In full transparency, the following is a press release submitted to SOURCE media (submitted photo)
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FRAMINGHAM – On Wednesday, April 13, as the tax day deadline approaches, Carpenters Local 336 members and Framingham community leaders held at rally at 75 Fountain Street in Framingham for 2 hours to bring attention to the issue of tax fraud in construction and the need for constant local and state vigilance in preventing and ending this problem.
Framingham City Councilors George P. King Jr. and Noval Alexander participated in the rally.
The first phase of a project at 75 Fountain Street, owned by Washington Square Ventures, came under significant scrutiny after issues of tax fraud, wage theft and worker safety were raised by both the Carpenters union as well as State and Local elected leaders.
Yesterday’s public effort is part of the National Tax Fraud Day of Action campaign. Find out more at StopTaxFraud.net. Framingham members of Carpenters Local 336 and local leaders have returned to 75 Fountain Street because of what has happened in the past at this Washington Square Venture’s work site and what we fear is likely to happen again if we are not vigilant.
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“We want to remind Framingham residents and leaders about the problems we all witnessed at this project in 2019 and warn Framingham elected leaders and local taxpayers that we should not allow Washington Square Ventures to bring the same problems, dangers, violations and law-breaking back to Framingham with the next project they are now proposing.,” said Rick Anketell, Carpenters Local 336 Business Agent.
Framingham residents saw firsthand the dangers of bringing irresponsible contractors like Dellbrook/JKS and Metro Walls to a construction project with Washington Square Venture’s first phase in 2019. Workers, oftentimes immigrants, who have worked under Metro Walls’ supervision have come forward to explain how they’ve been treated. Metro Walls has a history of profiting from tax fraud and wage theft. They hire subcontractors that are often nothing more than labor brokers that pay in cash, do not follow proper wage and hour laws, such as overtime rules, do not withhold employee income taxes, do not pay employer payroll taxes, and do not provide workers compensation insurance. Metro Walls has demonstrated a business model that relies on tax fraud and wage theft. Workers, many of which are immigrants, have come forward on different projects to explain how they were working for a labor broker and were under Metro Walls’ supervision. These workers have exposed the details of their work experience under Metro Walls being paid in cash, never filling out tax forms, and not being paid for all the hours they worked.
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During the course of construction of 75 Fountain Street, a carpenter fell through an unprotected opening in the roof, falling to the floor below and died. Fortunately after CPR he was resuscitated. Working to document what happened Framingham Detective Stacey Macaudda interviewed the victim’s employer.
Detective Macaudda documented the employer’s limited response in her investigation report, “[the owner] could not provide any information on [the injured worker] and advised me she did not have any paperwork at her home or office for him as they were trying him out before deciding if they wanted to hire him.” It is because of this history that Carpenters Local 336 has organized yesterday’s 3 to 5 p.m. rally.
“I am attending today’s rally because I do not want to see what happened on this project in 2019 happening again. Washington Square Ventures has shown that it is willing to cut corners and contract with irresponsible contractors in order to maximize it’s profits. It’s now our job to make sure they know we’re all watching,” said Frank Gomez, Organizer Carpenters Local 336
Members of the North Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters will demonstrate/lobby lawmakers/rally during Tax Fraud Days of Action this week to illuminate the rampant wage theft and tax fraud that is destroying the integrity and capacity of the construction industry. Each year labor brokers and contractors cheat their tax obligations by misclassifying their hires and paying an estimated 20% of construction workers ‘off the books,’ robbing taxpayers of up to $8.4 billion through lost federal income, employment taxes, and state income taxes. A recent study found that 39% of construction families in the United States are forced to enroll in one or more safety net programs to survive.
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MetroWest Medical Center