Union workers want unpaid benefits from New York demolition firm
A local union group has filed an involuntary bankruptcy petition against a Syracuse company, alleging the firm failed to pay fringe benefits to employees who completed demolition work at the BayerCrop Science plant in Institute. Federal Magistrate Mary E. Stanley signed off on a judgment order in August that requires Bianchi to pay $205,000 to the West Virginia Laborers’ District Council and its affiliates. The union says it hasn’t been paid.
“We’re in the process of trying to pursue this money from a New York corporation,” said Steven Smith, administrative manager for the West Virginia Laborers’ Pension Trust Fund. “They’ve forgotten to pay their bills. I can’t say anything beyond that because we’re in litigation.”
The union alleged that Bianchi breached its collective-bargaining agreement because the company didn’t pay health and pension benefits to about 40 employees who worked on a 2008-09 demolition project at the Bayer CropScience plant.
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