Picketing disrupts Mas Iron

Published in Long Beach City College's Viking newspaper in 2007.

Union construction workers building LBCC's South Quad Complex walked off the job Thursday Jan. 25, when a short ironworker's union picket line developed in the morning on Lew Davis Street.
An ironworker representative, who didn't want to be named, said it's an un-said rule for union companies to walk off the job when they see a picket.
The picket at the LAC is to protest Mas Iron Co. hiring non-union employees. Mas Iron Co. is a subcontractor hired by the general contractor Taisei.
"Mas Iron is known for hiring non-union employees, paying a lower wage and letting employees work in un-safe conditions," the ironworker said. "We're here to make sure the non-union employees are working in fair conditions."
The ironworker said, "If a job goes on in Long Beach, local people should get the job and they should be union employees."
LBCC Interim Vice President of Administrative Services Gene Farrell said, "They're picketing because union workers are not being used, but union wages are being paid and there's no requirement to hire union employees."
The business agent for the local 433 Ironworkers, Piedmont Brown, said, "Basically, Mas Iron Co. is unfair to ironworkers. this job includes public money, it's a bond issue and Mas Iron Co. usually stays away from these types of jobs. An investigation needs to take place to find out how they got the low bid."
Brown also said 90 percent of employees working on the South Quad Complex are union and two different entrances now will be used for employees to enter the site. One entrance, along Lew Davis Street, will be for Taisei and other company employees, while the other entrance, in parking lot J near Taisei trailers, will be for Mas Iron Co. employees.
We'll be picketing only at the Mas iron Co. entrance," Brown said. "But if we find out that Mas Iron employees are entering through the other entrance, we'll start picketing all entrances. I'm not sure how long we'll be out there, but we're not going away until an agreement is met."
According to the Web site www.ironworkers.org, most union employed workers earn 34 percent more than no-union workers and unions gain health benefits, retirement plans, short-term disability benefits and vacation plans. Non-union workers are at the employer's discretion and usually not offered benefits. The Web site also explains that union workers are generally trained better and experience a lower turnover rate.
LBCC nursing major Tricia Vaught said, "It's confusing, if 90 percent of employees are union, then why aren't the other 10 percent? I feel like they're trying to pull something by hiring non-union, like trying to save a buck, but I don't quite understand all of it. There seems to be a lot of politics involved."
The 110,000-square-foot complex is expected to cost $36.6 million and is 10 percent finished, according to the LBCC Web site. The new building will house classrooms for the creative arts and applied sciences, history, political science, public service departments and the president's and administrative offices.