Contractors Seek to Resolve Carpenter Strike

COSTA MESA — As dozens of non-union carpenters picketed outside, about 20 framing contractors met Tuesday in Costa Mesa in an effort to resolve a 2-week-old labor strife that has disrupted projects and caused increased tension around Southern California.

Framing contractors said nothing was decided at the meeting, though they discussed establishing a joint trust fund that could provide workers health insurance and other benefits.

The lack of benefits is one issue in a contentious battle that began April 3 when hundreds of workers around Southern California launched pickets at residential development sites, demanding better wages and benefits.

On a rainy Tuesday afternoon, about 150 workers picketed outside the FHP building in Costa Mesa where framing contractors met for the first time since the walkout.

Representatives of the Carpenters Union, which is leading the strike by the non-union workers, said the foremost issue is wages. The union says framers make on average $80 a day, about half of what they earned in the mid-1980s.

Contractors say they cannot afford to pay more because they are struggling with a sluggish economy, low demand and intense competition from, among others, illegitimate contractors who pay cash to workers. Framing contractors at the meeting Tuesday said they talked little about wages, but they added that there was interest in holding another meeting.