Las Vegas: Southern Nevada Building and Construction Trades win strike for better safety

“We’ll fix it. We’ll fix it.” But nothing ever happens. They’re pushing to get stuff done. They’re more interested in the money, than keeping the job safe.-Fred Medina, a member of Plasterers and Cement Masons Local 797

I was in the middle of writing this up last night, I got a ton of information from Gangbox: Construction Workers News Service, after 11 construction deaths in 18 months, and failure to negotiate a positive safety plan between the unions and Perini, the General Contractor, the Nevada Building and Construction Trades membership walked off the job late Monday night, a general strike, today I noticed at the AFL-CIO Blog that the workers have ended the strike, details below.

Heres a few links from Gangbox, in reverse order, oldest to newest.

• LAS VEGAS CONSTRUCTION WORKERS STRIKE OVER SAFETY… MGM Mirage CityCenter job shut down

Shortly after midnight Monday, construction workers picket MGM Mirage’s CityCenter to protest safety conditions at the project after talks between leaders from local building trades unions and the site’s general contractor, Perini Building Co., broke off earlier that night.

• Las Vegas construction safety strike spreads - from MGM Mirage CityCenter to the Cosmopolitan
• Las Vegas construction unions end safety strike at MGM Mirage Citycenter and Cosmopolitan
  

And todays news from the AFL-CIO Web Blog (6/4/08):

Las Vegas Construction Workers Win Safety Demands

Some 6,000 construction workers are back on the job today at MGM Mirage’s CityCenter in Las Vegas, after the project’s general contractor agreed to the workers’ demands to improve safety on a job site where six workers have been killed in the past 18 months.

The workers, members of the unions of the Southern Nevada Building and Construction Trades Council (SNBCTC), walked off the construction site for a $9.2 billion hotel, casino, condominium, retail and entertainment complex Monday night, when talks with Perini Building Co. to improve safety broke down.

Steve Ross, the building council’s executive secretary-treasurer says the agreement is

…quite significant, not only for union construction workers but for construction workers in general. We want them all to be safe….We want this to resonate up and down Las Vegas Boulevard. The important thing is for these men and women to come to work in the morning and regardless of what shift they’re working, go home and be with their families.

Perini agreed to a three-point job safety outline that includes:

• An immediate worksite safety assessment by the AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Department’s (BCTD’s) Center for Construction Research and Training (CPWR).

• Conducting and paying for on-site safety training for all workers administered by the center.

• Full job site access to union and safety officials.

The latest death occurred Saturday when Dustin Tarter, 39, a crane oiler, was killed when he was crushed between the crane’s counterweight system and the crane track. Five other workers have been killed at the CityCenter. Overall, 11 construction workers have been killed on Las Vegas Strip job sites in the past 18 months.

In March, a Las Vegas Sun investigative series reported a pattern of dangerous safety problems on city construction sites, including inadequate training, faulty equipment, job speed-ups, worker fatigue from excessive overtime and more.

Yesterday, Fred Medina, a member of Plasterers and Cement Masons (OP&CMIA) Local 797 told the paper:

We’re trying to make a statement that life is important. When you make a complaint about safety to safety managers, they keep saying, “We’ll fix it. We’ll fix it.” But nothing ever happens. They’re pushing to get stuff done. They’re more interested in the money, than keeping the job safe.

Ross said the agreement was a good first step in addressing the job safety problems in the estimated $32 billion building boom in the city.

I want to make this very clear, this isn’t the solution to the entire problem.

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Statement: Mark H. Ayers, President of the Building & Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO, Regarding Recent Fatalities In Construction Industry

Construction workers deserve to come home after a hard day's work, healthy and alive.-Mark H. Ayers, President of the Building & Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO

From PR Newswire (5/30/08) :

WASHINGTON, May 30 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The recent spate of construction worksite fatalities - including a fatal tower crane collapse in New York City today and a disturbing trend of construction fatalities in Las Vegas, NV - have raised public awareness of the real dangers faced daily by those who work in the construction industry. Our hearts go out to the grieving families, friends and neighbors who loved and cherished those workers and bystanders killed in these accidents. All of us who work within the construction trades mourn with them.

Yet tomorrow, another three or four workers could be killed working in the construction industry. And two the next day. And four the next. The sad fact is an average of four construction workers die on the job every day in our nation. In 2006, 1,282 construction workers died from injuries they sustained on the job.

Yet, almost every death on a construction site is preventable.

For those of us working in the construction safety and health field, there is no such thing as an accident, only a preventable injury. Hazards abound on construction sites, but many hazards can be reduced or eliminated. Workers in a trench can be buried alive - if the walls of the trench are not properly supported. An ironworker, so comfortable walking on a steel beam 100 feet above ground that he treats it like a sidewalk, can slip on a thin patch of dried mud or a stray bolt and fall to his death - if he is not secured with a safety harness. Even a housepainter on a ladder 10 feet above the ground can just as easily suffer a fatal fall - if he or she is carrying tools up the ladder, is using a broken ladder, or one that will not support their weight. Electrocutions, being crushed by equipment or struck by an object are just some of the other dangers.

