Occupy Wall Street: FQM, Major Buildings’ Manager, Ignores Employee Agreements And Retaliates

Per the NLRB ruling of March 8th, 20ll, Lanzarotta and all employees are authorized to communicate directly with executives at FQM/Alliance and at Trinity. I have contacted the NLRB for clarification; Gonzalez, Torello and McDonalds may have been mistaken.

[Publisher’s Letter]
 
To: Jason Pizer, President
Trinity Real Estate
 
Dear Mr. Pizer,

I hope my letter finds you well.

As you are aware, this is my third communication with you regarding three employees who work at Trinity-owned properties operated by FQM/Alliance Building, in Manhattan.

One of the employees, Antonio Lanzarotta, has faced retaliation at work since he first complained about a hostile work environment years ago, including discrimination and favoritism; a second, Melvin Munoz is owed about $100,000 because he had been underpaid and said he was retaliated against by FQM/Alliance Building when he asked for monies owed since he had an engineers’ certification–FQM/Alliance Building signed an agreement to pay Munoz the salary differential
but has ignored the signed agreement, and; a third, Prince Valcarcel, an immigrant from Africa, was the only one targeted to be barred from his place of work, two years ago.

Since my last letter to you on October 14, Lanzarotta has already faced additional acts of retaliation; I am not sure that it’s a coincidence that the action came shortly after my letter to you, and after a visit to Lanzarotta by Michael Rodriguez, President of FQM/Alliance Building and Robert Abreu, the Executive Vice President.

In their meeting with Lanzarotta, I understand that the executives discussed with him: his complaints about continued retaliation at the work place, and; personal monies, coming close to $50,000, that he’s paid in private attorney fees to rectify the situation.

Shortly after Lanzarotta met with Rodriguez and Abreu, Lanzarotta was called to the FQM/Trinity Portfolio Office, at One Hudson Square, by his Supervisor Mark Torello, Director of  Engineering. There, Lanzarotta was reprimanded by Colleen McDonalds, Manager of the FQM/Trinity Portfolio Account, in the presence of Torello.

McDonalds told Lanzarotta that he was to no longer communicate directly with any Trinity managers unless he was called by the managers. Furthermore, Torello told Lanzarotta that from now on, he was to speak with him first before contacting any one else.

After the meeting, Christian Gonzalez, the building manager sent Lanzarotta an e-mail message specifically instructing him not to communicate with Peter St. John and any other Trinity manager without Gonzalez’s authorization. He was also barred from contacting Sasha Blount, administrative project manager, and Anthony Hall, SVP Design and Construction.

All these statements barring Lanzarotta from speaking directly with Trinity managers violate an agreement reached with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Per the NLRB ruling of March 8th, 20ll, Lanzarotta and all employees are authorized to communicate directly with executives at FQM/Alliance and at Trinity. I have contacted the NLRB for clarification; Gonzalez, Torello and McDonalds may have been mistaken.

Additionally, Lanzarotta has been told to no longer park in one of the unused bays of the loading dock in his building, 200 Hudson; Lanzarotta has used this spot for four years. He was previously told to avoid the location during construction; there’s currently no construction. It is difficult to believe that such a request just came out of  nowhere and is unrelated to the visits by the FQM/Alliance executives.

In my previous letter, I also raised the issue of outsourced work for the LED lighting retrofit in the Trinity buildings; current employees indicate that they can perform the work and save your company substantial sums of money. They suggest you review the manner in which the contract was outsourced and the details and costs to your company.

Mr. Pizer, the main reason why I communicate directly with you is because my previous attempts to reach FQM/Alliance Building executives, including by phone and email messages, were ignored. The three employees whose cases I have highlighted, say they have the highest respect for you. They believe that their issues would have been resolved by now if staff at Trinity or FQM/Alliance were briefing you fully about the predicaments they face.

The employees believe that under your directive, a neutral and impartial Trinity executive could help quickly resolve these matters.

At this time, it’s not clear who the communication link between Trinity and FQM/Alliance is. I understand that Peter St. John of Trinity Real Estate is in charge of supervising FQM/Alliance Building’s management of the Trinity properties. I understand that Al Amore, Vice President of Operation Trinity Real Estate, also deals with the account and that he is an in-law of Tony Colazzo, FQM Manager Janitorial Services/FQM Union Representative.

Messrs. Lanzarotta, Munoz, and Valcarcel are hoping for a clear and unambiguous directive from you to FQM/Alliance so that the matters can be amicably resolved. On the other hand, they would welcome the opportunity to meet with you directly.

As always, respectfully.

Milton Allimadi

Publisher/Editor-in-Chief
[email protected]
(212) 481-7745

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