Southwestern Construction Workers Building Justice

by James Parks, Dec 6, 2006

They work long hours in the hot desert sun with temperatures up to 120 degrees, constructing the new homes and buildings that fuel the economic boom in the nation’s fast-growing Southwest. But the mostly immigrant workers are not sharing in the boom. They work long hours for little pay. If they get sick, they cannot afford health care.

So more than 5,000 workers in Arizona, Nevada, two of the fastest-growing states in the country, are joining together in the AFL-CIO’s national “Building Justice” campaign to gain dignity and justice on the job by forming a union with the Iron Workers, Painters and Allied Trades, Sheet Metal Workers (SMWIA) and the United Union of Roofers and Waterproofers.

Between 3,000 and 5,000 of the workers are employed by Michigan-based Pulte Homes, one of the nation’s largest home builders, or by its subcontractors. The workers are seeking a fair shake on the job–a fair day’s pay for a day’s work and affordable health care. Pulte, which has been dubbed the “Wal-Mart” of home developers, has operations in 50 markets and made more than $14 billion in sales last year.

Mahelio Rico, a SMWIA member, says he worked for five years at Chas Robert in Phoenix before getting fired for trying to form a union with the Sheet Metal Workers. Rico says after he became a leader of the campaign for a voice at work, his boss started to target him to get him to quit:

We’re not asking for thousands, just respect and fair wages and benefits.  Chas Roberts may have all the millions in the world, but they do not have respect and dignity for human beings. That’s why we are fighting for justice.

We’re not asking for thousands, just respect and fair wages and benefits. Chas Roberts may have all the millions in the world, but they do not have respect and dignity for human beings. That’s why we are fighting for justice.

Although the Pulte campaign began less than a year ago, the SMWIA has been locked in a tough struggle with Chas Roberts, a major Pulte subcontractor, for more than two years. Roberts is the largest subcontractor for heating and air conditioning installation in Arizona and the second-largest in the country.  

David Benites, a SMWIA international staff member, says Chas Roberts routinely places profits before their employees:

Workers at Chas are upset about safety on the job.  Since 2003, there have been five OSHA investigation cases involving the company, with Chas being cited for 17 violations, four of them serious, and fined thousands of dollars.

Additionally, in June 2005, Chas Roberts fired a union supporter who recently stood up for his rights.  Not long after, about 120 workers at Chas Roberts engaged in a work stoppage in protest of the company’s disrespect of the workers and disregard for their concerns.  The company summarily fired over 40 of these workers.  Workers are demanding that Chas stop trying to intimidate those who want a voice at work.

The Pulte workers, who are trying to join the SMWIA, the Roofers and the Painters unions, also want Pulte to be accountable for the actions of its subcontractors who perform most of the work on the houses. The workers are taking their message to homeowners across the country by leafleting at new developments being put up by Pulte.
The workers also have gained the support of the religious community, especially the Interfaith Worker Justice, which has called on major developers, as leaders in the business community and in a prospering economy, to ensure that their contractors do not exploit their workers.  

At the same time, workers at Great Western Erectors, one of the nation’s largest commercial building companies, are trying to form a union with the Iron Workers. The 300-plus employees at Great Western install rebars–those steel reinforcing rods in concrete structures.

They want their employer, the second-largest rebar company in the nation, to follow the lead of its top competitor, J.D. Steel, where workers won a watershed victory in 2003. The Iron Workers signed a union contract with J.D. Steel covering 600 workers in 21 states. The agreement provides for improved wages, health insurance, pensions, a grievance procedure and a training program.

The pact also created a unique multi-state organization, Iron Workers Local 846, giving the union and the employer the flexibility and mobility to reach out to more workers. As construction companies expand nationally and increasingly do business in many states, unions must change their own structures to better enable workers to have a voice on the job, Iron Workers leaders say. Creating a multi-state local is one example of how unions are changing to help the workers and employers in their industries build strength.

Union organizers, meeting Dec. 8–9 in Washington, D.C., at the AFL-CIO Organizing Summit, will hear more about the Southwest Building Trades struggle as they develop strategies to help more workers join unions. The two-day summit will bring together organizers, leaders and members from the United States and around the world.  Participants will focus on successful grassroots organizing techniques and innovative campaign strategies that have enabled workers to join unions despite the anti-union decisions of the Republican-dominated NLRB.

Summit participants also will rally on Capitol Hill and discuss plans for building on the astounding political shift after the Nov. 7 election to win passage of the Employee Free Choice Act. The act would allow employees to freely choose whether to form unions by signing cards authorizing representation. To register for the summit or for more information, call Tiffany Heath at 202-637-6247.