Approaching Labor Day, BTOP claims some success in LV

Brian Seals

Friday, Sept. 4, 1998 | 11:45 a.m.

In the pre-dawn hours two charter buses pull up slowly to a construction site in Northwest Las Vegas.

Out jump about 80 guys donning red bandannas and carrying signs. They start chanting pro-union slogans. They jeer at workers on the site to come join them.

That scene has not been uncommon one Las Vegas this summer.

Fueled by the Building Trades Organizing Project, workers in various segments of the construction industry have rallied, shouted, passed out leaflets and walked off the job to drive home their point. They have also garnered support from the Interfaith Council for Workers Justice, a group of area clergy focused on workers' rights.

The camera-ready events are sure to draw the attention of the media. But critics of the BTOP program question whether the organization is achieving its main goal of organizing workers.

BTOP has served as the organizing arm for a consortium of 15 construction trade unions since January 1997. Armed with a $4.5 million annual budget that comes from the national AFL-CIO and the trade unions with which it works, BTOP has aided the unions in putting more organizers in the field.

BTOP wants contractors to know it isn't going anywhere.

"Employers beware, we're here to stay," said Rob Trenkle, president of the Southern Nevada Building Trades Council, which works with BTOP.

Trenkle said that prior to BTOP's arrival, some of the unions didn't have organizers. BTOP's arrival in town brought about 80 organizers, but that number has since dwindled. Now, there are about 45 organizers either employed by the construction-related unions themselves, BTOP, or a combination of the two.

Many organizers who came during the first-year push put in a year's service and left.

"(But) We have a lot more experienced organizers now," BTOP communications director Karen Conner said.

The results are hard to assess. Critics say the program, thus far, has failed. But BTOP backers say their efforts are succeeding.

"I think it has failed miserably, though we do take it seriously," said Larry Litchfield, executive director of Associated Builders and Contractors, an association of non-union shops.

He said two of his 150 members, employing about 20 people total, have become union operations since BTOP showed up.

BTOP organizer Bill Pastreich said it's not the organization's goal to organize one company at a time. He said BTOP wants to approach organizing a segment of the industry at a time.

"Our goal is more industry wide. We don't want to make people non-competitive," Pastreich said.

Litchfield questioned BTOP's strategy of staging protest after protest, and asked why unions don't simply call for federally supervised elections if they want to organize.

"A lot of our contractors are willing to let that happen," he said. "We just feel the tactics and approaches being used in this drive are inappropriate."

The Associated General Contractors, which represents union and non-union shops, has not seen mass conversions of its members to union operations.

"They're respected and they are certainly well-known. They do a good job of making people aware of unions," said AGC spokesman Tony Illia. "How effective they've been able to convert companies to go union is debatable. "

The numbers have increased somewhat. Rob Trenkle of the Southern Nevada Building Trades Council said membership in the trade unions the council represents has increased about 20 percent since BTOP came to town to more than 25,000.

BTOP officials acknowledge several factors made that increase possible -- recruitment by the unions, BTOP's work, and the flourishing construction market in Southern Nevada that lures construction workers.

Yet organizers say that is just the beginning.

"Is that good? Yes," said BTOP Director Bob Ozinga. "Is that enough? No."

BTOP officials say the real success is in seeing workers take steps to improve their situations. In recent weeks job walk-outs have erupted at three concrete companies. Workers have agitated to ensure rest and lunch breaks. In some cases, they say they have had to supply their own drinking water though employers are required to provide it. Non-union construction workers say they earn about half of what their union counterparts make.

BTOP's attempts to attract new members have utilized familiar union methods. BTOP takes complaints from workers and decides whether to file charges with the National Labor Relations Board. The group has filed charges on matters ranging from overtime pay practices to safety equipment to lack of rest breaks and drinking water for workers.

Since beginning its work in Las Vegas, BTOP has filed more than 135 charges with the National Labor Relations Board alleging illegal and unfair labor practices.

