Worcester Housing Authority blasts union's claims of 'squalor' at housing properties
WORCESTER — The Worcester Housing Authority is striking back at a workers’ union after scathing allegations against the agency were made public.
Worcester Housing Authority CEO Alex Corrales said the Service Employment International Union Local 888, which represents carpenters, plumbers, electricians and plasterers, launched a “smear campaign” and “personal vendetta” against him and the WHA over disappointment with the outcome of a recent contract negotiation.
The largest landlord in Worcester and the second-largest housing authority in New England, the WHA has 3,000 units spread out over 25 properties in Worcester.
More: State investigating claims of 'deplorable' Worcester Housing Authority conditions
Employing approximately 250 employees representing four different unions, the WHA started feeling what it considers the unwarranted wrath of SEIU Local 888, which represents only 10 employees used by the WHA, after the WHA brought up “productivity concerns,” that it had of the SEIU.
Corrales, in a recent interview, said: “What I noticed about 14 months ago is that the work orders were mounting up. These are work orders to go into apartments and fix things and they weren’t getting done. They were averaging about one work order per day completion. And then, through the Housing Authority’s fleet vehicles that they have, it was noticed that they were spending about four to five hours a day joyriding the city of Worcester.
“Ultimately, the issue was not addressed by them, to work with us, to fix it. And what we ended up enduring was a campaign to smear and disparage and discredit the Worcester Housing Authority.”
In 2023, there were more “fraudulent” working compensation claims made by SEIU members than the rest of the remaining 240 WHA employees combined, Corrales said.In a statement released in January, SEIU Local 888 alleges that “deplorable” living and working conditions exist in some of the WHA-run complexes.
The union statement claims that WHA workers continue to uncover “major health hazards” while maintaining the city’s aging public housing.
SEIU alleges “free-flowing raw sewage” that submerged parts of at least five buildings and allegedly went unaddressed for a month by the authority’s leadership.
'It could not be further from the truth'
Last year, there was only one incident of sewage backing up through the city’s sewage pipes, Corrales said. In every instance where there was a sewage line backup, it was into a basement that residents do not have access to and not into resident units, he said. In all cases, an outside waste cleaning company was contracted and completed work within 24 hours of notification of the backup, Corrales said.
“It could not be further from the truth,” Corrales said of the free-flowing raw sewage allegation. “To suggest our residents are living in sewage backup, I can assure you calls would have been made by residents to the Board of Health, calls would have been made to the city, calls would have been to other folks if that was truly a factual statement. The reason those calls were not made is because those issues did not exist.”
As for allegations of discolored tap water, Corrales said the WHA received two calls last year related to discolored tap water and work order requests were responded to promptly.
“There was a comment made about brown water. The Worcester Housing Authority is not responsible for the city’s water,” Corrales said. “If there is (more than two cases of brown water), we’re not being contacted about it. My communications with the city is, they weren’t being contacted about it.”
SEIU also alleges exposure to “cancer-causing asbestos.”
Last year, Corrales said they received no calls about asbestos, adding all WHA maintenance department employees are provided with personal protective equipment (PPE) and have free and full access to replacement PPE or request addition or new types of PPE, as needed.
“Asbestos exists in our properties. These are old properties built in the ‘50s,” Corrales said. “There’s a difference between knowing there is asbestos that is encapsulated and that it is in the property, versus an accusation that you are poisoning people. That’s a very serious allegation to make, and quite frankly unfounded.”
The union is skeptical of the authority's response to its concerns.
“Let me make this clear: This is an issue of human dignity. It doesn't matter if there is one worker/resident or 1,000. These conditions are deplorable and our most vulnerable citizens should not have to live like this,” said Tom McKeever, president of the SEIU Local 888. “We represent workers in several other housing authorities in major cities in the commonwealth and we have never seen the kind of conditions that the WHA allows to persist.”
Corrales: Disparaging flyers sent by union
In addition to allegations made against the WHA, Corrales accuses McKeever for sending disparaging, defamatory and racist flyers to residents, WHA employees, city officials, the media and the general public.
“During these last 14 months, I personally have also been a victim of their smear campaign,” Corrales said. “They personally came to my home. They handed these flyers to my son, my minor son. So this is the tactics that I have personally endured during the last 14 months by SEIU Local 888 and Tom McKeever.”
From 2021 through 2023, multiple SEIU members received suspension for infractions that were clear violations of WHA policy including an SEIU member employee taking photographs of a co-worker without their consent or permission because he believed that employee to be “taking work away from SEIU members,” Corrales said.
In 2023, WHA residents made 149 “emergency calls” after hours (4:30 p.m. until 8 a.m. daily, plus all day Saturday and Sunday) for SEIU members who only responded to eight of those 149 calls, or only 5%, Corrales said. Prior, SEIU would respond to 50% of the calls, Corrales said.
When SEIU Local 888 members were discovered to be “deliberately” taking longer routes to job sites, “delaying work,” “refusing to respond to emergency calls” and “completing the minimum amount of daily work orders possible,” Corrales met with them as a group, demanded better and asked them to “hit the reset button.”
At no time before that meeting had the union raised any concerns about health and safety issues, Corrales said. In fact, during the last round of contract negotiations, which stretched from fall 2022 through fall 2023, not a single safety issue was raised by SEIU Local 888 as a point of discussion or negotiations, he said.
