Continuous News

Local construction industry workers protesting Butte hotel

Posted: Oct 11, 2012 5:43 PM by Katy Harris KXLF News

A new hotel is going up in Butte and some local construction workers aren't necessarily happy about it.
Carpenters, plumbers and electricians are just a few of the people protesting a new hotel in Butte.
An 84 room Holiday Inn Express is going up off Harrison Avenue.
The Koehler Organization out of Aberdeen, South Dakota has hired both union and non-union workers to build the hotel.
The company says they've hired different contractors for each trade.
One contractor is from out of state and there could be more out of state contractors hired down the road.
Because of that these local construction industry workers are protesting T-K-O.
Sean Smith is a local building trades representative and says,"We want to keep this construction local to hire local contractors who pay area standards and wages and hire local people for the community."
The protesters say that construction jobs are hard to find these days and when there is a construction job, they want to be the ones to have it, instead of using an outside source.
"We have local families that need to pay house payments and groceries here locally in Montana and it's just struggling working families locally here in Butte that we're concerned about," adds Smith.
A TKO representative says they would have preferred to hire Butte contractors and that contractors selected were based on bidding and qualifications.
The hotel is expected to be finished by August of next year.