|
Iron Workers #516 faces shut down at Universal StructuralVANCOUVER, Wash. — Universal Structural, Inc., a Vancouver steel bridge fabricator, laid off 50 workers in December, and has plans to lay off the remaining 110 and shutter its doors in May. That’s the understanding of the union, anyway. Iron Workers Shopmen’s Local 516 Business Manager Mike Lappier spent 17 years working at USI and learned of the layoffs in a meeting with management last month. USI is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Portland-based Harder Mechanical, which is also a signatory contractor with six construction trades unions. USI general manager Dick Kerkering didn’t return calls by the NW Labor Press, but Steve Harder of Harder Mechanical did. Harder wouldn’t confirm or deny the report of layoff and closure plans, saying only that the company is still considering its options. Universal Structural constructs and pre-assembles the girders that go into bridges. The company’s work can be seen in a number of well-known bridges, including the Hoffstadt Bridge over the Toutle River on the scenic Spirit Lake Memorial Highway to Mt. St. Helens. The company may have run into difficulties in its bid on a renovation of the San Francisco Bay Bridge. The project is enormous and complicated, and has faced political delays and cost-overruns. USI was part of a consortium of companies that bid on work. “These guys have been busting their ass on this job, working seven days a week,” Lappier said, “and then it's gone.”
|