The International Brotherhood of Truck Drivers claimed in a complaint to the city’s comptroller that a company owned by billionaire John Catsimatidis had passed a petrol truck that delivered fuel to public schools and other urban buildings. Drivers underpaid wages and ignored labor laws.

The company called United Metro Energy Corp. has raised tens of millions of dollars in city funding—including last year’s 20 million dollars—to transport oil.

Labor laws require companies that have won public contracts to pay their workers "universal" union-level wages and benefits set by the city auditor. The clause aims to prevent companies from hiring cheaper non-union labor to drive down competitors.

Teamsters stated that United Metro Energy failed to honor the agreement to pay union drivers lower than the current wages for government contract work and hire non-union subcontractors to do some publicly funded labor.

Demos Demopoulos, secretary treasurer of Teamsters Local 553, said: “Workers who deliver fuel every winter to keep the school warm must receive current wages. Honest companies pay it.”

United Metro Energy general counsel Emily Pankow stated that the company "denies any allegations of non-compliance with any state, federal or municipal wage laws."

Pankow blamed the resentment on the ongoing labor dispute involving another group of United Metro Energy workers who recently joined the union and went on strike for lack of contracts.

In a complaint filed in October to Scott Stringer, the Comptroller responsible for enforcing current wage laws, Teamsters officials stated that the company assigned nearly 22 drivers to work for the government, but did not give them corresponding wage or benefit increases.

The current wage set by the City Auditor for workers who deliver heating oil to public schools is $38 per hour for experienced drivers, plus $25 per hour in health and pension benefits.

Teamsters and the drivers said that United Metro Energy paid union drivers between $32 and $34 per hour in wages and approximately $8 in benefits.

The driver Tushar Amin, who has been working for the company since 2005, said that he was occasionally assigned to municipal operations without a suitable salary — and knew that his colleagues had lost wages and benefits. More.

He said: "I get paid too low...At the same time the company makes a lot of money." "We mean, can you give us a higher salary, so that we will be very happy, you can Recruit people and maintain a good relationship with the people who work for you."

Another United Metro Energy employee, terminal operator Andre Solane, who worked closely with the driver, confirmed that the company assigned the driver to work in the city without paying their current wages.

"They have arranged many times for anyone who is free...to get the job done. But the salary has never changed," he said.

Amin said that the company recently started paying the required $38 per hour for government contract work, but it still hasn't paid the required $25 per hour in benefits.

The union stated in a related complaint to the Auditor General that the company relies heavily on third-party subcontractors for city-funded oil deliveries.

Teamsters said that they did not have any clear evidence that the company was paying lower wages to subcontracted workers, but said there were some hints, including a recruitment notice, requiring applicants’ wage standards to be "discussed in person."

Those who answered the phone at the four subcontracting companies (all declined to be named) said they were either no longer affiliated with these companies or were unable to comment on widespread wage issues.

A spokeswoman for Stringer said that his office has received complaints and is investigating.