Infighting breaks out at LV construction union

Grace Leong

Thursday, March 9, 2000 | 10:59 a.m.

A Las Vegas construction union won a temporary restraining order Wednesday prohibiting two renegade union leaders and their supporters from harassing the union's members and employees and disrupting operations at its hiring hall and training center.

The Laborers International Union of North America, Local 872, filed a lawsuit Tuesday in Clark County District Court against the Committee of Justice of Local 872 and its two leaders Michael Vasquez and Jose Hernandez. The committee is a loosely formed faction comprising seven to nine union members.

The union alleged the defendants -- who claimed construction jobs were being unfairly distributed -- threatened union members and told them not to get job referrals during the union's daily dispatch, verbally harassed and threatened the union's management and secretaries and threw rocks at the union's property and roofing nails on its driveway.

"We had to file a lawsuit because the (defendants) were harassing our secretaries in the union hall, screaming, shouting and kicking over chairs," said Maura McCann, the union's spokeswoman. "At one point we had to call off the dispatch process until the police came because people couldn't hear their names being called or understand what the jobs were about because of the noise."

Judge Gene Porter said in Wednesday's order: "The defendants are restrained and prohibited from engaging in the making of any threats, insults, destruction of property or other harassing acts, or interference with local 872, its members, officers, employees, or other agents."

"And the injury complained of is irreparable because it involves interference with the prospective employment of local 972 members on a daily basis through the dispatch process," Porter said.

A hearing on the union's motion for preliminary injunction is scheduled on March 20 in Clark County District Court.

McCann disputed the defendants' claims. "It's not true that (construction) jobs aren't distributed fairly. The way we dispatch jobs is regulated by the federal Department of Labor. Everything is documented."

"The way dispatch works is if a contractor comes to us asking for two laborers for a cleanup job, we take the top two people who have the skills to do the job off the out-of-work list. Those who don't have the right skills don't lose their place. They just stay on the list until the right job comes along," she said.

"The real reason for the defendants' frustration is because construction work has been slow around town. There aren't many jobs available right now because most of the major casino projects are completed," she said, estimating about 700 of the union's 4,500 members are now unemployed.

"The Mandalay Bay, Paris and Resort At Summerlin are all built. The Aladdin is the only other big casino project that isn't finished yet. Suncoast (resorts) is still in its beginning stages, which means they are hiring but not in great numbers yet. Workers only go out in big numbers when the casinos are trying to push (to finish) by their opening dates."

McCann said she believed Hernandez, one of the Committee's leaders and a former union business agent, may have goaded the group to harass the union to try to get his job back after he was fired in late 1999. Hernandez could not be reached for comment.

"The committee is a rag-tag group whose objectives aren't clear," McCann said, adding the committee leaders may want to bring their complaints to the general president of the union in Washington D.C. and were raising money for this purpose. "But they haven't met with the local leadership to get things changed, nor have they followed the rules the union has to make the changes."

The union -- which alleged the defendants started picketing on its property in February -- sought an order to restrict them to place no more than two pickets in the vicinity of the union and to confine their activities to peaceful demonstrations.

"The dissension has been going on for a while, but no one objected to their picketing until people started getting flat tires," McCann said.

The suit said several committee members, who were picketing in front of the union's premises, allegedly threw about 100 nails in the parking area and driveways, causing the tires of several union members' cars to be punctured as they drove by.

The union -- which alleged a committee picketer came on to local premises on Feb. 14 making obscene gestures and had to be ordered off by the local police -- said Vasquez retaliated the next day by assaulting and stealing a video camera that was used to film the picketers from a union security manager, Eddie Dobbs.

The suit said a warrant was then issued for Vasquez's arrest and a temporary protective order was issued against him, barring him from the union's property.

Despite his alleged fugitive status, the suit said Vasquez and three other individuals were sighted on the union's property on President's day, allegedly shouting they were going to shut the training center down.

Vasquez could not be reached for comment.