Union workers protest non-union workers at Area 52

Non-union iron workers on the Area 52 project now must use a separate entrance and exit from union iron workers, due to a developing dispute between Ironworkers Local 155 and Fresno Fab-Tech, a Fresno-based iron shop. Picketers also demonstrated in front of Via Carta last week before shutting off the original entrance to Area 52.

The union employees are demonstrating to ensure that their members continue to have jobs at Cal Poly, said Joel Neel, associate director of facilities planning at Cal Poly.

“In essence, they’re trying to make sure that their guys there have jobs,” Neel said.

In response, Cal Poly has opened a second gate for non-union employees to enter the construction site, in compliance with state law, Neel said. The picketing has not slowed down progress on Area 52, Neel said.

The picketing is meant to draw attention to the fact that there are non-union shops working on Cal Poly’s campus, and that these shops pay their employees poorly, said Don, a spokesperson for Local 155 who declined to state his last name.

“The picketing was an attempt to educate the school that the subcontractor Fresno Fab-Tech is unfair to employees,” Don said.

Though union and non-union employees receive the same wages for their work at Area 52, the case is not the same when working on privately funded projects, Don said.

“When the guys are on privately-funded jobs, they’re paid considerably less and we don’t think that’s fair,” Don said.

Fresno Fab-Tech declined to comment on the demonstrations.

Cal Poly facilities allows union and open shops to work on campus projects at the contractor’s discretion, though the campus rarely sees demonstration, Neel said.

Victoria Billings contributed to this article