Builders sue Teamsters over work stoppages

Grace Leong

Thursday, June 8, 2000 | 11:14 a.m.

Two Las Vegas contractors for the unfinished Suncoast hotel-casino in Summerlin sued Teamsters Local 631 to recover damages for disruptions in their work schedules when the union used allegedly illegal tactics to stop construction at the site.

Tensions escalated after CSR and Nevada Ready Mix Corp., two big Las Vegas concrete ready mix companies, locked out some 400 Teamster truck drivers after the union and the companies failed to agree on a new contract cutting wages before the existing one expired on May 31.

The two companies, now being picketed by the Teamster drivers, obtained temporary restraining orders last week to stop the union from disrupting their operations and violating what a spokesman called a "right to a peaceful picket."

In a U.S. District Court lawsuit filed Wednesday, Nevada Ready Mix and J.A. Tiberti Construction Co. Inc. alleged the Teamsters violated federal labor laws and caused the contractors to incur extra project costs when they caused workers not involved the union's dispute to stop working on Coast Resorts' Suncoast hotel-casino project.

"There were work stoppages intermittently for the past week. That's partly the result of the union's illegal secondary boycott," said Norman Kirshman, the contractors' attorney. "There are about 1,000 workmen out there. When you have union people walking off the job, that causes damage to Nevada Ready Mix, and Tiberti, which has to finish the job before September."

"Tiberti may now have to work people overtime, and that's an additional item of damage," he said. "But we are hopeful we can make up for the lost time."

Dennis Kist, the Teamsters' attorney, declined to comment on the allegations.

The suit said the union also violated a "two-gate" system that Tiberti had established on Aug. 24, 1999, because of National Labor Relations Board rules. These requirements are aimed at avoiding shutdowns of construction sites when a union or unions have disputes with one or more of the sites' contractors.

"A two-gate system comprises a gate that is reserved exclusively for the contractor and employees with whom the Teamsters have a dispute. That's where the picketing is," Kirshman said. "The neutral gate is set aside for those contractors with whom the union has no dispute."