Construction workers suffer more than 22 percent of all work-related deaths, but these workers make up only 8 percent of the workforce.

Of course, every worker who is injured does not die. More than 400,000 construction workers are injured annually; some result in a career-ending or even permanent disability. But not every injury is obvious. Wet cement, which burns the skin of a worker who doesn't have protective clothing, can go unnoticed because the caustic agents eat away at skin with little pain. A cement burn damages muscle tissue and can even require amputation of limbs.

Injuries aren't the only hazards. Occupational illnesses, usually from exposure to hazardous compounds, make take years to develop, but they have long-term health consequences. Dust from cutting bricks or concrete block, welding fumes, and paint vapors contain all the components necessary for numerous lung ailments and lung cancer. Even the guy cutting your granite countertop is at risk for inhaling silica, which causes the lung disease silicosis.

The Governing Board of Presidents of the Building & Construction Trades Department will meet next week to examine this issue in greater detail and formulate recommendations designed to effectively improve jobsite safety in the construction industry.

Training and education of workers in safety and health measures is crucial. So is training and educating the supervisory personnel and employers who control the site to ensure that safety does not fall off the daily checklist. And OSHA must step up its enforcement of job safety rules and regulations.

Thousands of families are depending on industry stakeholders, as well as employers and well-trained workers, to look out for each other. Construction workers deserve to come home after a hard day's work, healthy and alive.

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CT: Mohegan Sun and Buiding and Construction Trades sign PLA on almost $1 Billion expansion

"Mohegans' agreement a first for sovereign land in Connecticut" -Heather Allen
From TheDay.com Connecticut (4/02/08) :

Tribe, Unions Put 'Historic' Labor Deal On The Dotted Line
by Heather Allen

Mohegan — The Mohegan Tribe announced Tuesday that a project labor agreement has been signed among the tribe, the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority and the New London-Norwich Building and Construction Trades Council.

This is the first such agreement to be signed relating to a project on sovereign land in the state.

“It's really a historic agreement,” said Jeff Hartmann, chief operating officer of the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority. “I think it says in the spirit of negotiation and cooperation, these types of agreements can be forged.”

While the signed agreement was not made public Tuesday, most project labor agreements, or PLAs, stipulate that only union labor be used on a specific project, in this case Mohegan Sun's $925 million expansion project, in exchange for a no-strike agreement. The agreements are most commonly seen in relation to large, complex construction projects.

The tribe has always used union labor in its various construction projects but had never signed a PLA before.

And while a PLA is not required, the tribe entered into the agreement anyway.

“It's no secret they didn't have to do it,” said Chuck Appleby, legislative and political director for the trades council. “This shows the respect they have for us to put their names on the dotted line.”

and further continues...

Mike Rosario, a union representative for the plumbers and pipefitters union Local 777, said a panel will be set up to listen to and resolve any potential disputes and resolve those matters, avoiding strikes and walkouts.

“It's a win-win for everyone,” Rosario said. “You don't win when you walk off the job.”

Across the Thames River, a spokesman for the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation said the tribe always uses members of the trade council in its construction projects but has never entered into a formal agreement.

“We have nothing but the highest respect of the professionalism and the work product that they can produce,” said Bruce MacDonald, tribal spokesman.

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Laborers Rejoin AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Dept.

Good news From the AFL-CIO WebBlog

Laborers Rejoin AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Dept.
by Mike Hall, Mar 14, 2008

The Laborers (LIUNA) and the AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Department (BCTD) announced that LIUNA will reaffiliate with the 12 other unions that make up the BCTD. The Laborers left the BCTD shortly after it disaffiliated from the AFL-CIO in 2006.

In a statement March 13, BCTD President Mark Ayers said the reaffiliation agreement reflects

…a shared commitment to always putting the interests of rank-and-file members first. LIUNA President Terry O’Sullivan’s vision, creativity and leadership will be a valuable asset to the department as we continue our strategic pursuit of repositioning and revitalizing the union construction brand around our core values of pride, performance and excellence. We welcome the LIUNA family back wholeheartedly and without hesitation.

O’Sullivan praised the BCTD’s Board of Governors who approved the agreement that resolved the outstanding issues related to the LIUNA’s disaffiliation as

true trade unionists who personify the meaning of solidarity. We are particularly proud of this mutual agreement as it occurs on the eve of the Department’s 100th anniversary. It’s a win-win for LIUNA and its member, for the Building Trades and for the entire construction industry.

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