KQED⁠61%

Oakland Laborers Allege Over $300,000 in Wage Theft at Public Housing Redevelopment ⁠39%

By Farida Jhabvala Romero⁠84%

4/28/2026, 12:39:04 AM

BS Summary: This article contains 27 faulty reasoning types, including Negativity Bias, Framing Effect, and Loss Aversion, with Appeal to Emotion as the most egregious example at 26.5% saturation with 222 hits. Analysis detected 1,426 faulty-reasoning hits from 838 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 44.6% and a BS Rank of ⁠39% (12,986 of 21,198 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 61.30% of the article peer group.

In East Oakland, several construction workers allege that they are owed more than $300,000 in total wages for their roofing labor on a large, publicly funded affordable housing development. 
Partially funded by the Oakland Housing Authority, the renovation project took place last year at Lion Creek Crossings, which has hundreds of affordable housing units near the Coliseum BART station. 
At least 21 workers said that they were underpaid for weeks, and in some cases months, by Milestone Roofing, a subcontractor of Alameda-based Saarman Construction Ltd. 
Since last October, more than 10 of those laborers have filed complaints with the California Labor Commissioner’s Office to try to recover pay, according to a legal aid group assisting them. 
At a press conference on Monday, organized by the nonprofit Trabajadores Unidos Workers United, some of the workers said they struggled to support their families and were forced to deplete their savings while receiving partial or no paychecks from Milestone. 
“It was extremely difficult when rent came due — especially when it came to paying for gas just to get to work,” said Jesus Martinez, 32, in Spanish. 
“At the same time, it was incredibly frustrating not having an income — particularly because I was dependent on this job.” 
Martinez, the father of a 9-year-old girl, estimates his due wages at $18,000. 
His father, 54-year-old Eusebio Martinez, a foreman in the project, said he himself lost sleep and saw his diabetes worsen because of the alleged wage theft. 
Despite fielding questions from other roofers who were not receiving their full paychecks, Martinez said he got no clear answers. 
“The stress made me sick…. 
I had such severe anxiety that the doctor prescribed medication for it,” said the elder Martinez, who has worked as a roofer for 25 years. 
“Wage theft is unfair; it is undignified. 
I felt frustrated. 
I had no money to bring home.” 
Construction workers and supporters march through Oakland to the Lion Creek Crossings, an affordable housing complex, on April 27, 2026, as part of a demonstration calling for more than $300,000 in unpaid wages from Bay Area contractors Milestone Roofing and Saarman Construction. 
(Beth LaBerge/KQED) 
As part of Monday’s announcement, more than a dozen workers and supporters marched to Saarman’s offices to deliver a follow-up letter demanding they be properly paid. 
In a statement, a Milestone Roofing representative said the Tracy-based company is investigating the accuracy of the workers’ allegations. 
“Negotiations with Saarman Construction, the contracting party, are ongoing,” the spokesperson said, adding that the company is “not in a position to offer further comment” until those matters are settled. 
General contractor Saarman Construction said the workers alleging underpayment were hired by its subcontractor Milestone Roofing, not Saarman. 
The construction firm, founded more than 40 years ago, said that it’s also reviewing the allegations against Milestone. 
“We take wage compliance on all our projects seriously and expect all our subcontractors to do the same,” the company said. 
“We are working to verify the facts and are engaging with counsel for the workers to address their claims.” 
A spokesperson with the Labor Commissioner’s Office, which is tasked with enforcing labor laws, confirmed it has received complaints involving Saarman Construction and Milestone Roofing, but declined to comment further. 
The roofers worked in two phases of the Lion Creek Crossings project, involving 261 affordable housing units at the site of an older public housing complex called Coliseum Gardens. 
The transit-oriented development now features a large public park and community center. 
Alexx Campbell, a senior staff attorney with Legal Aid at Work who represents some of the roofers claiming unpaid wages, said the city referred their query to the project’s private developer, Related California. 
Campbell said that Related California seems to have deflected any responsibility to Saarman, which oversaw the project, and its subcontractor Milestone. 
He added that the workers, undertaking difficult and often dangerous roofing tasks, were entitled to a prevailing wage of $74.78 per hour that they failed to receive. 
Employers in public works projects are required to pay prevailing wage rates set by state regulators, which are higher than the minimum wage for all other workers. 
Campbell pointed to the publicly funded nature of the project, saying that “it used taxpayer money, and when that happens, it’s even more important that the employers who hire workers to work on that kind of project follow the law.” 
The Oakland Housing Authority did not immediately return a request for comment. 
