The site of the Lakeridge Middle School construction saw pickets and protest recently as members of an insulator’s union spoke out against a subcontractor’s practices. The display ended almost as quickly as it began, but it is only the first of two more such planned protests at Sumner School District construction sites.

The International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators, Union Local 7, formed a picket line at the construction job site April 2 and April 5. The union operates out of Tukwila and does not have any members on the Lakeridge project.

The protest was leveled against Manthey Mechanical Insulators, a Puyallup-based subcontractor that utilizes nonunion labor. But in this case the outrage was targeted specifically at Manthey’s lack of an apprenticeship program.

“The school districts are all about sending kids to college, or setting up vocational programs for students who want to learn skills, and then they don’t hire a contractor with an apprenticeship program,” Union Business Manager Monty Anderson said.

Joel Craig first brought the issue to the January meeting of the Sumner School Board during the public comment period. Craig stated that the use of nonunion, nonapprenticed labor could cause the quality of work to suffer. The board defended the Manthey hire, which adhered to a prevailing wage policy that ensures a good pay rate for laborers.

The first day of picketing took place during spring break so as not to interfere with school, he said, but they stayed through Monday after the break to show they meant business. Anderson called the protest off afterward because he recognized a picket line would affect more people than Manthey, including teachers and students on site.

Sumner School District hires contractors based on a prevailing wage policy, which dictates that the employees of an outside company must pay their workers at a certain wage level. The policy does not specify the use of union labor.

The problem with that is twofold, Anderson said. First, while a sizeable per-hour wage may be given to employees, none of it is applied to a health or benefits program. Second, while the rules dictating prevailing wage protect the interests of workers, nothing in the language of the policies protect the district’s projects from inexperienced workers.

“Electricians, plumbers, carpenters, glazers and any of the other specialized workers on this project all use apprentices, so you know that there’s a standard of quality being enforced on that job,” Anderson said. “But (Manthey) could literally go down to Home Depot, hire somebody to bring right onto the project and no laws would be stopping that. He can operate with no education program, no drug abuse program and no background checks.”

Joel Craig contended that the hiring of a nonapprenticed, nonunion subcontractor could cause the quality of the insulation at Lakeridge to suffer.

“Our union chapter is over 100 years old and many of our members live in (the Bonney Lake) community,” Craig said. “I think for a slight price difference, the district could have much better work. Why wouldn’t you want to hire local labor?”

If the use of nonunion, nonapprenticed labor resulted in lower quality work, the victims could be the students and employees that use the campus every day, Anderson said. An improperly insulated water pipe in a heated wall or roof can develop mold, which can trigger allergies, he said.