Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : 5 Arrested in Union Protest at Palmdale Construction Site

Police arrested five people Thursday morning after a union protest outside a condominium construction site in Palmdale turned violent, authorities said.

The incident started around 6:30 a.m. when about 100 union members from the Southern California District Council of Carpenters picketed the entrance of a condominium project at 25th Street E, south of Avenue S, where non-union dry wallers are being employed, union representative Martin Pahlquist said.

Arrested were Gregory Arroyo, 29, of City of Commerce; Linda Beckman, 35, of Lancaster; Donald Degines, 44, of Palmdale; Juan Gonzaga, 31, and David Logan, 33. Pahlquist said Arroyo, Gonzaga and Logan are affiliated with the union.

Thirty-three officers from the California Highway Patrol, Antelope Valley and Santa Clarita sheriffs’ stations responded to the disturbance, which ended around 7:30 a.m., Sheriff’s Lt. T. Evans said.

The incident came on the second day of demonstrations by carpenter union members outside the project in a dispute with the contractor over wages and benefits.

Labor organizers contend the contractor, Pacific Wallboard and Plaster Co. of Oregon City, Ore., is paying dry wallers substandard wages and no benefits.

Officials at the Plastic Wallboard did not return phone calls.