Construction Workers Achieve Historic Victory in Viking Lakes Wage Theft Case

Union and non-union construction workers alike had reason to celebrate on April 27th when the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry (DLI) announced the recovery of $1.28 million in stolen wages and damages on behalf of 26 workers who’d been denied overtime and other wages for work they’d done on the prestigious Viking Lakes facility in Eagan, MN, among other projects. DLI confirms that this is the largest wage theft recovery in the agency’s history.

Workers Confluence is proud and applaud the courage and fortitude of these workers, who came forward and stuck with a multi-year investigation to finally get justice. We also want to highlight the Workers Confluence-supported partnership between worker center Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en la Lucha (CTUL) and several Building Trades unions, which helped lay the groundwork for this victory through years of sharing information, developing workers’ leadership, and advocating for policy change (more here). 

Wage theft is common in many sectors of the economy where immigrants and other vulnerable workers are concentrated, but non-union construction workers face some of the most severe cases. Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry Commissioner Nicole Blissenbach confirmed that most of the 26 workers involved in this case were shorted tens of thousands of dollars apiece between 2019 and 2022 (background on the case here). 

CTUL and labor partners the North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters, the Laborers International Union of North America (Minnesota/North Dakota), District Council 62 of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, and the Minneapolis Building and Construction Trades Council have been working together to address the injustices that plague the non-union portion of the industry. 

In a press release, CTUL applauded the 26 workers, who participated in the investigation for years despite the real risk of retaliation. Carpenters legal counsel Burt Johnson put it into perspective at the Department of Labor and Industry press conference announcing the settlement: “We cannot afford to let the greed of some developers create this unsafe, underground economy that harms us all… Nobody should have to resort to heroism just to get paid.”  

Further reading:

Grand Rapids Herald Review: Construction Firms to Pay $1.2M to Workers in Largest Wage Recovery by Minnesota Labor Agency

Engineering News Record: Subcontractors Ordered to Pay Record $1.28M in Minnesota Wage Case