Union protests at Vegas timeshare job

Tuesday, April 2, 2002 | 10:49 a.m.

The Nevada Carpenters Union targeted Precision Concrete in a protest Friday aimed at forcing the Las Vegas subcontractor to address an alleged lack of healthcare and pension benefits and substandard wages being paid to its workers at the nongaming Cancun resort on Las Vegas Boulevard near Blue Diamond Road.

More than 50 union supporters protested Friday at the Cancun, which will be one of Las Vegas' largest timeshares, with 917 suites, said Dan O'Shea, local 1977's senior organizer and business representative.

The union had protested at the Cancun on March 1 to force Pacific Monarch Resorts Inc., the Laguna Hills, Calif.-based developer of the $120 million resort, to hire subcontractors that provide health benefits and pay standard Las Vegas wages for their carpenters.

The union, which said Precision paid its workers $10-$18 an hour compared with area wage rates of $24-$25 an hour, also said the company could be liable for more than $1.2 million in backpay owed to 74 Precision workers who were fired for going on strike in 1998.

Precision was ordered by the National Labor Relations Board in December to award back pay to these workers. Mike Chavez, NLRB's resident officer, said the agency is still determining the size of the award.

Chad Stewart, Precision's president, disputed the union's claims about the Cancun project.

"There's no carpentry work at the Cancun. I don't understand why the Carpenters would be involved," he said.

"Our appeal against the NLRB's order is still pending with the national NLRB office in Washington D.C.," Stewart added.