Pulte Got Taxpayer $$ to Create Jobs–But Didn’t
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Ben Horowitz from Painter and Allied Trades (IUPAT) District Council 15, sends us this report.
In Romulus, Mich., seven community members linked arms and refused to leave the street outside the Detroit Airport Marriott, blocking a bus they believed was carrying PulteGroup’s board of directors. Minutes later, while the Romulus 7 were taken away in handcuffs, the PulteGroup board sat inside, still not held accountable for the $880M tax refund they ostensibly received for job creation.
The money came to Pulte thanks to the Worker, Homeownership and Business Assistance Act of 2009. This Act was intended to create jobs and extend benefits to the unemployed. Instead, PulteGroup is spending the cash on debt buy-downs and land, while increasing the ranks of the unemployed by laying off employees.
The Rev. Charles Williams II, who was arrested by Romulus police, summed it up this way:
I believe Pulte’s acceptance of $880 million taxpayer dollars is unethical and should be illegal. And if it takes me getting in their way of business as usual to make the Board of Directors do the right thing, then I’m willing to do that. We’re calling on Pulte shareholders and our federal legislators to make Pulte do the right thing — use the money to create jobs, or give it back.
Some 200 more union members, community activists and other allies remained outside, holding signs demanding answers and chanting:
Where are the jobs? Where is the money?
As states across the country grapple with deficits and contemplate tax cuts of their own, the Building Justice campaign by the Sheet Metal Workers (SMWIA) and IUPAT District Council 15 with the support of the AFL-CIO has followed PulteGroup executives across the country to remind taxpaying Americans that money for job creation needs to come with accountability. In January of 2011, activists interrupted a conference of mortgage executives being led by Debra Still, Pulte Mortgage’s director.
Metropolitan Detroit AFL-CIO President Saundra Williams said:
We have shown up at virtually every public event attended by Pulte executives to ask one simple question. Where did the money go that Pulte got from the federal government to create the jobs? There needs to be accountability here.
Protestors Demand to Know How Pulte Spent Bailout Funds
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Ben Horowitz, a researcher for Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) District Council 15, reports on a protest this morning demanding accountability from homebuilding giant PulteGroup.
PulteMortgage CEO Debra Still came face to face today with workers from the Building Justice campaign and their allies, demanding to know how her company is spending the public’s money.
Even though her company settled with Arizona’s attorney general over allegations of consumer fraud, Still spent the day in Washington, D.C. chairing a meeting on residential mortgaging with professionals from around the country. In the middle of the summit, several hundred community members and workers from the Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) and Sheet Metal Workers (SMWIA) interrupted.
“Where is the money? Where are our jobs?” they chanted as they marched past stunned bankers to the podium.
Get the Latest on Pulte Homes
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Keep up with the latest news about Pulte Homes, one of the nation’s largest home builders, on Building Justice’s updated website, http://poorlybuiltbypulte.info/. The site also enables homeowners to complete a survey about their experiences with Pulte.
Building Justice is a partnership of the Painters and Allied Trades union (IUPAT), the Sheet Metal Workers (SMWIA), the AFL-CIO, Pulte homeowners, community members and elected officials to improve conditions at Pulte developments.
Workers in three Western states employed by contractors hired by Pulte report unpaid wages and overtime, pressure to work through break periods and pressure to bypass safety precautions. They report sexual harassment and discrimination on the job. Some workers also report that appropriate construction materials, safety equipment and potable drinking water are not available.
Workers, Homeowners Deliver Lemons to Pulte Exec
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A Pulte Homes executive got a special delivery this morning, when 50 angry workers and supporters delivered lemon awards to him at a state board meeting. The workers and homeowners in three western states say buyers should beware before they purchase a home built by Pulte or its subsidiaries.
The protest at the Nevada State Contractors Board meeting in Las Vegas came on the same day that Building Justice released a report that shows nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of respondents to a survey of owners of homes built by Pulte and its Del Webb subsidiary reported their homes had construction defects. Building Justice is a partnership comprised of the Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT), Sheet Metal Workers (SMWIA), the AFL-CIO, community members, Pulte homeowners and elected officials to improve conditions at Pulte developments.
