A second large building trades union has directed its members to stop working out of fear of spreading the coronavirus at construction sites.

Jeffrey Sullivan, business manager and secretary-treasurer of the 4,000-member International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council #35, issued a statement Saturday afternoon that all its members should stop showing up to work on Massachusetts job sites starting Monday “at the close of business.”

“I’ve heard from members, most of whom are laid-off, who are relieved not to be in harm’s way on the job site. These members understand that this financial setback, while significant, is a temporary one. I’ve also heard from sister and brother members who have been working on active worksites. I’ve learned of job sites that are clearly not safe,” Sullivan wrote. “Each of your business representatives and organizers have visited job sites and reported to me that there is an unsafe risk of exposure to COVID-19. Many of our partner contractors have made strong and sincere efforts to protect our members on the job. Despite these efforts, I am now convinced that construction sites in Massachusetts are not presently safe for our membership.”

The directive makes an exception for union members working on “critical infrastructure” projects and facilities being built to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. The union represents construction industry and residential painters, wallcoverers, glaziers, drywall finishers, sign painters and erectors and some institutional maintenance trades workers throughout much of New England.

The move comes after leaders of the 75,000-person North Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters told members not to show up to work on job sites this morning.

Construction unions have been embroiled in a multi-week fight with the Baker administration over what they see as the inability to create safe working conditions that will prevent the transmission of COVID-19 on construction sites. While Boston, Somerville, Cambridge, Watertown and Walpole have all instituted construction bans and the Baker administration significantly narrowed the definition of “essential” construction work to housing projects, mixed-use projects, infrastructure work and health care projects being built to aid the fight against the pandemic, the Massachusetts Building Trades Council last week called on Gov. Charlie Baker to suspend all construction projects, with the exception of limited infrastructure work and work on healthcare facilities.