Trade workers are lining up outside two Waconia elementary schools in informational picketing against a Bemidji contractor they say is not paying the area's standard wage to some of its workers.
The group of pickets from the Heat and Frost Insulators Local 34 held signs Monday saying the work by nonunion Peterson Sheet Metal insulators at Bayview and Southview elementary schools is being performed at "substandard wages and benefits."
The group started picketing Thursday and picked back up on Monday. Union members working at Southview Elementary have walked off the site.
George Kisel, president of the Heat and Frost Insulators Local 34, said the group would meet with Peterson Sheet Metal on Tuesday morning in an effort to come to an agreement. The Bemidji company hired the insulators to work on the heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems of the two schools.
"We will stay out until this is resolved," Kisel said. "We are in it for the long haul."
Jaime Quello, president of Peterson Sheet Metal, declined to comment.
Beatrice Dupuy
