On a sunny fall day at Georgetown University, a large blow-up cat strangled an inflatable construction worker outside the front gates. Three real protesters sat beside the cat, barely visible, behind a large banner that said, “Georgetown University condones immigrant labor abuse and wage theft!!!” and “Looting the construction industry!!!”
By Sept. 20, the protesters — affiliated with the union Eastern Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters (EASRCC) — had become regulars on the sidewalk outside the front gates. They had been demonstrating there for several months, in protest of alleged labor violations that construction companies Dynamic Contracting, Inc., Gilbane Building Company and GSA Construction, Inc. had perpetrated against construction workers during renovations on Georgetown dorms.
On this particular day, the blow-up cat was a new addition, but like the days before and the days that followed, the protesters handed out flyers and asked passersby to call on the university to improve its labor policies for construction workers.
The protests began after construction workers Oscar Ramirez and Enoc Rodriguez filed a class-action lawsuit in April 2021 against Dynamic, Gilbane and GSA, accusing them of labor violations during the Georgetown construction projects. Georgetown is not a defendant in the lawsuit.
The lawsuit is ongoing, but the protesters can no longer be found outside Georgetown’s front gates. They stopped protesting after the university announced...
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