Exciting step forward for worker justice

CCI members met with Des Moines City Council member Skip Moore here at the CCI office to talk about wage theft on public projects and the need for the city to adopt a pre-qualified bidder questionnaire.

This questionnaire’s purpose is to protect workers by preventing public projects from going to wage thieves. Representatives from the League of Latin American Citizens and the Des Moines Human Rights Commission were there too.

We heard from Omar Gaytan, a construction worker that had done some work at a Birdland Park shelter - a bid given to Paplow Roofing by the City of Des Moines. Omar is owed over $3,600 for his work there, and Paplow simply refused to pay him, as well as three other workers.

We had engaged Paplow before, and filed a wage claim against Paplow. Even though the judgment was issued in favor of Omar, he has not been able to collect. Meanwhile, Iowa Workforce Development is suing Paplow Roofing for the 13th time due to wage theft. This was the case that made us start pushing for the prequalified bidder questionnaire.

Stay tuned for developments!