LV ready mix companies say protests don't stop deliveries

One of two big Las Vegas cement companies being picketed by locked-out Teamsters truck drivers won a temporary restraining order Thursday to stop the union from using illegal tactics to disrupt its business and shut down its cement yards.

Nevada Ready Mix, fearing the union's picketing may escalate and "result in substantial property damage, injury or death," sought legal action in Clark County District Court to stop the union from engaging in what a company spokesman called a "violation of the right to a peaceful picket."

A hearing is scheduled June 12 and the second union target, CSR, is expected to file its own lawsuit today alleging similar violations, spokesman Ray Brown said. The union declined immediate comment on the companies' allegations.

Teamsters Local 631 drivers began picketing at the sites early Thursday after some 400 of them were locked out of their jobs at all six of Nevada Ready Mix and CSR's cement yards when the union and companies failed to agree on a contract cutting wages before the current one expired at midnight Wednesday.

The companies, which said they were losing business to non-union companies because of an uncompetitive compensation and benefits package under the current contract, had proposed to cut wages by $2 an hour for existing drivers and make other modifications.

But these offers were repeatedly spurned by the union, which refused to accept any wage cuts and argued the proposals will hurt workers who depend on overtime.

Police said there had been no picketing-related arrests as of this morning.

Brown said picketing activity intensified Thursday as some union members blocked the movement of trucks, made death threats, shouted profanities and tampered with trucks to discharge concrete onto the streets.

Brown said the incidents underscored the companies' need for a TRO. "Metro can't stay on location all the time. If the court upholds labor laws and provides us basic injunctive relief, then we won't have any stoppages. We are completely staffed and able to meet all existing contracts."

Nevada Ready Mix's order seeks to stop the picketers from using vehicles to block its trucks and workers from entering or leaving the yards, "threatening, molesting or assaulting its workers" and "spreading, ... dispersing nails, tacks, staples, glass or other objects" at the entrances and exits of its yards.

The Teamsters this morning organized significant numbers of supporters at the unfinished Suncoast Casino in Summerlin, where the two companies were delivering ready mix, said Brown.

"We heard the union is asking the other trades people to not cross the picket line. This is considered a secondary boycott," he said. "The Teamsters' strike has nothing to do with the other trades."

Jim Wilkerson, the Teamsters' spokesman, said the union succeeded in disrupting the companies' deliveries.

The companies hired replacement workers and Brown said orders are being filled.

"They are successful in creating situations that were very frustrating and caused delays, but we ran all our shifts and continued to make deliveries. It just took us longer than usual."

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