Hundreds of labor and community activists showed up in Troy, Michigan at a luncheon for the Detroit Economic Council to demand Pulte Homes CEO Richard Dugas describe what his company has done with almost $900 million in tax refunds from the federal government. The event was postponed at the last minute when Dugas hid from protestors.
@PulteHomes What did you do with your $900 Million Bailout? http://act.ly/...
Pulte Homes recently received almost $900 million in tax refunds from recent to legislation intended to create jobs. However, there was no accounting for those funds and the company refuses to disclose how the taxpayer money was spent.
Angel Rangel, a sheet metal worker from Arizona, talked about the poor working conditions on PulteGroup sites.
Many of those conditions were documented in a 2008 report filed by a group of religious and community leaders who investigated conditions at Pulte Home sites in Phoenix, Arizona. According to the group:
The delegations quickly discovered a disturbing pattern of injustice and abuse among contractors paid by Pulte to build homes for the company. Workers talked about a number of serious problems, including dangerous working conditions, nonpayment of overtime, wages so low that
workers have to work 60-70 hours a week in order to make ends meet, and lack of affordable health care and other benefits.
One worker who was interviewed, employed at that time at at Chas Roberts HVAC, a subcontractor frequently used by Pulte Homes, noted:
"The company made us work very, very quickly, like you had to finish this entire house in one day. We know that this house would actually take 16 hours to do everything properly, and they told us we had to get it done in 8. When it’s really hot out, they don’t give us water. They don’t give us money to buy ice, or anything like that. The supervisors are always trying to make us work faster. They go from house to house putting pressure on us to speed things up. We do the house faster, but we know that we’re doing things in the way that they’re not supposed to be done. We’re cutting corners, because they want us to work so fast. And they wanted us to finish the houses
quickly, but they wouldn’t even give us all the material that we needed to do things properly.
Interfaith Worker Justice Report on Pulte Homes
Several years ago, striking workers at a Pulte construction site were sprayed down by a water truck sent out to harrass them. When the workers and their representatives called the Maricopa County sherriff's office, they were told that officers were too busy to handle the call.
The action is part of a national campaign to hold the nation’s largest homebuilder accountable for its actions both in the financial arena and the market place. The home builder has been dogged by reports of low quality, violations of environmental regulations and worker complaints about failure to maintain wage standards.
Pastor John Pitts, repreenting the local faith community also spoke while noting that Pulte's CEO "was supposed to give a speech on leadership in tough times. What kind of leader runs away from accountability and won’t answer the tough questions?"
Pulte received nearly $900 million through the Worker, Homeownership and Business Assistance Act of 2009. The Act was intended to create jobs and extend benefits to the unemployed. Instead, PulteGroup is spending the cash on increasing the ranks of the unemployed by laying off more and more people. Recently, the company reported spending $8 million on employee severances and related costs, and announced plans to cut 350 jobs and close a plant in Tolleson, Ariz., that makes doors, frames, trusses and other components for its new homes. Since receiving the $900 million in tax refunds, PulteGroup has not indicated to its investors that it is spending any of the money money on creating jobs.
According to an article about the rally which ran in the Wall Street Journal:
We bailed out the banks. We bailed out GM and Chrysler. Then we bailed out Pulte Group," said Saundra Williams, president of the metropolitan Detroit AFL-CIO labor federation, which helped organize the rally along with the Sheet Metal Workers International Association and the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades. "The auto companies created thousands of jobs. Pulte Group just pocketed the money and ran"
Unions Take Fight With Pulte To Congress
Wall Street Journal
Help us find out what Pulte Homes is hiding. Please sign out Twitter petition to Pulte Homes demanding they "show us the money"
@PulteHomes What did you do with your $900 Million Bailout? http://act.ly/...
You can also sign up for updates and action alerts from the Sheet Metal Workers' International Association Action Teamand International Union of Painters and Allied Trades on FaceBook.