COMMENTARIES ON THE DRYWALLERS’ DISPUTE : Strikers Resorting to Violence and Intimidation to Gain Ends : They must work through the system to gain representation, rather than impose a reign of terror at job sites.

In recent weeks, home builders throughout Southern California have had to take unprecedented steps to protect their employees and tradespeople from violent attacks by striking drywall workers.

The assaults have generally been well-orchestrated; in case after case reported to the Building Industry Assn. of Southern California, groups of 40 to 200 striking drywall workers have pulled up to job sites, jumped fences or torn them down, thrown rocks at non-striking workers, smashed the windshields of their vehicles, broken windows and punched holes through walls.

Strikers have recently resorted to arson; a fire at a housing tract in San Diego destroyed three homes under construction. In the very worst cases, security guards hired to protect the workers have been hospitalized with injuries from beatings from the striking workers.

It is alarming and difficult to understand why the striking drywall workers are resorting to the sort of violence, intimidation and vandalism that marred early labor history in the United States. Today, there is an established, well-defined and peaceful procedure for joining or forming a union.

In fact, the Building Industry Assn. has helped negotiate union contracts for members since 1935, and today represents both union and non-union companies, including plumbers, civil engineers, carpenters and electricians. In Southern California, the carpenters union, which has valid contracts with BIA members, represents drywall workers. Most important, the BIA supports an “open shop”; the right of a builder or subcontractor to choose union or non-union.

The issue isn’t whether unions are accepted by the building industry. They are. The core question is, why aren’t the striking workers willing to work within the system to seek representation by a union? Why have they instead embarked on a reign of terror on job sites, and forced builders to hire security guards and erect barbed-wire fences to protect their workers?

Many newspaper stories have focused on the striking workers’ complaints about low wages. This is an area that is important to put in perspective both in terms of the economic times we live in and how tradespeople are typically paid.

It is no surprise to anyone that the home building business is in one of its worst slumps. Land prices have escalated, financing is nearly impossible to find, and home builders have been forced to cut back through layoffs, wage freezes or salary cuts. Some long-established firms have had to declare bankruptcy. As the recession has dragged on, the number of homes being built has been radically cut back, throwing many subcontractors out of work and leaving others to compete for scarce jobs. Most people in the housing industry are doing the best they can to wait out the recession and hope the economy improves.

There is a lesser-understood phenomenon that directly affects the drywall workers’ wages. First, drywall workers, like many tradespeople, are paid by the piece, or how much they can produce in a day. A survey of our members indicates that the average piece rate paid by drywall companies is six to seven cents per square foot.

A 1,500-square-foot home typically requires about 5,700 square feet of drywall, about what a skilled, three-man crew can complete in one day. At seven cents a square foot, that crew would share a daily wage of $342. A crew’s earnings are directly related to skill and productivity--the faster, more skilled and efficient the crew, the higher its effective wage. Since 1982, however, there has been a marked decline in productivity. Immigrant workers began to enter the drywall field and, because they were less experienced than journeymen drywallers, took longer to complete a job, sometimes two to three days instead of one. They also worked in larger teams of four to six men. So while the piece rate has stayed constant since the mid-’80s, each man ended up taking home less pay.

Let me be clear that the BIA supports a fair and equitable wage for drywall workers, and all workers. We do not condone the hiring of undocumented workers, paying workers in cash, or the use of exploitative “labor barons” who have been suspected of skimming workers’ wages. Our goal is to end the violence, and to use whatever lawful means exist to protect our workers and secure our job sites.

My fellow members and I are proud of our role in helping people fulfill the American dream of home ownership. We are deeply distressed that this dream is being threatened by violence, and that the efforts of the honest, hard-working majority of workers in our industry are being affected by the threats of a few.

If abuses exist, let us address them in a calm, productive atmosphere, without the specter of violence. As an association, the BIA intends to work with our member subcontractors to encourage open communication with our builder members on worker issues, and to ensure the fair treatment of all workers.

We want to continue to build houses. We intend to protect our employees and their workplace. Most of all, we want to restore peace to this industry, and to the community.