“For 10 months while we were in contract negotiations, not one time in all of our meetings that we have with SEIU, not once, that they ever asked for anything related to safety, as they are trying to make you believe, not a single time,” Corrales said. “All they asked for was a cost of living increase for the next three years…And they signed the contract.”
'Untruthful' complaints submitted
In addition, Corrales claims that McKeever submitted numerous “unfounded” and “untruthful” complaints to various regulatory agencies, as well as city and state officials in attempts to weaponize those agencies against the WHA.
Furthermore, Corrales alleges McKeever has harassed and bullied employees, contractors, residents and its own members who don’t fall in line with SEIU’s “baseless attacks” against the WHA.
Due to the critical role the WHA plays in keeping Worcester’s most vulnerable residents safely housed, Corrales said, the WHA is subject to more routine inspections than any property management company in the city. As a result, the WHA is inspected by both state and federal regulators on a regular, consistent and frequent basis, he said. Not only has it passed every state inspection with “glowing reviews,” the WHA was also rated a “high performer” by federal inspectors every year for over a decade, Corrales said.
Thursday, the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities conducted a reinspection of state-funded and regulated public housing units in Worcester following concerns raised by SEIU Local 888 of unsafe working and living conditions. The expanded inspection consisted of 10% of state-aided units (excluding units in buildings that are vacated due to an upcoming redevelopment project and/or in process of transfer to the federal portfolio), Noah R. Bombard, director of communications for the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities, said in a statement.
A sample of 36 units were inspected, which included 28 units at Curtis Apartments, seven units at Greenwood Apartments and a unit on Lincoln Street. The inspections included common areas, mechanical rooms and basements, Bombard said.
Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities inspectors did not witness any issues related to hazardous materials or sewage, he said. Furthermore, deficiencies that were found in the sample units were within the expected range for an inspection and characteristic of older public housing developments, according to Bombard.
Examples of deficiencies found include damage to doors, anti-tip devices missing, missing tub stoppers and issues with water temperatures in some units. There were also several cases where smoke/carbon monoxide detectors were not functioning. Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities inspectors found an average of less than one health and safety deficiency per unit, Bombard said.“Overall, inspectors found the grounds and buildings in sound condition and well kept. Deficiencies that were detected underscore the fact that public housing in Massachusetts has been underfunded for decades and is in need of repairs. Local housing authorities are often working with aging buildings and limited resources. The Healey-Driscoll administration has asked the Legislature to authorize $1.6 billion to rehabilitate and renovate public housing across the state as part of the Affordable Homes Act. This is a 129% increase in funding over prior authorizations and will help give our housing authorities the resources they need to modernize apartments and build livable communities residents can be proud of,” according to the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities statement.
Inspection finds no health concerns
Aug. 17, a regularly scheduled inspection of a sample of units in Worcester was conducted with the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities finding no apparent health or safety concerns.
In a joint signed statement from the Jurisdiction-Wide Resident Council that represents WHA’s 15 communities, the council said it unanimously supports the WHA in its mission and Corrales in its leadership.
“We do not live in 'squalor.' This is not only an irresponsible allegation against the WHA, but also an insult to our member residents, who take such great pride in their homes. We find the WHA does an excellent job responding to our requests for repairs, not only during the weekday but after work hours,” the statement said.
Michael Kozlowski, president of AFSCME Local 3909, Council 93, insists the 20 WHA residents that work in the Step-Up apprenticeship program, which Kozlowski supervises, do not think they work in squalor conditions or think they are exposed to toxins or living in deplorable conditions.
In addition, Michael Reynolds, president of Massachusetts Laborers International Union, Local 272, claims the recent allegations that the WHA apartments are in “deplorable condition” are “patently false.
“We believe our residents live in a safe environment,” Reynolds stated in a signed statement. “The suggestion that our residents are exposed to harmful toxic materials is blatantly false and extremely concerning because of the attempts to tear the reputation we have worked hard to build.”
In a statement, City Manager Eric D. Batista said, “In my tenure working with the Worcester Housing Authority, the organization has always addressed serious concerns brought to its attention based on our inspectional service records.”
Despite quoted as saying that the conditions at the WHA’s residential properties are “the worst conditions that we’ve ever seen,” McKeever has never actually stepped inside a WHA apartment unit, Corrales said, despite personally being invited to tour the properties.
“I implore to the state agencies and the local officials and elected officials that when they’re getting information from SEIU to disparage us,” Corrales said, “they have to take that information with a grain of salt, a huge grain of salt, because it’s an attempt to discredit us and judge us for the last 30 years of what we’ve done here, not by one individual’s comment for someone who has never set foot in a public housing unit in Worcester.”
Corrales said all he wants is the 10 members of the SEIU Local 888 who work on WHA projects to come in and do “a good day of honest work.
“If they come to work every day, do their job, do it well, it allows me to do my job and focus on what I need to focus on,” he said.
In a statement, McKeever said the SEIU Local 888 will continue to work with both the WHA and state and local agencies investigating issues until “adequate remedies” are made available.
“We believe that everyone, no matter who they are or where they are from, deserve clean and safe places to live and work,” McKeever concluded.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Worcester Housing Authority's Alex Corrales blasts SEIU union claims
