Tense confrontation as concrete strike escalates

Robert Macy

Friday, June 2, 2000 | 3:24 a.m.

LAS VEGAS - Dozens of police officers responded Friday when some 500 Teamsters Union pickets tried to block concrete trucks bound for a new hotel-casino under construction.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for two companies involved in the strike reported damage to trucks and other acts of violence as the labor dispute entered its second day.

Las Vegas Metropolitan Police were called about 5 a.m. Friday when the pickets appeared at the Sun Coast Hotel in the upscale Summerlin area.

Police spokesman Steve Meriwether said rocks and sticks were thrown at cement trucks entering the work site. He said one man claimed to have been be hit by one of the trucks. A non-union driver was hit when a brick was thrown through a truck window. The injuries were not believed to be serious.

The pickets dispersed about 7 a.m., Meriwether said. Some 60 Metro Police patrol cars responded to the incident.

The violence followed a breakdown of contract talks between Teamsters and the city's two leading concrete companies, Nevada Ready-Mix and CSR.

Ray Brown, a spokesman for the companies, said a temporary restraining order was obtained against the union Thursday when pickets began creating problems at the plants operated by the two companies.

Members of Teamsters Local 631 went on strike against the two companies Thursday after contract talks expired. The two companies have an extensive list of projects underway, including road work, schools, hotels and residential developments, Brown said.

After negotiations stalled, Brown said pickets began blocking entrances to various concrete plants, creating traffic problems. He said some trucks had tires slashed, headlights smashed and brake lines cut. In another case, someone pulled a release lever on a truck, releasing six yards of concrete into a street.

Attorneys for the companies obtained a temporary restraining order against the union late Thursday in a bid to halt the violence.

"The unions have a right to picket and we have a right to run our business," Brown said. "They are restraining the company from conducting business."

Jim Wilkerson, secretary/treasurer of Local 631, did not return a telephone call seeking comment on the incidents.

Brown said CSR and Nevada Ready-Mix were seeking a $2 per-hour rollback in wages paid Teamsters drivers. The two were paying $27.16 per hour in wages and benefits in the contract that just expired.

He said CSR and Nevada Ready-Mix are the only two companies that had Teamsters' contracts, and were losing significant business to non-union companies that offered drivers up to $7 less per hour.

"We are in a very uncompetitive position," Brown said. "We cannot match non-union shops bidding on jobs."

Brown said CSR and Nevada Ready-Mix had 70 percent of the market when they signed a five-year contract with the union in 1994 and now have 42 percent. The companies gave the union a one-year extension last year, with the understanding the Teamsters would sign up the non-union companies.

"They failed," Brown said. "The drivers should be looking back at their own organization."