ECONOMY:

Carpenters’ jobs hit hard

With construction activity slow, the trade’s local union yanks its welcome mat

Chris Morris

Saturday, Aug. 23, 2008 | 2 a.m.

David Schoenherr, left, of Michigan and John Bawman of Montana talk Friday at the Southwest Regional Council of Carpenters hall. They're thinking of moving to Canada for work.

Steve Marcus

Jaime Vergara, left, and Martin Peres check a job board in the carpenters union hall. Until recently, carpenters new to Las Vegas could get work quickly. Now it can take months.

Construction unemployment jumps in Vegas (8-21-2008)
Echelon delay changes prospects for workers (8-2-2008)
Flailing economy cited in Boyd's decision to postpone further construction of Echelon project (8-1-2008)

United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America

Dear union leaders,

Please stop sending your workers to Las Vegas. We can’t take any more.

That was the gist of a letter Marc Furman, president of the Southwest Regional Council of Carpenters, recently sent to Carpenters union locals across the country.

Until very recently, union work on commercial and public works projects in Las Vegas continued to boom even as residential construction faded. Out-of-towners steadily trekked to town, lured by the high times of Strip construction.

But suddenly the amount of work shrank to a point where it no longer can support newcomers, Furman told the union officials.

“There’s no point in encouraging more people to come in here,” Furman said in an interview this week.

Even finding enough work for the more than 15,000 union carpenters who are in Las Vegas, including more than a thousand recently arrived from out of town, will be tough. Inevitably, many will leave.

Outside the union hall Friday, Furman surveyed the parking lot, motioned to the dozen or so cars with out-of-state plates, and said in a resigned voice: “It’s good if they get out of here.”

That’s what David Schoenherr will probably do. He left his wife and kids behind in Detroit when work there dried up three years ago and headed to Las Vegas on the advice of friends.

The $9.2 billion MGM Mirage CityCenter site was revving up, and word was out that high-wage jobs were abundant, with plenty of overtime.

Nine months ago Schoenherr started work at Boyd Gaming’s $4.8 billion Echelon project, which he thought would employ him for at least another year.

“I thought I was set,” Schoenherr said.

The schedule worked out nicely for contractors and workers: Just as each trade job on CityCenter wound down, workers would move to Echelon to help construct that megaproject.

That’s how it appeared, anyway.

But when Boyd Gaming announced three weeks ago it was pausing work at Echelon at least until spring, the outlook for union carpenters and members of other building trades unions changed suddenly. Five hundred carpenters at Echelon were laid off. Before the change in plans, 2,000 were to have been added at the site.

“They just pulled the rug out from under us,” Schoenherr said.

It wasn’t long after that Furman sent his plea to unions across the country to halt traffic to Las Vegas. He also decided to close enrollment in the union’s apprenticeship program, capping it at 1,800.

The news has gotten only worse since then. Last week, for example, the airport announced it is delaying $348 million in construction.

At the union hall Friday morning, Schoenherr and John Bawman of Montana picked up applications for an oil refinery job in Canada. That promises up to seven years of steady work. All the men have to do is get their necessary documents in order.

“It’s going to get worse here before it gets better,” said Steve Holloway, vice president of the Las Vegas Associated General Contractors. Holloway’s trade organization predicts the nonunion residential construction sector will rebound before higher-paying commercial work.

The list of carpenters and drywall workers looking for work in Las Vegas has swelled to unsustainable levels, Furman said — from 1,500 just a few weeks ago to 2,200 now. Carpenters who once could find work immediately or within a few weeks now face months without jobs. The state announced this week that 7.4 percent of construction workers were unemployed in July, with jobs dropping from 103,800 last year to 94,600.

Carpenters often spend idle time sneaking onto job sites up and down the Strip as well as downtown and at highway projects to inquire about work. Carpenters are one of the few tradesmen allowed to solicit their own work rather than wait at union halls for their numbers to be called.

