Community Coalition for Workers to hold Respect the Craft rally against payroll fraud

OMAHA, NE — The Community Coalition for Workers (CCW) will hold a Respect the Craft labor rally in an effort to highlight payroll fraud issues on construction projects funded by the City of Omaha. The rally will begin at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, October 25, at the corner of 17th Street South and St. Mary’s Avenue North. From there the participants will march toward the Douglas County Courthouse, located at 1819 Farnam Street in downtown Omaha, where they will hold a press conference.

“The City of Omaha is using taxpayer dollars on construction projects that are using workers who are suffering from the abuses of payroll fraud,” said CCW spokesman Steven Mulcahy, “including on a project at the very courthouse we are marching on. As citizens in this community, we demand better treatment for all workers.”

Some of the city’s projects determined to have payroll fraud issues include Douglas County Courthouse, UNMC Student Life Center, Ponca Hills Elementary School, Baxter Arena and CHI Hospital. Construction workers have faced unsafe working conditions, no overtime pay, off-the-books cash payments, worker compensation fraud, nonpayment and more.

Speakers at the event will include Mulcahy, carpenters affected by payroll fraud, and Rebecca Garcia, a millennial whose father is a carpenter.

“The City of Omaha should abide by the tax, public contracting and employment laws and stop turning a blind eye to payroll fraud, stop investing in payroll fraud and Respect the Craft,” said Mulcahy.

For more information about payroll fraud in the construction industry, visit www.respectthecraft.org or www.payrollfraud.net.