PAGE 2 | February 17 , 2017 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
...UNDER THE BRIDGE
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A salt is a worker who takes a
job as the agent of a union. Salts
document management mis-
deeds, educate co-workers about
their rights, and even take part in
union organizing campaigns.
In this case, Rubi was sent in
by Painters andAllied Trades
District Council 5 on suspicion
that something wasn’t right on
the Ross Island Bridge repaint-
ing project. It’s a complicated
three-year deal that involves the
construction of temporary sup-
port structures and containment
systems underneath the bridge in
order to safely sandblast and re-
paint three steel arch spans that
have aged and rusted since they
were last painted in the 1960s.
The Ross Island Bridge spans
the Willamette River, connecting
U.S. Route 26 between south-
west and southeast Portland. In
1976, ownership was transferred
from Multnomah County to the
state.
Oregon Department of Trans-
portation (ODOT) estimated that
bids would come in at $30 to
$40 million. But nonunion Abhe
& Svoboda of Minnesota won
the contract with a low bid of
$22.3 million — $11 million be-
low the union-signatory contrac-
“When it’s ‘go, go, go’ sometimes people
don’t pay attention. … Traditionally
when you’re working in a dangerous en-
vironment like that, employers don’t
usually rush you to get things done be-
cause they understand the liability issue.”
— Abhe & Svoboda employee Omar Rubi
tor, Hercules Painting of New
Castle, Pennsylvania.
The union wanted to know
how Abhe & Svoboda could bid
so low, even though they’re re-
quired to pay the same hourly
wage and benefits as their union
competitor, under the state “little
Davis-Bacon” law, which re-
quires contractors on govern-
ment construction projects to
pay the prevailing wage. Could
they be cutting corners to make
the project pencil out? Rubi got
a job there to find out, and soon
found problems.
Paint in some cases was being
applied at the wrong thickness or
in conditions that were too cold
or humid to meet manufacturer
specifications, Rubi said. In
places, paint was bubbling or
chipping, or missing required
“striping” along joints.
From along the river bank,
Painters District Council 5 field
representative Scott Oldham
took video of workers without
proper respirators, suits, safety
glasses or fall protection using
air blowers to clean up sand-
blasting debris when the struc-
ture wasn’t fully contained by
tarps. Oldham says that could re-
sult in the toxic metals such as
lead, cadmium, and chromium
falling into the Willamette River.
But as bad or worse were con-
ditions for workers. As Rubi de-
scribes it, Abhe & Svoboda’s un-
der-the-bridge crew of 20 to 30
workers — many of whom were
brought in from out of town —
was a hotbed of racial and gen-
der discord and tension. African-
American workers were derided
for laziness and referred to as
monkeys and leeches by co-
workers and supervisors, Rubi
says.
Rubi, a native Spanish
speaker, arrived at work on Elec-
tion Day to find his locker de-
faced with obscene images and
the words “Trump 16.” A super-
visor told him, on threat of fir-
ing, not to talk to a female
African-American co-worker
who had complained of extreme
sexual harassment.
Meanwhile, Oldham did
some research, and found viola-
tions and fines on numerous
Abhe & Svoboda bridge proj-
ects. Some examples:
■ Connecticut, 2007 – $1.3 million in
unpaid wages for paying painters at the wage
for laborers and carpenters
■ Astoria, Oregon, 2011 – Nearly $30,000 in
penalties for dozens of OSHA violations
■ Hawaii, 2012 – $15,500 in penalties for
three serious OSHA violations
■ Fresno County, California, 2013 – $90,900
in civil penalties for failure to employ
apprentices as required
■ Mendocino County, California, 2016 –
$60,000 in back wages and $55,000 in
penalties for prevailing wage violations
And this wasn’t even the first
time Abhe & Svoboda had been
scrutinized by Portland-area
unions. In 1998, when Abhe &
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