Although job sites are officially closed to people not working on them, if you are able to don a hard hat and sneak in, you can approach contractors to ask directly whether they’ll hire you. But even that approach isn’t working very well right now.

“Before, they would tell us to come back in two weeks, but now they say it’s full,” carpenter Jaime Vergara said, scanning lists of active job sites posted on walls inside the union hall. He’ll try to get on some of those sites later in the day.

“They don’t give you any hope.”

Even so, union and contractor officials insist the change is far from dire.

“It was so superheated it was almost surreal,” said Dan McQuade, president of Tishman Construction Corp. of Nevada, a contractor supervising construction at both CityCenter and Echelon. “We forget that this is more normal. People aren’t getting paid big premiums and guys aren’t coming from across the country. It’s clear it’s cooling down, but so are the other big markets we’re in. There’s still an awful lot of construction. Long-term it’s still a great market.”

Furman agreed. “Normal” is when workers make some good money for a while, then spend time out of work. For a while, Vegas was an anomaly.

“It’s the business we’re in,” Furman said. “If you want to work all the time, become a public employee.”

Discussion: 15 comments so far…

By fremmasmind

8/23/08 at 5:41 a.m.

Suggest removal

It's a shame to think the carpenters union is telling good american union carpenters they have no jobs available here in town but will put bilinguals at foreman positions and then give them illegals for their crews. It's a shame that a story isn't written about this truth.
By neiman1

8/23/08 at 7:42 a.m.

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Read the end of the article. After losing 2500 carpenter jobs at the casino site shut down, the worker were being recruited to work on a refinery in Canada. Why is it saving the planet to build a refinery in Canada to ship oil here instead of building it here. Why is our Sen. Harry Reid letting Nancy Pelosi and her San Fransisco friends plan America's destruction instead of working for our state. We need American energy resources for American jobs and we don't have to let them stop it anymore. Call Harry, write Harry, Yell at Harry and tell him to open drilling and refineries HERE.

email link
http://reid.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm...

Las Vegas
Lloyd D. George Building
333 Las Vegas Boulevard South, Suite 8016
Las Vegas, NV 89101
Phone: 702-388-5020 / Fax: 702-388-5030
By fremmasmind

8/23/08 at 8:52 a.m.

Suggest removal

You can build as many projects here in Nevada as you want, as long as you're using illegals for your workers things won't get any better. How would you feel if your job was given to an illegal?
By BorisR

8/23/08 at 9:47 a.m.

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I would be considered as illegal-alien, as I am writing you this from Switzerland, Europe. Despite countless efforts of getting a work permit and work in Fabulous Las Vegas, it never worked out for me, so I simply stay where I come from but bring you my money every 6 months. As a worker of the Casino industry myself, I think that I would definetely qualify for a position in a casino of Las Vegas. No work permit, jo job, it's that simple. So I stay where I am.

With all those billions being won from the gambling industry over the last decades, I think Nevada should use that money now for investments in a brighter future. I am talking about the construction of solar and wind plants, the construction of the water pipeline from the North (because YES, I TRULY BELIEVE THAT NEVADA IS GOING TO HAVE A BIG WATER PROBLEM COMING UP IN THE NEAR FUTURE), and perhaps do some other sort of construction that helps this city to meet more ecological demands. The construction of the Monorail may have been a complete fail because it's not running directly on the Strip. Would all traffic but busses and taxis/ casino limos, that is, all private traffic be banned from the Strip, there would be enough space for cool rides such as the Monorail. All other kind of traffic would have to be diverted on Frank Sinatra / Industrial, Koval, etc. I am sure that it would work out and make Las Vegas the greatest place ever in the future.

Remember 20 years ago, when people said that the traffic ban on Fremont Experience would never work out? Wrong! It did work out and help the downtown casinos survive.
One of the reasons why I hate the Strip and stay at the Locals Casinos, that's the heavy traffic, the bad air on the Strip, and the traffic CHAOS ON THE WEEKENDS, especially at nights.

