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The Losses Keep Mounting

Watch the losses climb from 2017 to now! $8.4 billion a year was lost from 2017 through 2020 and $10 billion a year from 2021.

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Mark Your Calendar and Make a Plan: Tax Fraud Days of Action Are Coming!

Across the U.S. and Canada, Carpenters Union members and supporters are gearing up for a variety of events April 12 – 18 to protest the epidemic of employer tax fraud in the construction industry. 

Events are taking place at dozens of locations to demonstrate how construction employer tax fraud hurts us all: workers, law-abiding contractors and taxpayers.

Crooked contractors steal wages, engage in shady banking schemes and game the system to illegally avoid paying payroll taxes and workers’ compensation premium obligations. Some $8.4 billion a year is lost to construction industry tax fraud. 

It’s time to speak out and take action!

Click the Events tab for a look at scheduled events or contact the UBC regional council in your area for more information. 

Here are just a few examples of Days of Action events:   

  • Hosted by the North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters, elected officials will participate in ride-alongs in several Midwestern cities, traveling to different construction sites to see the clear difference between law-abiding contractors and contractors that are paying workers off the books.
  • On April 13, a rally with members of the North Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters in Framingham, Mass., will call attention to a developer who has a project pending before the local Planning Commission. Workers on previous projects with this developer have alleged that wage theft occurred.
  • In Canada, UBC regional councils will hold events and activities to reach banking and financial institutions, governments at all levels and the community.  Members are writing letters to their Members of Parliament and the UBC in Canada is launching a year-long campaign for general contractor liability legislation at the federal and provincial levels.
  • Representatives of the Indiana/Kentucky/Ohio Regional Council of Carpenters will meet with officials of an Indianapolis bank to discuss the ways that perpetrators of fraud may engage in banking violations such as wire fraud, money laundering and labor trafficking. Banks are being urged to add the characteristics of financial crimes in the construction industry to their alert systems.
  • On April 13, the Central South Carpenters Regional Council is hosting an event at San Antonio City Hall to speak out about the effects of construction employer tax fraud on the community, and ways to stop it. Speakers will include San Antonio City Council members Terry Castillo and Mario Bravo, as well as a worker who has been a victim of employer tax fraud.
  • On April 13, over 1,000 members of the New York City District Council of Carpenters will rally against wage theft on the steps of the New York City Public Library in Manhattan.
  • On April 14, members of the Pacific Northwest Regional Council of Carpenters will rally on the state capitol steps in Olympia, Wash., and meet with legislators to discuss solutions to construction employer tax fraud.
  • On April 13, the Eastern Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters will hold a zoom conference with attorneys general from Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and the District of Columbia.