Hundreds turned out for the rally today, bringing news of two crews of workers who worked on a Solhem project in Edina to Solhem Headquarters – but wait…take a closer look…
Solhem HQ March 7, 2024 – Look familiar? Hmmm…I wonder why…
Ahh, yes – six months ago when we tried to deliver a petition to their headquarters, they closed the door on the delegation rather than taking the petition, and then they closed all of their blinds to pretend that nobody was there. They seem to be up to their old tactics – stick your head in the sand, pretend you are not there and the problems will go away.
This time a delegation of female construction workers delivered a letter to Solhem, including Socorro – a former employee of PK Property Services, who did work on The Fred (a project of Solhem’s in Edina).
Solhem recently sent a letter to Edina City Council claiming that ““No ‘wage theft’ has occurred to our knowledge on any Solhem project – ever – including The Fred in Edina.” Socorro and the delegation delivered a letter informing Solhem that two groups of workers did finishing work and post-construction cleaning work on The Fred, and both faced wage theft for work they did on the project. The finishing workers had to file a lien with Hennepin County regarding unpaid wages, and after seven to nine weeks they finally were paid. Socorro and the post-construction cleaning workers filed a complaint with the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry on March 1, 2024 regarding reports of unpaid hours and unpaid overtime.
Even though this is Women in Construction Week, Solhem did not answer the delegation of female construction workers at their door. Since nobody answered, the delegation left the letter on the door and then joined the crowd for a report back outside.
“Today I am here to raise my voice and make known the injustices I suffered during the time I worked for PK Services. In this company we cleaned cabinets, bathrooms, carpets and windows during and when construction was finished. One of the projects I worked on was The Fred, a Solhem project in Edina. During the 2 years I worked long hours. I knew what time I was coming in but not what time I was leaving. Sometimes I would leave my house at 5:00 a.m. and return at 10:00 p.m. I was not paid overtime even though I was working so many hours and when I asked for a pay stub my supervisor would get angry. She said that the check stub meant nothing, that the important thing was that I did my job well, so I had no way at the time to check if I was being paid for all the hours I worked,” Socorro Cruz, speaking to the crowd following the delegation.
A CTUL member read Galdina Sanchez’ statement, as she could not be there for the action:
“I worked on The Fred project in Edina where Solhem was the developer, installing kitchen, bathroom, and door hardware in new buildings. My coworkers and I experienced wage theft for work done in that building. We had to file a lien with Hennepin County to claim our pay. My family and I suffered from not being able to put food on the table and pay our expenses due to the lack of payment. In the end, it took us almost two months to receive our salary. This exists, it is happening in many workplaces and as workers we need a solution to so many labor abuses.“
The news of these two crews of workers comes on the heels of a new multi-million dollar affordable housing development that Solhem is proposing in Edina called ‘Lincoln on the Creek’. Solhem has received $8.4 million in a deferred loan from the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency, as well as 9% low-income housing tax credits, and has an initial commitment of an additional $2.5 million in funding from Edina City Council. Edina City Council will likely review and vote on a land use proposal for the project in the Spring of 2024. We support the development of new affordable housing, but it cannot come at the cost of wage theft and other violations of workers’ rights.
We are calling on Solhem to take their heads out of the sand to see the reality of what is happening on their job sites, and to join the Building Dignity and Respect Program to ensure that all workers on their future projects are treated with basic dignity and respect.
See this article that came out in MPR yesterday morning for more details, check out videos and photos from the action on Instagram, and stay tuned for more news to come…