Organizers' days start early, about 5 a.m., when they go out and visit construction sites to talk to workers, says organizer Tony Diaz. In the afternoon, the organizers meet together to brief each other about the visits before setting out in the evenings to visit homes of possible members.

"You get to see how workers are being mistreated on the job," said Diaz, who was a 13-year member of the Laborer's Union before becoming an organizer. "I just wanted to go out and start helping people."

Diaz stands by claims of workers failing to get required lunch and rest breaks and employers not providing water.

"It's pretty bad," he said. "They're mistreating workers. No breaks, no lunch, no health and benefits -- no rights is what they have."

He said the success of BTOP is indicated in the non-union workers willing to walk off the job to get what they want.

"I think we've opened a window for them. They see light at the end of the tunnel," Diaz said.

Companies categorically deny allegations they mistreat workers.

Rodney Gross of Kukurin Concrete, for example, said it has always been Kukurin's policy to furnish water or reimburse employees who buy their own. He said his company has tried to address its workers needs.

Beginning Oct. 1, it will begin allowing workers to obtain company health insurance after 30 days' employment rather than a year.

Kukurin has been the target of two separate walk-outs this summer. A walk-out by MS Concrete ended after two days. Workers at Precision Concrete remain off the job.

When BTOP isn't picketing, it also takes its fights to court. It has filed class action suits against companies like Willis Roofing Consultants and Pete-White Eagle Concrete.

The union alleges Willis workers have to pay for safety equipment while Willis claims it is only a deposit that is refunded to workers when they leave the company.

Earlier this summer, BTOP says Pete-White Eagle Concrete agreed to collective bargaining if four of its seven closest competitors agreed to do the same. Ozinga said BTOP wants other companies it has targeted to do the same. White Eagle declined to comment.

But BTOP has also been the target of court actions. Judge Mark Gibbons issued a temporary restraining order, converted to a preliminary injunction this week, against strike practices by striking Precision workers.

Affidavits filed in that suit claim strikers have vandalized Precision-owned vehicles, threatened workers who have not participated in the walk-out and in one case told a wife her husband would be killed if he didn't join the strike.

Union backers counter they have been the targets of harassment by companies and, on one occasion, two strikers were struck by a Precision truck.

BTOP has also targeted Phoenix-based Meadow Valley Contractors, the general contractor for the $92 million "Spaghetti Bowl" project. The group bought shares of the company and has disseminated information critical of the company to fellow shareholders.

It is those kind of tactics that have drawn the ire of BTOP's targets.

"They are trying to do anything they can to cause us trouble," said Kenneth Nelson, Meadow Valley vice president. "I have no idea what benefit that gives the employees they want to represent."

Gross agrees. "It's like name calling," Gross said. "I feel like I am back in school again.

Ozinga isn't apologetic about BTOP's aggressive approach, saying more egregious offenses are committed against workers and that BTOP wants to ensure workers are treated with dignity and respect.

"Damn right we're going to be aggressive," Ozinga said. "If contractors resist, they can expect to have conflict."

But some contractors say that conflict could be avoided if the unions would call for elections. The unions want, instead, to be recognized by a majority card count as the employees' bargaining agent.

"We've told them, if you feel you have enough people, call for a vote," said Gross.

But Ozinga says such elections are a trap for workers. The law allows appeals and delays, he said.

"It takes time. It takes money. The whole process is immensely delayed," he said.

BTOP's work in Las Vegas is part of a national emphasis by labor unions on recruitment and bolstering membership. When AFL-CIO President John Sweeney took office in 1995, he announced that organizing was a top priority.

BTOP was the first organization of its kind established to organize on behalf of building trades and Ozinga said elements of BTOP's program will be exported to other cities for union organizing efforts.

"For all 15 arms of the building trades to have pulled together and try to re-organize a whole construction market is unprecedented," Ozinga said. "We have proven that in Las Vegas we can do it, and that workers are very much interested in being part of those unions."

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