Minnesota sues BE&K, contractor who provided workers in IP strike

ST. PAUL — BE&K Construction Co. repeatedly and willfully violated state electrical safety laws at Boise Cascade Corp.’s paper mill expansion in International Falls, the Minnesota attorney general’s office said in a lawsuit filed Friday.

The federal suit also alleges that BE&K, general contractor on the project, has tried to cover up the violations, Attorney General Hubert H. Humphrey III said.

BE&K employees were hired by International Paper Co. to keep its Jay, Maine, mill in operation during a 16-month strike that ended in October 1988. BE&K also sent a crew to Boise Cascade’s mill in Rumford, Maine, during a 1986 strike.

Humphrey told a news conference that on Monday he will seek a temporary restraining order to force BE&K, based in Birmingham, Ala., to comply immediately with the state’s work-site safety laws.

“Our investigation has disclosed massive evidence that BE&K has willfully and repeatedly disregarded our electrical licensing and safety laws,” Humphrey said. “The evidence shows that the electrical work is shoddy and it seriously threatens the safety of each and every person who sets foot in that plant.”

“BE&K seems to think they’re above the law,” Humphrey said. “First, they violate the law, then they try to cover it up.”

Neither Fred Garrick, general counsel for BE&K, nor Robert W. Anderson, spokesman for Boise Cascade, immediately returned telephone calls today.

In a federal lawsuit filed last week, BE&K asked for an injunction against the state primarily to prevent enforcement of the state law requiring one licensed electrician to supervise every two apprentice electricians on the job.

BE&K said the law, which is the same statute cited in Humphrey’s suit against the company, is unconstitutionally vague and violates federal labor laws. The company, which is non-union, said complaints filed against it were part of an effort by organized labor to slow work on the project. Union construction workers have been on strike at the mill expansion for a year protesting BE&K’s use of non-union labor.

Humphrey said his office has more than 30 affidavits from former BE&K employees detailing numerous incidents where unlicensed people performed dangerous electrical work with no supervision or help.

“The affidavits paint a horrifying picture of seriously botched electrical work which has resulted in serious injury to innocent workers,” Humphrey said.

Each of the numerous violations alleged by the state carries civil penalties of up to $25,000.