In fact the USW has instructed picketers not to talk to the media so it can “control the message” that the strike is over safety, not wages. “This is not a bunch of greedy workers trying to get more, more, more,” said USW spokesperson Lynne Hancock. “We know we’re well paid. That’s not the issue.”

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2015/02/06/oilw-f06.html

Dear Mr. LaVenture:

I am in receipt of your letter dated February 3, 2015 in which you take exception to the facts included in a recent communication to our affiliated Building Trades unions regarding the USW's actions in California's refineries.


Your claims of misrepresentation are not supported by the facts that are in our possession. To quote directly from your letter "The USW does not seek and has not proposed, that USW members perform any work in the area of construction, new construction, outages or turnarounds. ... Most importantly, the USW does not seek to undermine construction workers' wages."

Attached is the USW's collective bargaining agreement with Brinderson Construction with an effective date of June 1, 2010 and USW's master labor agreement with an effective date of January 1, 2014, claiming work that is the jurisdiction and livelihood of each of the individual Building Trades unions. The USW entered into these outrageously low-wage agreements with the same contractors that the Building Trades have engaged against in courts and job actions and other proceedings for abusing construction workers at refineries over the last twenty years. For example, please see the attached class action notice in the Small v. Brinderson lawsuit.

Furthermore, on July 24, 2014, you personally signed, under penalty of perjury, the attached document entitled: "Statement of Robert LaVenture Regarding California Refinery Operations Master Agreement" that discusses the formation of a contractors' association in partnership with the USW and names five construction contractors in direct opposition to the Building Trades.

Indeed, these companies are well known to the Building Trades for paying substandard wages and for routinely importing workers from low-wage Southern states, taking advantage of these workers' desperation and undermining local Building Trades workers that have historically performed construction on turnarounds and shutdowns at California's refineries.

In your letter you state that "...it is an outrage for fellow union members to undermine our collective bargaining efforts" and claim to be for “...solidarity and improved conditions for all” Re: Robert LaVenture reply February 4, 2015 Page 2

but the USW's sustained actions, beginning with your entry into the construction industry and partnership with these construction contractors initiated in 2007, prove differently. The USW is willfully conspiring with low-wage anti-union contractors that undermine the middle-class-blue-collar jobs of California Building Trade's members and is in direct contradiction to your statements above.

The California Building Trades will engage based on the facts, rather than advancing false claims that do nothing but undermine local standards. Until and unless you engage in a truthful manner, I do not see the point of any further dialogue regarding these issues but, rest assured, we will not let unsubstantiated claims to be levied at our unions while USW continues to undermine workers and industries in a drive to gain membership.