Saarman and Milestone have been involved in previous worker complaints, including other public works projects, Campbell said. 
In 2023, Saarman Construction agreed to pay a $150,000 settlement to resolve a 2018 lawsuit, filed in San Francisco Superior Court by three workers who alleged that the company failed to pay them and others both prevailing and overtime wages. 
“I would think that the city of Oakland, the Oakland Housing Authority, would want to see workers on a project like this, on a public housing project, be paid properly,” Campbell said. 
Article reasoning-pattern comparisonThis article: 7.6%Farida Jhabvala Romero: 3.8%CalMatters: 1.9%Confirmation Bias7.6%This article: 6.3%Farida Jhabvala Romero: 2.6%CalMatters: 0.9%Anchoring Bias6.3%This article: 8.2%Farida Jhabvala Romero: 4.2%CalMatters: 3.0%Availability Heuristic8.2%This article: 5.3%Farida Jhabvala Romero: 1.2%CalMatters: 1.0%Representativeness Heuristic5.3%This article: 0.0%Farida Jhabvala Romero: 0.4%CalMatters: 0.5%Hindsight Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Farida Jhabvala Romero: 1.1%CalMatters: 1.2%Overconfidence Bias0.0%This article: 9.3%Farida Jhabvala Romero: 13.9%CalMatters: 6.3%Framing Effect9.3%This article: 8.9%Farida Jhabvala Romero: 2.2%CalMatters: 1.0%Loss Aversion8.9%This article: 2.1%Farida Jhabvala Romero: 1.5%CalMatters: 0.7%Status Quo Bias2.1%This article: 0.0%Farida Jhabvala Romero: 0.5%CalMatters: 0.2%Sunk Cost Effect0.0%This article: 6.1%Farida Jhabvala Romero: 2.9%CalMatters: 3.5%Optimism Bias6.1%This article: 0.0%Farida Jhabvala Romero: 3.7%CalMatters: 1.4%Pessimism Bias0.0%This article: 13.6%Farida Jhabvala Romero: 17.3%CalMatters: 6.4%Negativity Bias13.6%This article: 4.7%Farida Jhabvala Romero: 4.4%CalMatters: 1.7%Self-Serving Bias4.7%This article: 6.1%Farida Jhabvala Romero: 1.1%CalMatters: 0.7%Fundamental Attribution Error6.1%This article: 0.0%Farida Jhabvala Romero: 0.1%CalMatters: 0.2%Actor-Observer Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Farida Jhabvala Romero: 3.9%CalMatters: 1.7%In-Group Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Farida Jhabvala Romero: 1.4%CalMatters: 0.4%Out-Group Homogeneity Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Farida Jhabvala Romero: 3.6%CalMatters: 2.7%Halo Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Farida Jhabvala Romero: 0.0%CalMatters: 0.1%Horn Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Farida Jhabvala Romero: 0.0%CalMatters: 0.0%Dunning-Kruger Effect0.0%This article: 3.6%Farida Jhabvala Romero: 0.6%CalMatters: 0.9%Recency Bias3.6%This article: 0.0%Farida Jhabvala Romero: 0.2%CalMatters: 0.3%Primacy Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Farida Jhabvala Romero: 0.0%CalMatters: 0.0%Blind-Spot Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Farida Jhabvala Romero: 0.4%CalMatters: 0.6%Ad Hominem0.0%This article: 0.0%Farida Jhabvala Romero: 0.5%CalMatters: 0.2%Straw Man0.0%This article: 7.8%Farida Jhabvala Romero: 4.0%CalMatters: 3.1%Appeal to Authority7.8%This article: 0.0%Farida Jhabvala Romero: 0.7%CalMatters: 1.1%False Dilemma0.0%This article: 0.0%Farida Jhabvala Romero: 2.1%CalMatters: 0.8%Slippery Slope0.0%This article: 0.0%Farida Jhabvala Romero: 0.2%CalMatters: 0.1%Circular Reasoning0.0%This article: 4.4%Farida Jhabvala Romero: 4.7%CalMatters: 3.6%Hasty Generalization4.4%This article: 1.4%Farida Jhabvala Romero: 0.7%CalMatters: 0.2%Red Herring1.4%This article: 5.0%Farida Jhabvala Romero: 0.7%CalMatters: 0.7%Bandwagon5.0%This article: 26.5%Farida Jhabvala Romero: 17.6%CalMatters: 5.3%Appeal to Emotion26.5%This article: 3.2%Farida Jhabvala Romero: 1.7%CalMatters: 0.6%Begging the Question3.2%This article: 6.7%Farida Jhabvala Romero: 2.1%CalMatters: 2.0%Post Hoc (False Cause)6.7%This article: 0.0%Farida Jhabvala Romero: 0.4%CalMatters: 0.1%Tu Quoque0.0%This article: 5.3%Farida Jhabvala Romero: 1.0%CalMatters: 0.3%Burden of Proof5.3%This article: 0.0%Farida Jhabvala Romero: 0.2%CalMatters: 0.2%Appeal to Nature0.0%This article: 0.0%Farida Jhabvala Romero: 0.2%CalMatters: 0.2%Composition/Division0.0%This article: 0.0%Farida Jhabvala Romero: 5.5%CalMatters: 3.1%Anecdotal0.0%This article: 0.0%Farida Jhabvala Romero: 0.0%CalMatters: 0.0%No True Scotsman0.0%This article: 2.5%Farida Jhabvala Romero: 0.5%CalMatters: 1.2%Ambiguity (Equivocation)2.5%This article: 0.0%Farida Jhabvala Romero: 0.0%CalMatters: 0.0%Gambler’s Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%Farida Jhabvala Romero: 0.2%CalMatters: 0.1%Middle Ground0.0%This article: 0.0%Farida Jhabvala Romero: 1.8%CalMatters: 0.1%Personal Incredulity0.0%This article: 2.5%Farida Jhabvala Romero: 0.8%CalMatters: 0.1%Special Pleading2.5%This article: 0.0%Farida Jhabvala Romero: 0.2%CalMatters: 0.1%Genetic Fallacy0.0%This article: 3.3%Farida Jhabvala Romero: 0.5%CalMatters: 0.8%Unattributed Quote3.3%This article: 0.6%Farida Jhabvala Romero: 1.2%CalMatters: 0.6%Quote-first Misdirection0.6%This article: 7.3%Farida Jhabvala Romero: 3.3%CalMatters: 3.1%Biased Writer Voice7.3%This article: 3.8%Farida Jhabvala Romero: 2.0%CalMatters: 1.9%Indoctrination3.8%This article: 8.0%Farida Jhabvala Romero: 0.6%CalMatters: 1.1%Politically Left Leaning Bias8.0%This article: 0.0%Farida Jhabvala Romero: 0.0%CalMatters: 0.1%Politically Right Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Farida Jhabvala Romero: 0.0%CalMatters: 1.2%Attempt to Sell a Product or S…0.0%

