Students are calling for the university to step in between a contractor helping build a North Campus dorm and some of the company’s workers who have gone on strike at another construction site in Washington.

Construction workers at Wings Enterprises, Inc. — a sub-contractor for Clark Construction Group, LLC hired to help with the Denton Community’s Oakland Hall project — have alleged mistreatment, such as verbal abuse and a lack of drinking water at job sites, and accused the company of not paying them their earned wages. They are seeking legal action against the company and have already negotiated health insurance following the strike.

But university officials said they have no reason to intervene in a conflict surrounding Wings Enterprises construction workers, as Oakland Hall’s construction has not been impacted by the strikes, and a state investigation revealed no such wrongdoings at the site. Student leaders and activists, on the other hand, said it doesn’t matter if it’s happening here or not because poor treatment of workers is universally unacceptable.

OnWednesday, the Student Government Association’s legislature passed a bill expressing its stance on the issue.

“We need to make sure the workers’ contracts are honored,” said outlying commuter legislator Anton Medvedev, who sponsored the bill, after Wednesday’s vote.

Medvedev said members of the student group Feminism Without Borders brought the strike to his attention, inspiring him to sponsor a resolution urging the university to foster a dialogue between Wings and its workers.

The hotly contested proposal passed after an hour of debate, with 18 supporting university intervention and 13 opposing it.

Dissenters cited the university’s lack of direct contact with the company, a lack of evidence substantiating the workers’ claims and possible costs associated with siding with the workers. Supporters of the bill argued that the SGA should uphold the values of justice and hold a discussion as soon as possible to ensure that work can be completed as efficiently as possible.

University officials said the complaints likely stem from problems at other Wings projects — the company has also been working for Metro, George Washington University and National Airport. Administrators noted that State Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation inspectors found no infractions on the campus.

“It wasn’t clear if the allegations of mistreatment were on our job site, or other Wings job sites,” said Carlos Colella, the university’s director of the Capital Projects division of Facilities Management. “Since the state indicated that there were no discrepancies on the Oakland Hall project, there is nothing we can do.”

Furthermore, Colella said, Wings had not been hired by the university: It’s a sub-subcontractor, hired by construction company Miller and Long, which itself had been hired by Clark Construction, the firm chosen by the university to build Oakland Hall.

The three companies would not comment on the allegations, opting to instead refer all questions to the university.

Wings’ work on the campus is almost complete, but before it is, Feminism Without Borders, the student group that has spearheaded the campaign to get students involved in the movement, will be holding a panel tonight in Jimenez Hall at 7 p.m. to discuss the situation.

“Even if there are no specific infractions on this site, the university is still doing business with Wings,” said senior American studies major Carter Thomas, a member of Feminism Without Borders. “Workers have already won health care, but the strike still has a long way to go. … It’s a lot like the campaign against the use of sweatshop labor in athletic products. Even though the university isn’t running the factories, they still have a lot of leverage, and they could really help Wings workers who seek justice.”

As the university has no contract with Wings and is working under a set maximum price laid out in their contract with Clark Construction, Colella said neither the strike nor any further negotiations will have an impact on the cost of development. Oakland Hall is still set to be complete by April 2011.

hemmati@umdbk.com