Safety agreement ends walkout on Strip

By Alexandra Berzon

Published Tuesday, June 3, 2008 | 3:55 p.m.

Updated Tuesday, June 3, 2008 | 4:20 p.m.

Construction will resume on MGM Mirage's mammoth CityCenter and at a neighboring project tonight after union officials and a contractor reached agreement on safety improvements to end the one-day strike.

Union leaders said contractor Perini Building Co. agreed to pay for safety training for workers, allow a team of union researchers to examine the cause of safety problems and give union officials full access to the site.

"We want it to resonate up and down Las Vegas Boulevard that you can get projects done on time, on budget and safely," said Steve Ross, head of the Southern Nevada Building and Construction Trades Council, an umbrella organization that represents most union workers at CityCenter and the neighboring Cosmopolitan sites.

Perini representatives did not return calls for comment.

Workers walked off the job late Monday night to protest unsafe working conditions. They were reacting to 11 deaths over the last 18 months at Strip construction sites, including one Saturday that was the sixth to occur at the $9.2 billion CityCenter.

Ross said the agreement was reached in the spirit of collaboration with Perini, which had indicated earlier that it wanted to make the safety improvements the unions sought.

But Ross added that the agreement is just the beginning, not the final step in addressing safety concerns that have arisen during the $32 billion building boom underway on the Strip.