838 words analyzed.

Speakers

6speakers57%attributed speech358writer words
Voice mapSelect a segment to jump to its words
Writer's voice • 12 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 29 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 30 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 26 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 31 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 40 words • 100.0% coverageJesus Martinez • 28 words • 100.0% coverageJesus Martinez • 21 words • 0.0% coverageJesus Martinez • 13 words • 0.0% coverageEusebio Martinez • 26 words • 0.0% coverageEusebio Martinez • 20 words • 0.0% coverageEusebio Martinez • 5 words • 100.0% coverageEusebio Martinez • 25 words • 0.0% coverageEusebio Martinez • 7 words • 100.0% coverageEusebio Martinez • 3 words • 0.0% coverageEusebio Martinez • 7 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 42 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 2 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 26 words • 0.0% coverageMilestone Roofing • 19 words • 0.0% coverageMilestone Roofing • 30 words • 0.0% coverageSaarman Construction • 18 words • 0.0% coverageSaarman Construction • 18 words • 0.0% coverageSaarman Construction • 21 words • 0.0% coverageSaarman Construction • 19 words • 0.0% coverageCalifornia Labor Commissioner’s Office • 30 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 29 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 12 words • 0.0% coverageAlexx Campbell • 33 words • 0.0% coverageAlexx Campbell • 21 words • 0.0% coverageAlexx Campbell • 27 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 27 words • 0.0% coverageAlexx Campbell • 40 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 12 words • 0.0% coverageAlexx Campbell • 17 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 40 words • 0.0% coverageAlexx Campbell • 32 words • 100.0% coverage
Selected voice

Alexx Campbell

100%flagged-word coverage
170 attributed words35% of attributed speech67% writer coverage
0%10.0%20.0%Indoctrination+18.8 ptsWriter: 0.0%Alexx Campbell: 18.8%18.8%Politically Left Leaning B+4.7 ptsWriter: 11.2%Alexx Campbell: 15.9%15.9%Biased Writer Voice-15.1 ptsWriter: 15.1%Alexx Campbell: 0.0%0.0%

Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.

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Analysis

Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.