Monday, March 15, 2004 | 11:14 a.m.
Las Vegas-area labor unions are going directly to homeowners, warning them about alleged workmanship problems in homes built by nonunion workers.
Critics say this is a blatant labor organizing campaign, but union officials call it an educational effort.
Unions recently have blanketed mostly new home subdivisions, though some are as old as four years, with fliers that warn "homeowners and home buyers beware."
The Operative Plasterers' & Cement Masons' International Association Local 797, or OP&CMIA, is named on the four- to seven-page fliers that name nonunion plastering subcontractors and tell homeowners they need to have stucco and plaster work checked. The flier includes photos of possible defects at unnamed subdivisions, an overview of the revised construction defect law by local homeowner's attorney Bob Maddox and includes a letter that homeowners can send builders notifying them of possible defects.
The fliers also include a toll-free number for homeowners to call to schedule a free plastering inspection. The number rings to the Coalition for Truth in Residential Housing, which a union official said is related to Raising the Standards of Living, RSL, a coalition made up of local labor unions.
Local unions have tried unsuccessfully for years to unionize the residential construction industry.
"We were aware that this was going to begin," Monica Caruso, spokeswoman for the Southern Nevada Home Builders Association, said of the flier campaign. "This is simply about a long-standing effort of about five years to organize the residential construction industry."
Shell Sherman, union organizer, said the group is simply "providing a service to the homeowners and letting them know of code violations on their homes."
Maddox said he provided the union with an overview of the construction defect law and a sample letter that can be sent to builders.
"The union asked us for a piece we put out to explain how SB 241 (construction defect legislation) works and a sample letter," he said. "They asked us for copies of that and said they were providing it to homeowners."
Maddox said he supports the union in its efforts to organize home builders and subcontractors.
"I think the coalition of various unions is targeting stucco (workers) right now because they feel there are widespread mistakes in the homes of Las Vegas," he said.
Sherman said the fliers were distributed in about 40 communities built by major home builders. Since beginning the campaign, union officials have responded to several calls from homeowners.
Sherman said inspectors are honest with homeowners if there is not a problem and also lets them know how to get a problem fixed, if there is one.
Unions are simply trying to force builders to use union workers, and putting homeowners in the middle, said Steve Hill, president of Silver State Materials Corp. and chairman of the Coalition for Fairness in Construction, a lobbying group of home builders and construction companies.
"The RSL, whether they want to admit or not, it's just a union organizing body," Hill said. "They are using organizing tactics that have not been employed in the past, like picketing the Water Authority (about growth). The way it should happen, is talking with employees head on and not putting unsuspecting homeowners in the crossfire of an organizing attempt ... it's a deplorable organizing tactic."
John Wilson, a consultant to Raising the Standards of Living, said that the group's efforts, both past and present, are not organizing tactics. He said the union wants workers to be educated through state approved training programs, of which local unions have several.
Wilson said union officials have tried talking with builders and subcontractors to get workers trained through union programs. The unsuccessful attempts led the union to distribute the fliers as an alternative to get the message across, Wilson said.
"Quit blaming us by saying that we're trying to organize. We don't expect them to join the union because we expose their poor quality," Wilson said. "If you want the unions off your backs, build code-compliant houses. If those fliers aren't factual, let them sue us. If they did it wrong, they did it wrong."
Hill said there are numerous training programs in the community for the construction industry, both union and non union, as well as certified state programs and non certified state programs.
archive
