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Workers protest in WG
A group of construction workers on Aug. 7 in downtown Willow Glen protested Bay Area builder Barry Swenson's "open-shop" philosophy about hiring employees.
The workers were handing out fliers and picketing at the intersection of Willow Glen Way and Almaden Road, where Swenson is building a housing project that includes 133 senior low-income units.
According to David Gibbons, the site's project manager, the housing project is slated for completion in spring 2002.
Fliers cited Carpenter's Local Union 405 as one of the organizations protesting the use of non-union labor.
"We have union and non-union subcontractors," Gibbons explained. "We hire the people that do the best work for the best price, and the union would like us not to do that."
Gibbons also commented that the protesters handing out fliers "don't even know why they're there."
Said Gibbons: "That's the hilarious part of it. They [the unions] hire guys from temporary labor services and pay them minimum wage to stand out there."
Richard Wright, with the Southern Regional Council of Carpenters' Office, did not return phone calls by press time.
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Willow Glen, California Since 1992