All those jobless construction workers could find a job in a mega project such as this one: Clean up the Strip, get rid of all the cars there, and you will see how great the future will be like for those casinos there.

Greetings and Good Luck :)
By azsk8fan

8/23/08 at 4:30 p.m.

Suggest removal

Poor Boris, is someone putting a gun to your head and forcing you to come here every six months to gamble. What part of 'there aren't enough jobs in Vegas for AMERICANS' don't you get? If there were more jobs available than workers then I would say let anyone who comes here legally, with a green card, come on over and make some money. But since it's not like that right now it only makes sense that even those who want to come here legally should be denied because the jobs available MUST first go to the countries own citizens. Sounds fair to me. Perhaps there WOULD be some work available for you if this country would take a stand against all the ILLEGALS - round em up and ship em out. How hard is it to find them when they have gathered enmass to stage their 'protests'- that, to me, would be the ideal time to get the National Guard, SWAT, whatever it takes - and have the buses standing gassed up and ready to head to the border. Nah, that just isn't gonna happen (unfortunately). So until that time you can CHOOSE to come over for fun and games or just quit yer bitchin - stay home and gamble online if you must.
By BorisR

8/24/08 at 9:43 a.m.

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Hey azsk8fan

When I said, ..."I would definetely qualify for a job...." I mean by that exactly it. There are so many inexperienced and very sloppy dealers working in Las Vegas that it's sometimes embarassing to watch and play. When I have enough, I will simply walk. Too bad that some dealers did never actually enjoy a real training on the job and therefore make a poor impression on the job. It's also embarassing for the casino who does not really make sure that the dealers know their job. But that's not the topic. What I mean is that if there's a market for "so-called" illegal workers, then this arises questions in me: Aren't there enough workers with a legal permit or is it perhaps more that these illegal workers cost less than the same worker who can who a work permit? Isn't this the problem rather than that these illegal aliens are taking away jobs from the ones who would like to do it? This is not a problem that's exisisting in the U.S. but mostly in any other country on the planet. You know that. It's easy to blame such "illegal aliens" but then you should also ask yourself whether you're ready to do such a hard job at 100 degrees for so little money. And if not, then go ahead and ask the construction company how come they hire those illegal workers and not for instance hire someone else who costs 12 dollars more per hour.

Think about before complaining all the time how unfair the system works, ok? In my country, we also have to deal with so called "shadow-economy". It's an existing problem but somewhat it's always going on. And one thing is for sure: If you're flexible and smart, there's always a chance to find something similar. I would not put all the blame on those workers from anywhere-outside the U.S.

Greetings from Switzerland
By hilda

8/24/08 at 10:23 a.m.

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Thank you neiman1 for the link...I yelled, suggested, cajoled the 'god-Reid' for US drilling....I suggest everyone use this link ASAP before we, the people, all become the 'endangered species'!!
By azsk8fan

8/24/08 at 5 p.m.

Suggest removal

Well Boris, I am not going to debate your abilities as a card dealer - you may very well be a much better dealer than some who are working here - that really doesn't alter anything as far as job opportunities go - if the casino's feel their dealers aren't up to snuff then it's up to the casino to either be willing to help in their training or simply replace them with better dealers - and I'm sorry but you still don't qualify as a better replacement simply because there ARE trained dealers, good ones, who are American citizens to fill these open spots. We can't just dole the jobs out to the 'best' if they aren't American citizens when we have our own people looking for work every day. I would find it hard to believe that there isn't at least ONE AMERICAN dealer, looking for a better job, whose skills are at the very least equal to yours. Like I said before - we have too many ILLEGALS taking our jobs in this country and if not for them then perhaps those like yourself who are willing to come into the country the right way would stand a better chance of doing so and gaining employment. I'm just as sorry for those who want to come the right way as I am for the Americans already here who are losing out on jobs - Perhaps one day that will change and I may see you at the tables dealing - hope you deal me a 21 :)
By mikeg

8/24/08 at 9:44 p.m.

