Black and Brown carpenters, tired of being pitted against each other and cheated, had the courage to sue AIMCO and its contractors. Here they met last week with community leaders and the press. Photo: Francisco Da Costa

The carpenters, who will walk off their jobs to attend the press conference, are suing for violations including illegal wage deductions, retaliatory firings and egregious behavior to try to pit the African-American workers and the Latino workers against each other. The public is welcome to attend.

Rarely do construction workers risk their livelihood to sue such powerful employers. AIMCO describes itself on its website, www.aimco.com, as "the nation's largest owner and operator of apartment communities." Other defendants in the lawsuit include Fortney and Weygendt, general contractor, IMR, Bay Building Services and Bay Area Construction Framers.

"Our bosses cashed the paychecks of many of the Latino workers," states Fausto Aguilar, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit. "They kept a part of our wages and paid us the rest in cash. When the Latino and African-American workers came together and complained about it, many of us were fired."

Another plaintiff, Gregory Hall, states, "It got so bad that management would separate the workers by race by holding secret meetings with some of us. When we circulated a petition complaining of the abuses, we were fired and replaced with non-union workers."

The City and County of San Francisco holds oversight authority over AIMCO in Hunters Point not only because its revenue bonds are funding the work but because the complexes were built in the original Hunters Point Redevelopment project area, which the Board of Supervisors extended last year for a second 30-year term.

Ironically, the revenue bonds were issued to settle a lawsuit brought by the City against AIMCO to force the cleanup of toxic mold that was sickening tenants. While the City Attorney claimed victory over AIMCO, the huge developer's $3 million penalty was far outweighed by its $85 million "gift" from San Francisco taxpayers.

Among other forms of recovery, the group of carpenters is seeking criminal prosecution of certain managers, as well as the replacement of current contractors and sub-contractors. Attorneys representing the group of carpenters are La Raza Centro Legal and Sundeen Salinas and Pyle. Dozens of other carpenters are expected to join the lawsuit.

These excerpts from carpenters' complaint tell why the carpenters are suing:

"15. Although BHPRP (Bayview Hunters Point Redevelopment Plan) (covers) an area which is predominantly African-American in population, the individuals hired by Defendants to do construction in connection with the BHPRP have been disproportionately Latino. At a meeting with representatives from AIMCO, F&W and BBS, these Defendants were informed that members of the "Community," or African-Americans, were not being hired. These Defendants responded as follows: We will give our "core group" (all Latino workers) a wall to work on and a "Community" group another wall to work on, and if the Community Group can "keep up" with the Latinos we will hire another Community group. Defendant BBS, through Marshall Hornstein, protested that if he had to hire another Community Group he would "lose money." This race/national origin group competition ensued, with the Community Group being placed in a position of disadvantage - that group's wall was not prepared and ready to be worked on. There were also mis-instructions for the job, repairs necessary to complete the job were delayed, and materials were withheld. Moises Avila of IMR openly cheered on the Latinos, telling them "Rapido!" Defendant AIMCO was later complained to about the unfairness of this situation, including the pitting of groups against each other, but the response was that Marshall Hornstein was concerned that he would lose money if he had to hire another Community Group.

"16. Throughout the relevant time period, beginning approximately June, 2007, through the present, Defendants have routinely responded to African-American job applicants that there are no jobs available. At the same time, Defendants dispensed job applications to Latinos and hired them disproportionately to the Community members.

"17. The Latino workers are pushed to work harder, faster and sometimes in unsafe conditions. That is, Defendants press the Latino employed to complete their work as fast as possible, even if this means running while carrying equipment or materials, missing rest periods and not being able to complete their lunch periods. When African-American workers pointed out the need for safety precautions, the foreman would say, "Scared or something?"

"18. The Latino workers have also had portions of their wages withheld or taken from them. On some occasions, agents for Defendants have taken paychecks bearing the names of Latino employees on them and cashed them, without first obtaining these employees' signatures or permission, and then have delivered cash payments to the employees less $100 to $400. On other occasions, the Latino employees are allowed to cash their own checks but must provide the deduction the following Monday (paychecks are issued each Friday). The Latino employees have been told that they must submit to these deductions or they will not be allowed to work. They have also been told that they "do not deserve" all of the money they earned, "when have you never earned this type of money in your life." Supervisors, foremen, and other agents of Defendants have shared these unlawful deductions amongst themselves.

"19. The African-American workers who have been hired by Defendants have been repeatedly told that they are too slow, that they are not working fast enough, they are not good enough, and that other members of the community are not qualified to do the work; that is why they are not hired.

"20. During the summer of 2007, Defendants withheld the checks of many Latino employees and required that they attend a meeting at a warehouse with representatives of IMR and BBS. Present were Moises Avila, Ernesto Cunningham, Jesus ‘Chewy' Sandoval and Gaspar, during which Moises Avila said that ‘we are at war' with the African-Americans, because ‘African-Americans don't like Latinos and don't like them working here.' AVILA also said that African-Americans are lazy and too slow, and that ‘you should tell them to fuck off.' Ernesto Cunningham agreed with Avila, and said we are at ‘war.' Cunningham also said that African-Americans are ‘too slow' and that he wanted to fire them. Employees that did not attend this meeting, including African-Americans, were informed of it including that the Latinos were told ‘niggers on the job don't like you guys, we need to stick together.'

"21. Many of the employees, both African-American and Latino, complained either directly to Defendants or to the union, about the unlawful deductions. The complaints were oral and by way of written petition. In response, several of the complainants were terminated from their jobs."

Renee Saucedo is a leading organizer, activist and lawyer in the Mission who works with La Raza Centro Legal and the Day Labor Program. Email her at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

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