Laborers Local 79 Keeps Up Daily Protests Against Empire State Realty's Practice of Hiring Non-Union

A fat cat, a pig wearing a top hat and five rats. All seven inflatables faced the 34th Street entrance of the Empire State Building last Thursday, two weeks into a protest by members of Laborers Local 79 who rallied, hundreds strong, in the afternoon shadow of the props.  

The union members were there to voice their anger at Empire State Realty Trust, the holding company that manages the Empire State Building, whose officials, they say, have engaged in a lengthy pattern of hiring non-union contractors for various types of work within the building. According to Local 79 officials, the contractors pay their workers substandard wages and don’t provide them with similar benefits afforded union laborers.

"We are here protesting the use of non-union general contractors and demolition contractors across the board,” said Oona Adams, the union’s organizing director, told The Chief-Leader. There are multiple “irresponsible” contractors hired by Empire State Realty Trust who “exploit labor at this building” and have done so for years, she said. Workers and union officials have been stationed outside of the iconic building with the inflatables since the new year’s first week and they’ve periodically held after-work rallies, turning out hundreds of union members to name and shame Empire State Realty Trust. Read more from The Chief and The Amsterdam News and check out video from Local 79 here!