Carpenters Union says Las Vegas contractor required kickbacks from Hispanic workers

Phil Levine

Thursday, Feb. 24, 2000 | 11:10 a.m.

The Nevada Carpenters Union is accusing a Las Vegas subcontractor of requiring several Hispanic workers to pay kickbacks from their paychecks to company officials.

But a representative of Jetstream Construction Inc. denies the allegations and says the carpenters' union is seeking to sabotage the firm due to its success as a non-union contractor on public works projects.

The Council of Carpenters alleges Jetstream required several employees to submit kickbacks from wages earned while working on Clark County School District construction projects in 1998 and early 1999.

Union officials say those projects, designated as prevailing wage job sites, paid an average of $29 per hour. Prevailing wages are set once a year by the Nevada Labor Commissioner, and are wages that must be paid to workers on public works projects with a contract value of over $100,000.

The union is also urging the school district to disqualify the company from working on future school projects.

Jetstream Vice President John Dombrowski denied the allegations, and said the union has targeted his company because of its success as an open-shop (non-union) firm.

"We absolutely deny these allegations," he said. "We negotiated for more than a year with them (the carpenters' union), and when those negotiations failed, I guess they decided to go after us."

Dombrowski said about 80 percent of his company's drywall work involves public sector construction projects such as those with the school district.

"We've been very successful and have a great reputation, and that's probably why they're trying to sabotage us," he said.

Dombrowski said that's also why the union is currently picketing against Jetstream at various job sites.

This morning, pickets went up at the Las Vegas Valley Water District office on Valley View Boulevard, where Jetstream is currently completing construction work.

"They've also thrown a picket on us at our Moore Elementary School project, as well as the Veteran's Administration building in Boulder City," he said.

Jim Sala, director of organizing for the Nevada Carpenters Union, denied any correlation between the kickback allegations and union negotiations with Jetstream.

"We've contacted over 1,500 workers in this area, and during the course of those contacts, several people came to us last year with stories about these kickbacks," said Sala.

"We've also had discussions with almost every drywall contractor in the area over the last few years. I wouldn't characterize our discussions with Jetstream as negotiations, but rather just looking to see if they were interested in entering into negotiations."

Sala said 14 former Jetstream employees have submitted sworn statements alleging that Jetstream officials demanded between $150 and $250 per week in kickbacks. The union also alleges that at least two Jetstream workers were fired after they refused to pay the kickback money.

In their statements, the workers allege they were told to cash their pay checks, and then bring back their kickback funds to the employer.

"We have passed our documents on to the State Contractors Board -- who is now investigating this -- and will also pass them along to the Attorney General's office," Sala said. "I believe we may have only touched the tip of the iceberg in this matter."

Documents will also be submitted to the Labor Commissioner's office, he said.

Sala also dismissed Dombrowski's charge the union is responsible for picket lines against the company.

"Those actions are worker-driven, not union-driven," he said.

Union representative Dan O'Shea alleged Jetstream targeted Hispanic workers when demanding kickbacks.

"There were about 40 workers there, half Hispanic and half white, and the only people targeted for kickbacks were all Hispanic," he said. "And many of those workers targeted do not speak English fluently."

The Nevada Legislature last year passed a law allowing local public sector authorities to establish pre-qualifying criteria for public works projects such as school construction.

To pre-qualify for work on county school projects, a general contractor must now meet the Clark County School District's four criteria: financial reliability, qualified personnel, no previous breach of contracts and no prior disqualification.

Although subcontractors such as Jetstream are not included in the pre-qualification process, they are still subject to possible disqualification by the school district.

"The rules of pre-qualification apply only to general contractors," said School District spokeswoman Kim Vesley. "However, the district can disqualify a subcontractor if there is sufficient reason to do so."

A spokesman for the Nevada State Contractors Board could not be reached for comment.