Mario Cespedes of the Laborers International Union Of North America, members of the Middletown based Laborers Union Local 534, along with a giant rat, are protesting Spectra Energy's outsourcing of jobs for a 35 day local pipeline repair project.

 

 

According to Cespedes, the pipeline repair project was awarded to MG Dyess, a Mississippi based company, who is employing non union out of state laborers from all across the country. The protest today, in front of the MG Dyess lay down yard on Cincinnati Dayton Rd on the South side of Middletown, Ohio, is to "alert the community about the contracting practices and the hiring practices of Spectra Energy and MG Dyess"

 

 

Cespedes went on to say he would "Like MG Dyess to look inward, look at Ohio workers. We have workers who are trained and skilled who can do this work. We have workers who are unemployed who can do this work. We would like for them (MG Dyess) to look at the community. Not just to take advantage of the energy infrastructure and the money that's here in Ohio, but also the workforce that's here. Because those workers, when they are making that money, and they are from Alabama and Mississippi, guess what, they make that money that's coming from here and it's going out of state. People think you can't export construction jobs.. but you still can."