Robert Shaffer
GLENDALE -- Members of Carpenters Local 209 -- two or three, to be
exact -- are picketing a Glendale development company this week to
protest the firm's association with a concrete business that the unions
says doesn't pay high enough wages or offer health benefits.
The protesters wouldn't comment on the situation Thursday, referring
inquiries to officials at the Sylmar-based Local 209, who could not be
reached for comment.
Rhodes Development also could not be reached for comment, said a woman
through a microphone at the company's penthouse suite on a Central Avenue
business building.
Rhodes Development is building a parking structure in Newport Beach, a
flier the protesters were passing out stated. The company hired a company
called Pickard Construction Inc., which contracted with Covi Concrete to
work on the structure, the flier stated.
The group alleges Covi Concrete doesn't pay its workers adequate wages
or health benefits.
"Low wages tend to lower general community standards, thereby
encouraging crime and other social ills," the flier reads.
Andrea Crawley, bookkeeper and administration manager for Covi in
Newport Beach, said what the protesters are saying is untrue. She would
not say how much employees at the company make or whether they get health
benefits.
"None of what they say is true. The carpenters union has been
protesting us for over two years," she said. "It's a union thing."
