A large crowd of union members gathered outside the Duluth Radisson Hotel on Friday evening to protest the use of non-union workers to install carpeting and wall coverings as the hotel undergoes a $4 million renovation.

Painters and Allied Trades Local 106 has been conducting informational pickets outside of the hotel for several weeks. American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 5 is holding its annual convention in Duluth this week, and AFSCME members joined the rally on Friday to urge the hotel to use union workers for all of its renovations.

“Shame on the Radisson,” Judy Wahlberg, president of AFSCME Council 5, said in a news release. “There’s no excuse for hiring non-union contractors from out of town when local painters are out of work.”

The Kaeding Management Group, which owns the hotel -- one of two hotels in the city to employ union workers -- issued a statement Thursday saying it was "puzzled" by the demonstrations. Kaeding said it is using six non-union workers for the carpeting and wall covering work -- workers it has used for several projects in recent years.

Kaeding said union leaders have turned down offers to hire union construction workers for other projects at the hotel, and claimed that the pickets may hurt the 90 union employees at the hotel and its restaurant.

“We understand that they want to have 100 percent of the work done by their union construction workers, but it’s hard to believe they’d turn down excellent work we’re offering their members just to make their point,” Carl Kaeding, president of the Kaeding Management Group, said in a news release. “It’s also hard to believe they’re making their point by trying to cut into the income of other union workers who serve Radisson guests. We’ve always worked well with unions at our hotels.”

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