Covi strikes back with anti-union ad

Noaki Schwartz

NEWPORT BEACH -- Covi Concrete Construction has accused the Carpenters

Union of misusing $1.5 million in dues since 1997 to pay nonunion workers

to protest in front of its building sites.

The accusations are the latest development in a three-year battle between

the construction company and the union. Two weeks ago at Newport Center,

nearly 500 Local Union 944 protesters showed up at a Covi job site,

demanding the company to hire union workers.

In a one-page paid advertisement appearing in the Los Angeles Times on

Monday, a message from the Covi company said the union has paid “nonunion

workers nonunion wages, without benefits, to intimidate, threaten and

harass” the Covi construction company. The ad accuses the union of

hypocrisy in its campaign to force Covi to hire union workers and pay

union wages.

Union representatives said they viewed the ad as a victory in their

long-running dispute with the million-dollar construction company.

While union spokesman Mike McCarron admitted that a considerable amount

of money has been spent on the campaign -- and that a small percentage of

nonunion workers are used in protests -- he said it is worth the effort.

“The membership backs the leadership,” he said. “Everybody got a kick out

of this ad.”

Covi owner Paul Bissin and his attorney Phillip Greer could not be

reached for comment Monday.

McCarron said that when 500 workers picketed a Covi job site in Newport

Center on Feb. 3, about 95% to 100% of the protesters were union members.

Huntington Beach-based Covi did $20 million in business last year and has

been responsible for Newport Beach projects such as Fletcher Jones Motor

Cars and the Colony parking lot at Fashion Island.

“Obviously we’re effective or he wouldn’t have spent [anywhere from

$7,000 to $12,000] to put the ad in the newspaper,” McCarron said. “This

is desperation.”

McCarron said companies like Covi prefer to use nonunion workers because

they don’t have to provide health insurance and can pay them less than

the $26-an-hour union wage. In this way, he said, construction companies

can stay competitive in the cutthroat building business.

But Greer has argued that instead of turning the money over to the union

in dues, Covi prefers to give it directly to workers. However, Covi

employees two weeks ago said they were making less than the union wage

and did not receive any benefits.

The dispute climaxed last year when Bissin found his South Orange County

home surrounded by picketers. Neighbors at his Nellie Gail Ranch

community -- where homes prices average about $3 million -- were so

disturbed by the protesters that they went to court to stop them.

An Orange County Superior Court judge ordered protesters to stay clear of

Bissin’s home, but allowed them to picket at the community’s entrance.

Since then, a handful of protesters still picket outside the

neighborhood.

McCarron said Covi’s recent effort to incite an upheaval within the union

ranks has yet to garner any support. He said the union had not received

any calls from irate members after the ad was published.

“Covi has unfair wages, no health care and no pension,” McCarron said.

“There may be companies that don’t want to use Covi. The battle

continues.”