Trades stand vigil at Rotschy

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For months, local construction unions have been warning anyone who will listen about Rotschy Inc., a non-union Vancouver general contractor with a long record of safety incidents and violations. Now they’re getting louder. 

Since June 18, led by Operating Engineers Local 701, officers and staff of as many as a dozen construction unions have kept an almost daily presence outside Rotchy’s headquarters and at Rotschy work sites. Their very-public vigil has gotten the attention of passersby, workers and project owners, and local news organizations.

By all appearances, Rotschy is booming, winning bids for construction work from local governments and the private sector. It reportedly employs as many as 500 workers. 

But union officials point to a history of the company cutting corners on safety. 

In June 2023, a 16-year-old Rotschy employee lost both his legs in an accident with a trenching machine, that he was operating unsupervised, a machine he was not legally allowed to be operating at all under state workplace safety law as a minor. Washington Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) investigated and fined Rotschy $156,259. It also referred Rotschy to the Clark County Prosecutor’s Office for possible criminal prosecution. Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Erik Podhora told the Labor Press the office is in the process of reviewing the case, but doesn’t have a specific timeline for completing the review, and won’t make a charging decision until the review is complete. 

On June 2, 2025, another Rotschy employee was hospitalized with serious injuries after a bucket from an excavator fell on him in Woodland, Washington, while he was in a 15-foot-deep trench. At press time a month later he was still in the hospital. L&I is investigating that accident too.

PUBLIC SHAME IN BATTLE GROUND  Union representatives stand point June 25 next to a fearsome inflatable rat belonging to Operating Engineers Local 701.  Behind them, Rotschy workers use heavy equipment to clear the ground for a City of Battle Ground pump station. | Photo by Don McIntosh

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