Representative Robert Craven. “It was a negotiating process with management and the unions; when it was done, I was proud of my work. I thought it would put an end to the stuff that we’re talking about here today.
“It didn’t.
“The next thing we need to do is enforce the law,” continued Representative Craven. “And if they don’t hear us, they’ll see us in courts, they’ll see us in the administrative process, and they’ll see us until they stop.”
“When we work together and ensure that working people and champions for working people are elected to state office, it makes a difference,” said Kelly. “We have people who know our issues and values in the houses of power, whether it’s the city councils, the State House, or the federal government. Let’s remember that moving forward.”
“Rhode Island is proudly a working-class state,” said Patrick Crowley, Secretary-Treasurer of the Rhode Island AFL-CIO. “We’re honored to know what it’s like to get up in the morning, go to work, and make sure we can provide for our family. But we’ve got scumbag employers like the one who are building this place right here, who don’t give a shit about any of that. All they’re looking to do is line their pockets, and no matter how hard they think we’re going to fight, they haven’t seen anything yet. We’re relying on our friends in government to pass the laws, but if they can’t do it, and the judges won’t do it, we’ll do it - and we’ll do it right here on the streets.
“They have a choice,” continued Crowley. “They can do it the easy way or the hard way. The easy way is to do the right thing. The hard way is to look us in the eye every day they come to a workplace like this, because we’ll make sure they will never forget organized labor. We’re going to make sure that they never forget Rhode Island’s working class. We know we’ll last one day longer and one-day stronger than they ever will. So let’s stick together in solidarity forever.”
“Our solidarity is stronger than any crooked boss, any corrupt politician, and any money grubbing greedy scumbag developer!” said Kelly. “We’re the backbone of this country, particularly the building construction trades. But we don’t just organize on the job. We organize in our community as well. We organize where we live and for a fair deal when we’ve got a bad landlord. I want to introduce and welcome my brother from the Rhode Island Tenant Union, James Fields.”
“Our landlords don’t need any of us, but they do need all of us,” said Fields. “To adjust the problems we face as tenants, we must build strong, organized tenant unions to fight and win the changes we need.
“I don’t know about you, but my family can’t afford the rent,” continued Fields. “My rent just went up 150 bucks. My landlord didn’t do anything to improve our place. Our income didn’t go up 9%. Tenants are being squeezed to death in Rhode Island. That’s right, literally to death. More than 50 people died in the cold over the winter. You can bet they couldn’t afford rent. My landlord, Pioneer Investments, is being sued by the Rhode Island Attorney General for horrific conditions and lead poisoning of kids. My neighbor didn’t have heat for months. My other neighbor had a window fall out of its frame and break her baby son’s arm. I fear my elderly parents will fall into the huge dip in the kitchen floor, a hole covered by a thin layer of vinyl.
“And yet, if I fall behind on rent one time, they’ll drag my whole life down further in eviction court. That’s not right. The only way forward is together, building strong organizations with our neighbors to win stable and dignified housing for all of us. Tell me if you want to organize your building with the Rhode Island Tenants Union. We need a tenants’ union in our homes, the same way we need labor unions on our jobs.
“It doesn’t have to be this way,” concluded Fields. “We don’t have to let slumlords and price gouging corporations build and operate our housing. We need a public developer to step in and pay union labor to build dignified, climate-friendly housing that we can afford. The workers who build our housing should be able to afford to live in it. No one should be forced to be homeless or live in substandard housing, and we shouldn’t have to hand over half or more of our paychecks to our landlords. Union power gets the goods. Public developer now.”
“Whether you are organizing on the job or you’re organizing where you live and in your community, we need to stand together as one. We need to stand together as brothers and sisters, saying that we want a better deal in our society,” said Kelly. “I want to welcome a speaker who’s a rank-and-file apprentice electrician here to talk about not only his life as a member of organized labor, but as somebody who’s dealt with the high cost of living and what that means for working families in the State of Rhode Island.”
“I’m an apprentice electrician with the IBEW Local 99, but I’m also somebody who, for three years, did not have a place to call home,” said Jacob O’Connor. “When I got out of the army after six years, I struggled with a lot of things, substance abuse being one of them. When the pandemic happened, things only got worse. I lost my apartment, the rent was too high, I wasn’t making enough money, and I didn’t know where I would go. Eventually, after some time, I realized that I had to find a different path.
“As a kid, I always liked science and working with my hands,” continued O’Connor. “When I heard about the IBEW, they didn’t have to say much. I was sold. Because I’m now part of organized labor, I have a roof over my head. I have clothes on my back and food in my belly. Everyone is entitled to those things, right? We must work together and fight those who want to take too much from those who work and deserve it.”
“A United States Army veteran, homeless on the streets of America, while a fucking draft dodger sleeps in the White House,” said Kelley. “Are you all right with that? You serve this country, and the thanks we give you is your kicking the ass out the door. That’s bullshit. Thank you, brother. Every male family member up to me has been in the military. My father was in the United States Marine Corps, a Vietnam combat veteran. Thank you, brother, it goes to my heart.
“I want to close this out with a brother who’s had a distinguished service career, not only with IUPAT but with the building trades and all organized labor.”
“We’re all here together,” said Scott Duhamel. “We’re all here for the simple reasons stated before. I won’t restate them, but we’ve got to get into this fight. The fight in Rhode Island is mounting. This stuff happens daily, weekly, and we must stop it. We’ve got to change it. We’ve got to figure out a way to get working-class people into affordable housing. We’re all in this together. This is a coalition - that’s an old-school word, but guess what? It’s occurring. So let’s stick together. Remember to tell your neighbors and your friends what’s happening in Rhode Island, and let’s get some outrage, get some energy, and change some things to make this a better place.”
“I promised I would keep it tight,” said Kelly, closing out the rally. “I prayed this morning to Dominick Ruggerio and the Pope for good weather. It looks like the good Lord brought it. We’re now done with the rally, and we’re going to have a picket line!”
This needs to be the #1 state priority -- I'll be watching our elected officials closely and will only vote for those who support this as a top priority.