Barred company allowed to bid on school jobs

Thursday, Sept. 21, 2000 | 11:18 a.m.

Jetstream Construction, a drywall-installation company barred from working on Clark County schools by a vote of the School Board Sept. 13, has received a temporary restraining order allowing it to bid on school projects.

The company was barred after Carpenters Union officials argued that a $6,300 settlement paid to six Hispanic workers proved wrongdoing by the company. Union officials and the Interfaith Council for Worker Justice, an advocacy group, had charged that the company demanded kickbacks for the employees to work on school projects.

In the settlement, the company admitted no wrongdoing. Company attorneys have appealed the School Board vote in District Court.

Orin G. Grossman, Jetstream special counsel, said the company bid on two school projects Tuesday. He said the company has not sued anyone yet because the company has not suffered actual damages from the board decision.

Grossman said the board decision isn't fair because the company did not have the opportunity to argue its case at the board meeting or examine the documents that the union presented to bolster its argument that the company mistreats workers.

He said the settlement and records of federal worker-safety violations presented by the union shouldn't be part of the School Board's decision-making process.

Occupational Safety and Health Enforcement Section proceedings cannot be used for other proceedings by state law, Grossman said.

The Carpenters Union and the Interfaith Coalition have both pledged to lend whatever support the School Board attorney's need to defend the board decision.

Jim Sala, a union organizer, said that the arguments from Jetstream, a non-union shop, aren't valid.

The company knew the issue would be before the School Board, and failed to inform the board of the settlement, which the board had required, Sala said.

"They couldn't have missed that" by accident, Sala said. "I think they were deliberately trying to hide the information and not go to the meeting.

"We're going to do anything that we can do to support the school board," he said.

Michael Slater, Interfaith Council director, echoed Sala's support for the board.

He said the council has retained a law firm to stand with the school district. He said the council also will ask the court to be included as a party to the issue, which will mean that any settlement will have to include the council.

The issue is important to the council because it means that local governments have the authority to bar companies accused of wrongdoing. Overturning the decision would be a terrible precedent, Slater said.

He said the School Board has the authority to bar any company is suspects of wrongdoing, even absent other proceedings such as the Jetstream settlement, which was brokered by the Nevada Labor Commissioner.

Bill Hoffman, School Board counsel, said the school wasn't informed that Jetstream had applied for a temporary restraining order. That could give the school grounds to fight the injunction, he said.