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Subcontractor Comes Up Short

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E. Scott Reckard covers tourism for The Times. He can be reached at (714) 966-7407 and at scott.reckard@latimes.com

Back in Anaheim, Disney’s California Adventure is far from the happiest construction site on Earth.

A subcontractor recently failed to pay more than 60 masons, carpenters and other workers for two weeks’ work. The workers also have come up short on large amounts of vacation pay, and they fear their health benefits could lapse because of the company’s problems. “There are a lot of unhappy guys over there,” said Manuel Correa, a concrete worker caught in the turmoil.

The troubled company, Marmolejo Contractors Inc., had worked for several prime contractors at the site. Officials at its Estacada, Ore., headquarters declined comment on what caused its problems.

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Supervisors and workers said Marmolejo several months ago stopped paying into union trust funds that cover vacation pay and benefits, then missed a paycheck. “A lot of these guys live from check to check, and it hurts,” said one worker who found a road construction job elsewhere. “Plus Christmas is coming up and you pretty much have that money spent already.”

One prime contractor, Hensel Phelps Construction Co., paid back wages Monday to about 30 workers and put them on its own payroll to finish their work on the park’s Paradise Pier section. Bailey Construction struck a similar deal with about 10 workers on Downtown Disney, an entertainment zone beside the new park.

At the park’s Hollywood Backlot section, prime contractor Bernards Bros. pledged to pay about 20 workers their back wages by Christmas. However, unlike the other workers, they won’t be put on the company’s payroll. “The concrete work that is left is extremely complex and critical,” said Bernards vice president Terry Zinger. “We can’t just pick it up on the fly and do it in-house. We need to hire another subcontractor.”

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