AMERICANALMANAC (Sadie Smith) - Obama Presidential Center subcontractor shuts down, lays off 25 workers over $4 million payment dispute
A Chicago plumbing contractor that helped build the Obama Presidential Center has closed its doors and laid off 25 union workers after racking up nearly $4 million in losses on the project, and the Obama Foundation says the construction manager, not the foundation, handles payments. Mike Owen spent months trying to resolve the money quietly. […] The post Obama Presidential Center subcontractor shuts down, lays off 25 workers over $4 million payment dispute appeared first on American Almanac .
A Chicago plumbing contractor that helped build the Obama Presidential Center has closed its doors and laid off 25 union workers after racking up nearly $4 million in losses on the project, and the Obama Foundation says the construction manager, not the foundation, handles payments. Mike Owen spent months trying to resolve the money quietly. He negotiated with Lakeside Alliance, the joint venture managing construction at the center in Jackson Park on Chicago's South Side. When those talks went nowhere, he went public. When a promised $100,000 payment failed to arrive before the center's grand opening on June 19, he pulled the plug. On June 25, Owen suspended operations at Adamson Plumbing Contractors, sent home 25 union workers, walked…Open