There are still about 100 construction workers who say they haven't been paid for work at historic Jones High School.
About 40 workers picketed in front of Orange County Public Schools headquarters August 8, demanding that administrators force Construct Two Management Group and its subcontractor, Acoustical Ceiling Level, to pay overdue debts.
According to union organizer Douglas MacCartney, Acoustical Ceiling Level fired workers every couple of weeks, then replaced them with a fresh batch of employees who also went unpaid. MacCartney says Construct Two, which manages the west Orlando site, allowed Acoustical Ceiling Level to do the same thing at the Orange County Convention Center. "They've discovered a new way to rip off workers," he says.
Construct Two President Derrick Wallace, a Jones High graduate who ran for mayor in February, told the Orlando Sentinel in June he would ensure that all workers were paid. Asked this week to respond to the latest call for wages, Wallace told the Weekly it was an attempt by the union to enroll more members.