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Teen working for Rotschy Inc. lost legs in 2023 work accident; now company will oversee $44M Longview rail work

It was lowest bidder; union trades workers raise objections

By Nick Morgan, The Daily News, Longview
Published: January 23, 2025, 2:55pm

Port of Longview commissioners voted 2-1 Wednesday to award a $44 million rail expansion contract to Rotschy Inc. to the ire of an overflow crowd of union tradesmen and women.

The Vancouver-based construction company was the lowest of five bidders on the multimillion-dollar project to at least double the port’s rail capacity. But laborers who filled every seat in the auditorium voiced concerns that the low bids are coming at the cost of worker safety.

Local union leaders at the meeting highlighted a Washington State Department of Labor & Industries investigation into child labor and worker safety violations that stemmed from a 16-year-old boy losing his legs while working a job in La Center. The teen was operating a walk-behind trencher in June 2023 when he was dragged underneath, according to a release issued by L&I last year.

Parked outside the Port of Longview administrative offices was a yellow pickup emblazoned with the words “Rat Tracker” and The International Union of Operating Engineers Local 701 logo. Inside its bed was an inflated pig and a sign stating “Shame on Rotschy for violating child labor laws and injuring children.”

Rotschy protest

Laborers from at least four unions gather in front of the Port of Longview headquarters beside IUOE Local 701 truck calling out nonunion contractor Rotschy LLC for recent Washington State Department of Labor and Industries violations. Rotschy paid a $159,259 fine to L&I last year for a 2023 incident where a 16-year-old worker lost his legs and is appealing a follow-up child labor investigation with an assessed penalty of $59,400.

An emailed request to Rotschy for comment made Wednesday was not returned.

The bids

Port of Longview staff said at the meeting that Rotschy had complied with all due diligence. The project was put out for bid on Oct. 22, and bidding closed Dec. 17 with an engineer’s estimate putting the project at $51,582,907.20.

The five bids submitted: Rotschy at $44,688,436.36; Tapani, Inc. at $46,063,572.00; Scarsella Bros., Inc. at $46,241,718.70; Goodfellow Bros. LLC at $49,975,483.90; and Kerr Contractors Oregon, LLC at $54,886,283.90.

Bill Burton, Port of Longview’s director of facilities and engineering, told the board at the special meeting Wednesday morning that Rotschy completed all requirements as the lowest bidder of the construction project.

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“The low bidder had to submit extra criteria,” Burton said.

That criteria included submissions to port staff with documentation and information “aimed at demonstrating the contractor’s ability to perform key elements of work in the project’s scope,” according to Burton’s briefing in Wednesday’s meeting agenda. Port staff determined that Rotschy “is a responsible bidder and that their bid is responsive,” according to the briefing.

“The apparent low bidder submitted all of this supplemental bid criteria documents that were necessary,” Burton told the board. “We reviewed them and found them to be in the terms of the solicitation.”

Throw out the bids?

Burton told commissioners that his staff had been working on the project to expand the port’s rail capacity from two to four lanes for about four years. The expansion would also give the port the opportunity to expand down the line.

The project involves building an embankment with room for as many as eight lines, along with associated infrastructure, lighting, track operation systems, lighting, stormwater conveyance and treatment facilities.

Prior to the vote, Commissioner Evan Jones made a motion to “throw out all bids and send the project up for rebid after review of our bid criteria.”

Commissioners Allan Erickson and Jeff Wilson sat silent.

“I don’t hear a second for that motion,” Erickson said. “The motion dies.”

State fines

According to L&I the investigation into the 16-year-old’s injury resulted in a $156,259 fine for letting workers operate equipment without training or experience. It classified the violation as “Willful Serious.”

A follow-up investigation in early 2024 resulted in another $51,800 in fines after finding that Rotschy let seven different minors operate earth-moving equipment or let them work dangerously close to the machines on 35 separate occasions, according to an L&I news release. It further notes 11 minors were denied meal breaks in 45 incidents, and the company worked eight young workers for more hours during a school day than state law allows more than 150 times.

IUOE Local 701 communications specialist Aurora Biggers was among several speakers from local unions who spoke in favor of Jones’ motion and against giving the contract to Rotschy. She listed the numerous L&I violations at the company.

“Workers from nearly every trade in the region have gathered here today because we are extremely concerned about the ramification of the Port of Longview awarding this project to Rotschy further enabling them to prioritize greed over child safety,” Biggers said.

Port of Longview’s special counsel Tom Larkin told the board that the next two bidders also had recent L&I violations.

He told the board that the project was led under Washington Public Procurement statutes. No pre-bid protests were issued related to the specifications.

Commissioner Erickson asked whether counsel was questioned regarding the lowest bidder’s past safety violations. Larkin said that a search of the three lowest bidders on the L&I website all had safety violations.

“The difference is the number in severity and so forth,” Larkin said.

The reveal drew scoffs in the audience, with one person in the audience asking if anyone had lost legs from the violations.

“If you read the invitation to bid there’s nothing in the criteria about weighing that in the post-bid submissions,” Larkin continued. “So again, I think the staff properly applied what was set forth in the solicitation and recommended the award to Rotschy.”

Jones asked Larkin if the criteria is incomplete “and therefore should be amended.”

“The criteria is the criteria and it’s applied by the port staff accordingly,” Larkin replied.

Commissioners Erickson and Wilson voted aye to award the contract. Jones voiced the sole opposing vote.

After the vote, Jones pledged to keep a close watch for safety violations as the construction project moves forward.

“To the folks here from Rotschy, I’m watching you,” Jones said.

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