Vera Wang Project Gets Rat Status from Carpenters

By Paul Pannone

An eWedNewz story involving Oprah Winfrey showcasing designs by David’s Bridal and Vera Wang became one of the most read stories earlier this year on another format. According to a letter written by a bridal retailer that was never acknowledged by the show, there is more to Vera than meets the eye.

An excerpt from the letter reads, “Vera Wang may have a prestigious name and ” millions” to hire the most influential PR firms to help her procure several appearances on your show, but unfortunately that was not enough to keep this once popular label as a successful business entity.  With licensing agreements with Kohl’s and David’s Bridal, it is hard to believe that any Red Carpet Celebrity will put on a Vera Wang Dress again. Can you imagine the reaction of brides who may have recently spent $5,000 to $10,000+ on a Vera Wang gown prior to your show airing ow they will feel NOW knowing that every bride across America can get a Vera Wang bridal gown for $600 at David’s?    How fast and far she has fallen in the past year all in the name of selling out so she can make ten’s of millions while she destroys the entire bridal market in the United States.  Thousands of moderately priced bridal boutiques across the country will be harmed. 

Now it seems that Wang is making millions with Davids but she is not spending so. According to The New York City District Council of Carpenters,  work on Wang’s corporate offices at East 26th St, New York, are allegedly conducted under sub-standard conditions by Michilli Corp.

eWedNewz spoke to Ed McWilliams of the Carpenter organization and provided background information to why there is concern. “Basically they’ve hired workers for fifteen-dollars an hour, no benefits, which hurts the area standards,” according to McWilliams. McWilliams was eager to give documented attempts to contact Wang and her organization urging them to refrain from such practices.  In a certified letter to Wang dated May 18th, 2011 stated:

Dear Ms. Wang,

It has come to our attention that Angelo Michilli of Michilli Inc may be currently bidding and/or performing work on one or more of your projects. In the past and even on some of their current projects Michilli Inc has used contractors such as D & F Construction. Please be informed that the New York City District Council of Carpenters has a labor dispute with D & F Construction and others like them because it is they who do not meet area labor standards. These contractors do not pay the area standard wages to all their employees including providing or fully paying for health benefits and pension.

The New York City District Council of Carpenters has made a solid commitment of personnel and resources to protect and preserve area standard wages, including providing or making payments for family health care and a dignified retirement for all area carpentry craft workers. Therefore, we are asking that you use your managerial discretion to not allow these non area standard contractors to perform any work on any of your projects unless and until they generally meet area labor standards for all their carpentry craft work.

We want you to be aware that our new and aggressive public information campaign against Michilli Inc will unfortunately impact all parties associated with projects where they are employed.  That campaign will include highly visible lawful banner displays and distribution of handbills at the jobsite and premises of property owners, developers, general contractors, and other firms involved with projects involving a non area standard contractor.

We certainly prefer to work cooperatively with all involved parties rather than to have an adversarial relationship with them but cannot sit idly by while these entities condone and/or support the non-area standards contractor.

If you agree to comply with the request we have made in this letter, or if our information about a non area standard contractor being involved with any of your projects is incorrect, please call the undersigned immediately at 212-366-7591. Doing so will provide the greatest protection against your firm becoming publicly involved in this dispute through misunderstanding or error.

Sincerely,

Ed McWilliams
Representative

The New York City District Council of Carpenters issued the Vera Wang construction project “Rat” status for what they feel are standard-lowering compensation to its workers. 

New York is not the place to save a few bucks on labor.

In a separate email, COO of Vera Wang, Bill Mitchell, expressed hope the issues could be resolved for the best interest of all parties concerned. That was not the case.  McWilliams told eWedNewz the letter to Wang did not stop the project from moving forward. The “Rat” campaign against Wang includes fliers passed out in front of David Bridal locations that define a “rat” as a contractor that doesn’t pay all of its workers area standard wages including health care.  

A tip from an eWNz reader provided Vera Wang’s COO cell phone number. We called the number and were given another number for the corporate offices– a run-around– where we left a message for Bill Mitchell and await a reply.

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