U.S. Rep. Marcia Fudge joins unions protesting Campus Village project at Cleveland State University, saying more locals should be hired

The project's co-developer said 75 percent of the workers are employed by Cleveland area workers, who tend to hire locals.

Cleveland, Ohio -- Construction unions, joined by U.S. Rep. Marcia Fudge, protested Tuesday near the Campus Village project at Cleveland State University, saying city and university officials should ensure that more Clevelanders are hired on the project.

It is the "right thing to do," they said.

The $50 million project didn't receive city funding, so it isn't covered by the Fannie Lewis law, which requires that at least 20 percent of the work force be made up of Cleveland residents. Four percent of them must be low-income.

"They may not be out of compliance with the letter of the law, but they are certainly out of compliance with the spirit of the law," Fudge, a Democrat form Warrensville Heights, said at the protest rally, in a lot at Payne Avenue and East 24th Street.

"This is a Cleveland project, and we need Cleveland workers."

"We need our union people," she said, as the crowd of about 200 cheered. "We need our skilled laborers. We need our women and minorities, so that we can have a job and feed our families just like all the people they're bringing here from all the other places."

The project is doing a good job of hiring local people, CSU spokesman Joe Mosbrook said. Co-developer, Polaris Real Estate Equities of Highland Heights said 75 percent of the workers are from Cleveland area companies that tend to hire local workers, he said. Forty percent of workers on the project belong to unions, Mosbrook said.

The university owns the land on which the apartment and retail development will be built, but it has leased it to Polaris and co-developer Buckingham Cos. of Indianapolis.

Loree Soggs, executive secretary the Cleveland Building & Construction Trades Council, disagreed. "The contractors on that job are not hiring local people," he said.

Soggs wants Mayor Frank Jackson's administration and CSU officials to come up with a voluntary agreement for the project similar to the Fannie Lewis Law, named after the late councilwoman who believed residents should be hired on publicly funded projects.

"It wouldn't be the first time that entities have volunteered to adhere to the Fannie Lewis ordinance," he said.

City Hall has said it is probably too late to change hiring for Campus Village, because contracts have already been awarded. To prevent another major project from being launched without a hiring commitment, the Jackson administration has met with developers with projects in the works.

Jackson's press secretary, Andrea Taylor, said she questions why unions are placing demands on the city about hiring at Campus Village when they have challenged Clevelanders' participation on other projects.

"Guaranteeing participation of city residents on union jobs has been continuous," she said.

"We would like for them to be just as aggressive with putting our children -- who are Clevelanders -- into their apprenticeship programs," Taylor said. "That way, when there are union jobs available, we would be assured that Clevelanders would be working."

After the rally, participants headed to the campus in heavy drizzle, distributing fliers expressing the unions' concerns.

Mike Jones, an unemployed union electrician, who said he is a CSU alumnus, was among them.

"They should be hiring local people to do the work," he said.

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