About 200 people join protest over Nevada jobs going to out-of-state companies, employees

200 protest NV jobs going to out-of-state workers

RENO, Nev. — About 200 people, many of them unemployed, joined a protest in Reno over what they call an “epidemic” of jobs in economically troubled Nevada going to out-of-state companies and workers.

Demonstrators marched Thursday about a mile from downtown to the University of Nevada-Reno campus. Speakers at a rally there criticized the university, saying two major campus projects involve workers from Arizona, California and Utah.

They also cited about a dozen other public and private construction projects in northern Nevada that they say involve out-of-state contractors, subcontractors and workers.

Protesters waved placards saying “Why are Nevada’s tax dollars going to Arizona’s economy?” and “Local jobs for local workers — There is no recovery until we work.”

The event was organized by leaders of the Building and Construction Trades Council of Northern Nevada/AFL-CIO, who noted Nevada’s record 13.4 percent jobless rate is second highest in the nation behind’s Michigan’s 14.1 percent and is well above the 9.9 percent national rate. The state has lost 26,000 construction jobs over the past year.

“The volume of Nevada construction work going to out-of-staters has reached epidemic proportions,” said Paul McKenzie, the group’s executive secretary. “These projects may help with the economic recovery of many other states, but we think Nevada jobs should go to Nevada workers.”

UNR officials said the five largest, recent campus projects were all awarded to Nevada-based contractors.

“We are very sympathetic to the economic challenges facing the construction industry. … Recent construction projects on campus have provided more than a thousand local construction jobs,” said Ron Zurek, UNR’s vice president of finance and administration.

He cited as an example the award of the Pennington Health Science Education Building project to Sundt Construction based in Tucson, Ariz.

Zurek said he expects about 85 percent of the subcontractor work on the project to be performed by local subcontractors and that Sundt also will hire local workers.

But McKenzie said he expects roughly 50 percent of the workers on the project to end up coming from out of state. The figure is comparable to the percentage involved in the recent construction of Cabela’s sporting goods store in Reno and the Legends shopping and entertainment center in Sparks, he said.

“I have a wife and three kids, and I’ve been laid off for seven months,” said Brian McKee, 32, of Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 350. “I don’t think it’s right at all that these jobs are going to out-of-state workers. If it’s in Nevada, it should go to Nevada labor.”