Union workers protest freeway subcontractor

For the second day, a small group of men held signs Tuesday in protest against one of the contractors working on the Carson City freeway project.

Standing at the edge of College Parkway along the freeway site, men from the International Association of Iron Workers Local Union No. 118 held signs reading "E.L. Wills unfair to iron workers." The men refused to either give their names or comment on their purpose for protesting.

The E.L. Wills company, based in Fresno, Calif., is a subcontractor for Frehner Construction doing the reinforced steel work on the drainage culverts and bridges for the freeway's first phase. Randy Evans, freeway project manager for Frehner, said the protest was not related to Frehner Construction and has no affect on the freeway work.

According to an attorney for the iron workers, the picket is to let people know there is an "unscrupulous contractor working on a Nevada project," said attorney Ellyn Moscowitz, of Oakland, Calif.-based Van Bourg, Weinberg, Roger and Rosenfeld lawfirm.

Moscowitz said the iron workers' contention is based on California lawsuits objecting to E.L. Wills' pay practices.

Ed Wills, company manager, said the real contention lies in the fact that the company is non-union and won't sign a contract with the union.

"It's kind of the first time we've ever had a highway job picketed," he said. "They're trying to win some local sympathy to put us in a bad light."

Moscowitz said the Wills company is involved in several lawsuits in California, one a class-action lawsuit charging that the company didn't pay travel and subsistence pay to workers on 196 public works jobs in California.

The case, which could cost the company between $3 million and $5 million, is headed to the U.S. Supreme Court, Moscowitz said.

There are also lawsuits involving a company foreman driving a company vehicle while intoxicated and harming others, as well as charges that the company doesn't pay overtime.

"They have a cavalier disregard for the health and safety of their workers," Moscowitz said.

Wills said lawsuits are pending against the company, but said the company has done nothing wrong.

"We have absolutely nothing to hide," Wills said. "To date, we've beaten every lawsuit."

Wills said he met with local iron union representatives and offered to use their workers on the Carson freeway job. Because he would not sign a contract with the union, he said the union's Oakland leadership pulled from the deal.

"If we sign a contract, it gives (the union) somewhat of a power over us," he said. "We'll be paying over union scale, we've offered (the picketers) a job. The union is putting their own men out of work.

"They asked for our cooperation. We've done everything we thought we could do."