Strike Halts Construction at Airport : Labor: Iron workers picket the entrance to the project, and other workers honor the line. County officials make plans to avoid another shutdown.

Work at the already-delayed John Wayne Airport expansion project ground to a halt Monday as a group of iron workers walked off the job and the project’s other union laborers honored the picket line.

“The project’s shut down today,” said Assistant County Administrative Officer Murry Cable, the county supervisors’ liaison to the airport construction project. “We had a steelworkers’ strike, and nobody would cross the picket line.”

County officials were not sure whether the strike would continue today, but they said that if it does, they will have most workers enter through a second gate so they can avoid passing the pickets. That plan, they said, will keep any work stoppage from holding up the project.

According to several county and project officials, Monday’s strike was not authorized by the local trades’ council, a union organization that sanctions strikes. A trades’ council official visited the pickets Monday morning and warned the strikers that their picketing was not sanctioned, officials said, but by that time the site had been virtually closed.

Union representatives were not available for comment.

Cable and other airport officials expressed confidence that the strike would not postpone the opening day for the expanded airport, now set for Sept. 16. They acknowledged, however, that Monday’s action, however temporary, represents another setback in the beleaguered project. The opening day was originally set for April 1.

“Obviously, this is something that we would prefer not to have to deal with,” said John McCarney, project director for HPV, the private consortium overseeing construction of the $310-million expansion project. “Still, the schedule’s tight, but losing a day is not catastrophic. There are ways you can make up that time.”

Monday’s action was directed at the Regional Steel Corp., a subcontractor working for McCarthy Bros. Co., one of the major contractors for the airport and the one responsible for building the east side parking structure and lower-level road. The contract amount for that work, which is nearly complete, is $24 million.

McCarthy Bros. also is negotiating with the county to complete work on the northwest parking structure and the upper-level road, a $25-million contract. Taylor Woodrow Construction California Ltd. originally began work on those projects in 1988 but was fired in May because the work was far behind schedule.

Airport officials said that although 20 or so Regional Steel Corp. workers at the airport are all union members, the company’s shops are staffed with non-union employees, and that has led to strife.

Although Monday’s strike was directed only at Regional Steel, the union members picketed the only entrance to the construction site.

County officials plan to skirt that problem today by opening a separate entrance for Regional Steel Corp. workers. Pickets will be limited to that entrance.

“If we set up the separate gate, that’s the only gate that could be picketed legally,” McCarney said. Mike Bolen, McCarthy Bros. president, said work on his firm’s projects would not be dramatically affected by the strike if it can be resolved within a few days.

If the strike continues, however, Bolen said McCarthy Brothers would consider firing the steel company and replacing it with one able to supply the needed material and workers.