Non-union contractors told they have support

Brian Seals

Thursday, May 14, 1998 | 10:33 a.m.

Non-union contractors are well aware that Las Vegas is a target for labor union organizing.

National AFL-CIO president John Sweeney calls the city the "hottest union town in America" and the Building Trades Organization Project (BTOP) announces a protest or lawsuit almost daily.

Ben Houston, the national president of Associated Building Contractors was in Las Vegas last week to let non-union contractors know they, too, have organizational support.

To hear Houston tell it, he's not anti-union, just pro-competition.

And that competition ABC supports is good for all Americans, Houston said. While construction-related laborers have voiced concerns about poor conditions and mistreatment by certain companies, Houston said the thriving construction market in Southern Nevada has left many contractors craving workers.

Any laborer not happy with his conditions could easily find work elsewhere, he said.

"It's not true that as a group we're mistreating workers," Houston said. "They'll leave you. Natural competition will clear it out."

Karen Conner with BTOP disagreed. "That's not always true," Conner said. "That's like saying 'America, love it or leave it."'

She said people seeking to organize are trying to better conditions for themselves and their fellow workers, adding that it behooves the industry to bring all companies up to an industry standard.

On that point, Houston agrees. He said his organization does not favor mistreatment of workers. "We don't think that's right. We don't want them in our group," he said.

Houston, who heads a Dallas-based mechanical contracting firm, said he has had picketers in his front yard and that he supported their right to do so peacefully. Yet he equally supports ABC's stance of open competition for contractors and opposition to union-only project labor agreements for government projects. Competition in that area makes companies and workers better and ultimately saves taxpayer dollars, he said.

And he believes most Americans agree with ABC's position. He said 85 percent of American workers do not belong to unions. And an ABC-commissioned poll indicates 72 percent of Americans oppose union-only labor agreements.

"Open competition doesn't exclude union workers," Houston said, adding his business had recently been out-bid by a union operation for a project.

Unions tout higher wages for their members, but Houston said there are benefits to working for non-union shops. For one, such workers can cross-train in jobs rather than being limited to one vocation and can thus better the chances for advancement.

Moreover, non-union work allows workers and management to work together without a third party. Houston's efforts have landed his company on Fortune magazine's list of 100 best companies to work for in the country.

"I started working with tools, now I own my own business," Houston said.