Labor probes Clinton forestry firm

CLINTON – Labor officials confirmed Friday afternoon that they are investigating a Clinton firm after a complaint regarding allegedly unpaid wages for work done in the northern Maine woods.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division is reviewing the matter with Ramon Forestry Service, according to John Chavez, a Labor Department spokesperson.

“I can pretty much only confirm that there is an open and ongoing investigation at this time,” Chavez said Friday from his office in Boston. “Unfortunately, that’s also all I can say at the moment.”

The company, owned by Baldemar Ramon of Clinton, once subcontracted with Irving Woodlands, according to Irving spokesperson Mary Keith. Keith said Friday that Baldemar Ramon voluntarily canceled the agreement when the inquiry started.

“I am not even sure of the specifics of the inquiry at this point,” Keith said. “I just know that it does not involve us in any way.”

The spokesperson said that Irving officials had found Ramon to be a “conscientious worker.”

Ramon, a former migrant worker, came to the United States from Mexico in the 1980s to thin and plant trees. After teaching himself English and advancing in the field, he started Ramon Forestry in 1996.

In a 2002 interview with the Bangor Daily News, Ramon said that he paid his workers $80 an acre so that they would be guaranteed the industry’s standard wage, $10.40 an hour. At the time, his crews were clearing land near Oxbow in Aroostook County.

Matt Raynes, an attorney from the law firm of Eaton Peabody in Bangor, is representing the company. The attorney said Friday afternoon he could not comment on the case.