"Shame on Pastor Singley," the red letters scream. It's the message of the Mid-South Carpenters Union that has been seen on similar signs placed around the Knoxville area. Businesses such as Ft. Loudon Hospital, Park West Medical Center, Ft. Sanders Regional Hospital, UT Medical Center and Maryville College have also been targeted by the union in recent months. Now it looks like it's our turn, and with a decidedly personal form of protest.

The "Shame On" campaign is a nationwide effort by the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners aimed at job sites where non-union contractors who the union believes do not meet "Area Standards" have been awarded work. They are concerned that such contractors may lower workplace and compensation standards for carpenters and create an uneven playing field when competing for bids.

In our situation, the non-union company the Carpenters are targeting is the Wakefield Corporation - the drywall contractor awarded a bid on our sanctuary expansion project. Employees of Wakefield - one of the largest drywall contractors in the Knoxville area - opted to not join the union in 2006.

Johnson & Galyon - the General Contractor overseeing our project - awarded bids to both union and non-union subcontractors. The Wakefield Corporation was the lowest qualified bidder for drywall work on our project. Wakefield is highly regarded in the Knoxville area for superior work.

The "Shame On" banners are a part of a campaign the Carpenters Union calls "Area Standards." On the Mid-South Regional Council web site, the campaign is described this way:

"The Area Standards Campaign is in full swing. In this campaign we engage in lawful protest actvities, like highly visible banners, handbills and traditional demonstrations to bring attention to the people who are lowering standards for carpenters. When we use these tactics we have no intention of seeking an agreement, we simply want to inform the public of the substandard conditions for carpenters.  Substandard conditions can include low pay, the lack of any family health insurance, retirement protection or even employing carpenters under unlawful conditions-not paying Social Security taxes, Medicare taxes, unemployment taxes, overtime or workers' compensation premiums."

An informative article about the campaign in the Knoxville area may be found at:

http://www.metropulse.com/news/2009/may/21/knoxville-carpenters-union-protests-local-develope/

A statement by Covenant Health, one of the other targets of the "Shame On" campaign, may be found at:

http://www.covenanthealth.com/news/?sid=1&nid=45

To read Pastor Singley's statement about the protest, click on the following link:

Read Pastor Singley's Statement about the protest here.