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"It's the business we're in - if you want to work all the time, become a public employee" lol, I love that quote.
By BorisR

8/25/08 at 2:42 a.m.

Suggest removal

Ask the company that hires illegal workers why it's doing it before complaining and letting out your frustration on me, please. The construction companies are saving tons of money that way, although their practice is definetely unlawful. Shadow-economy can only hurt the public but benefits the greedy. If you're social system works, you should be eligible for unemployment benefits for a certain period until you have found something new.
In my country, if a company fires you for economical reasons or for restructional purpose, you are elibible for unemployment money up to 2 years. Within this period, it should be possible to find something suitable. The unemployment money is based on a percentage of your last income (average of the past 6 months). And it allows you to continue your living (with certain restrictions, of course). 70 per cent of your current paycheck may not be enough for many, but it's still better than nothing.

The government should make sure that people collecting unemployment benefits after being driven out of their jobs because illegal workers took their jobs away should get their job back and the illegal workers should be sent out of the country. That's my opinion.
If nobody of the goverment is responsible for that or does not care about, it's a clear indicator that the goverment accepts and tolerates such activities.
In my eyes, such missed politics should not be tolerated. Isn't it more important to make sure that "everything works" inside of a country than acting "policeman for the rest of the world", sending troups in other nations and making war for years? Ever thought how much money is being wasted in the Middle East on that stupid war that has made no progres and lead those countries into mysery? Billions and Billions of Dollars are being burned year after year. That's money you tax payers are paying and some smart guys are making big profits of that situation. I think those illegal construction workers are just one of the smallest problems your goverment has to deal with.

Greetings and good luck :)
By Wild1Bill

8/30/08 at 6:11 a.m.

Suggest removal

Hey Boris just stay home. We don't want people like you here. Or maybe we should take all the Illegals that are here and ship them to your country to Wreak your countries economy.
As for unemployment WOW your country pays 70% I am a Union Carpenter and was off for a few weeks this year. I received the Max amount allowed and is was almost 25% of my normal salary its not easy to live on that.
If you don't like the Fact that my hard earned tax dollars are being used to create stability in the Middle East then Stop driving a car and heating your home. Next Stay the Hell out of my country and don't even think about trying to come here to work.
This is America Love it or Leave it. And if your an Illegal Get the Hell out Go home You are not welcome here.
By thetruth2008

9/1/08 at 10:30 a.m.

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I agree with azsk8fan!! We have far to many illegal immagrant workers that have flooded the construction industry here in Las Vegas.Leaving the average hard working union affliated AMERICAN without a job and on the soup line!!
By krdf4

9/30/08 at 10 a.m.

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Guess what friends. The hiring of illegals and the illeagal activities of a few big companies isnt isolated to Las Vegas. I cringe when I hear fellow UBOC members say they are voting for a republican pres. Looking back to when Reagan was trying to bust the unions, its no wonder we are where we are today. It is a republican philosophy that big business will take care of the workers through a trickle down. I dont know about you but Ive watched as that cup that used to run over, trickle down to a very slow drip for the American worker. The union is now allowing illegals in to bolster something no union member beleives in and thats the current immigration laws. Unfortunately, nobody on either side has a clue of what to do because they would lose the illegal vote. What a load of crap
By nowork4us

3/13/09 at 2:07 p.m.

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Man, this crap is a national problem. The invaders should not be allowed join unions anyway. I thought these people were only suppose to fill jobs nobody wants. Yea Right! Tennessee, Illinois, North Carolina and the list goes on and on all have construction sites spilling over with illegal workers. While hard working AMERICAN carpenters are kicked to the curb for a cheeper less competent model. This is a travesty to the American people. Enough is enough!!! I have traveled like a nomad begging for work and still have none. I would like to thank the federal government and special interest groups that helped ruin this country and the American worker. You have our deaths on your greedy hands. Watch Glenn Beck on Fox news and join numbersusa today. There may still be hope to take OUR country back.

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