The Connecticut Laborers’ District Council is not a fan of ESPN’s non-union choice of general and site contractors to build a new $100-million, 193,000-sq-ft digital center in Bristol, Conn., and it is encouraging union players in the major sports leagues to boycott ESPN. The district council charges that the GM, Associated Construction Company, Hartford, and site contractor, Mizzy Construction in Plainville, Conn., are non-union shops that “do not pay living wages or follow area standards.” Union members have been picketing the ESPN site.
Neither ESPN nor the contractor firms returned calls for comment by press time. However, the Connecticut chapter of the Associated Builders and Contractors supports ESPN.
“随着该州在这一经济低迷期间的建筑业挣扎，我们为ESPN提供了为工会和优点商店承包商提供平等机会的人参加该项目的机会，并使建筑工人重返工作岗位，” ABC总裁Lelah Campo说。连接。
康涅狄格州相关总承包商执行董事约翰·W·巴特斯（John W. Butts）说，在康涅狄格州和非工会承包商的工作在康涅狄格州都很稀缺和竞争激烈。Butts说：“这是影响所有承包商的一种整个结构类型的问题，ESPN反映了这一点。”“我们的目标是获得更多的项目和更多的工作，但双方都新利18备用网址感到沮丧。”
The district council maintains that the ESPN project “is of no benefit to the state.” The group seeks to “let people know that ESPN is not a good corporate partner,” says Charlie LeConche, business manager of the district council, which represents 7,500 state construction employees. LeConche is also the business manager of Laborers Local 230 in Hartford.
区议会说，它旨在揭示其认为是建筑行业不平等现象。它说，其中包括很少或没有少数派的参与，未能支付区域标准工资，非工会承包商接受大部分工作的承包商以及接受工作的州外承包商。Leconche说：“我们的承包商不会竞标，因为他们没有在公平的竞争环境下竞标。”区议会正在寻找现行的工资法和“负责承包商规定”，以申请ESPN合同。
The district council has no intention of backing down and will continue the campaign against ESPN until something has been accomplished, says a district council spokesperson. Several more protests in front of the center are planned for the coming weeks.
该中心将于8月破土动工，将于2014年完成，将容纳四个工作室，六个制作控制室和26个编辑室。
Governor Dannel P. Malloy announced in August that the state will invest more than $25 million in the project, under its “First Five” program, an economic development program that provides incentives to the first five businesses that, depending on the size of the company’s investment, create a minimum of 200 full-time jobs in the state within the next two years, or 200 full-time jobs in the state within five years. The ESPN center is expected to create 200 full-time jobs within five years, and provide incentives to create up to an additional 800 jobs.
