Organization protects non-union companies from discrimination and harassment by unions

By BRIAN S. KINAL

July 28, 2000 Web posted at: 1:14 PM EDT (1714 GMT)

ERIE, Pennsylvania (Erie Time News) -- A national association that fosters nonunion construction companies has opened an Erie office, intensifying the competition between union and non-union commercial builders.

Associated Builders and Contractors established a presence in Pittsburgh nearly 30 years ago, but the organization opened its first Erie office just last month.

The office, managed by Peg Renshaw, is in the Strickland Construction suite at 900 State St.

Lee Strickland, past president of ABC's western Pennsylvania chapter, said 80 percent of commercial construction in the United States is performed by non-union companies, also called merit shops.

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"There is no organization to represent that 80 percent of the market in Erie," Strickland said. "ABC fills that."

ABC's 17-county western Pennsylvania chapter has 270 member companies, including 28 in Erie County, according to chapter Executive Director Charles Waddingham. That county figure is up from eight in 1991, he added.

Waddingham said the chapter operates 21 apprentice programs, runs a federally sanctioned program to reward workplace safety, and markets the services of its members.

Protecting non-union companies from job discrimination and from harassment by the unions is one of ABC's key roles, said Strickland and Waddingham.

Waddingham said taxpayer-funded entities discriminate by signing construction contracts that specify union labor, examples being the upcoming two stadiums and convention center in Pittsburgh.

"If you're a merit shop, what that means is that you're not going to be able to use your long-term employees, unless they're allowed to join the union. That's unfair," he said.

Strickland said that, so far, there have not been any exclusively union contracts on major government projects in Erie County. ABC hopes to keep it that way.

"We believe a contract should go to the lowest qualified bidder, not awarded on the basis of union affiliation," he said.

Strickland said his own firm was unionized until he decided to end union representation in 1991.

He said he has nothing against union companies and often uses them as subcontractors, but believes in a company's right to be non-union.

Waddingham accused the unions of harassing non-union companies through a practice known as "salting." In salting, a union member applies for a job at a non-union company, and sometimes sabotages the work, he said.

That charge brought an adamant rebuttal from Kirk Groenendaal, president of the Great Lakes Building Trades.

Groenendaal, who also served as business manager for Local 56 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, acknowledged that unions use salting.

But he said, "Our guys who do that are instructed to go there and do a good, eight hours worth of work."

The purpose of salting, he said, is twofold: to uncover illegal labor practices and to encourage non-union workers to unionize.

As an example of an illegal labor practice, Groenendaal said a company might require workers to report at 7:30 a.m., but not begin paying them until 8, then stop paying them at 4:30 p.m., but require them to stay until 5.

That's a violation of federal law, Groenendaal said, and unions have reported non-union companies for such offenses.

He denied that union members sabotage non-union projects, and also disputed Strickland's claim that non-union shops do 80 percent of the work in Erie County.

According to Groenendaal, 30 percent of the Erie area's construction workforce is unionized, and union electricians perform 45 to 50 percent of the work.

"ABC is just a group of businessmen who come together to further their business," he said. "It has nothing to do with the employees or their well-being."

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