NEWPORT BEACH
Covi Concrete Construction has accused the carpenters union of misusing $1.5 million in dues since 1997 to pay nonunion workers to protest at its building sites.
The accusations are the latest development in a three-year battle between the construction company and the union. Two weeks ago at Newport Center, nearly 500 protesters from Local Union No. 944 showed up at a Covi job site, demanding that the company hire union workers.
Full-page Covi ads in Monday newspapers said that the union has paid “nonunion workers nonunion wages, without benefits, to intimidate, threaten and harass” the construction company. The ads accuse the union of hypocrisy in its campaign to force Covi to hire union workers and pay union wages.
Union representatives said they viewed the ad as a victory in their long-running dispute with the construction company.
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