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Members of the Iron Workers Union gather daily in a passage leading to the Life Sciences building to protest the alleged violation of Occupational Safety & Health Administration safety regulations by Ghonim Steel, a subcontractor working on LaKretz Hall.

The construction site is located between the Bombshelter cafeteria and the Life Sciences building.

For the past six weeks, soon after Ghonim Steel began to work on LaKretz Hall on March 20, four to six members of Iron Workers Local Union 433 have been standing in front of the construction site with signs saying “Ghonim Unfair to Iron Workers.”

The Local Union 433, representing about 4,400 men and women steel workers in Los Angeles, is a branch of the national Iron Workers Union.

Matt Thompson, Ghonim Steel’s foreman for the LaKretz site, said the charges are not true.

Based on observations of construction and photographs taken, Robbie Hunter, president and agent of Local Union 433, said he believes Ghonim Steel is violating safety regulations.

One alleged violation is working over 30 feet above the ground without a floor between the ground and work area and no perimeter cable, Hunter said.

Another is the lack of at least one piece of X-bracing, which is supposed to be installed before a bar joist is released from a crane. Bar joists are the framework for the floors of the building. X-bracing connects the parallel bar joists and ensures that if a construction worker walks on bar joists, he or she does not flip.

Hunter said, “We are documenting these violations so that they can be shown to OSHA,” which sets and enforces health and safety standards.

In response to these charges, Thompson said OSHA sent out a representative about a month ago and found no violations.

Hunter said a non-OSHA violation practiced by Ghonim Steel could endanger students studying in LaKretz. He is concerned about the workers welding beams out of sequence. Beams support the walls of a building when their columns are connected, and welding ensures stability.

“When you weld both sides of the beam at the same time, there is too much stress on the beam,” Hunter said, adding that in case of an earthquake, the beams may crack.

As their signs say, the Local Union 433 members also question whether Ghonim Steel is paying their workers the area standard prevailing wage dictated by California. The standard prevailing wage for journeymen in Los Angeles is approximately $44 an hour.

Thompson mentioned that his construction workers make $44.15 an hour and do not have to pay union dues, which constitute $30 a month.

California also dictates that all state-funded projects use an Approved Apprenticeship Program that Ghonim Steel is not using, Hunter said.

LaKretz Hall is not a federally funded project, but it is sponsored by gift funds, said George Conde, the project director of Capital Programs in health sciences. Therefore, it does not need to use an apprenticeship program.

Conde said he is not aware whether the union protesters have contacted Capital Programs at UCLA.

In an attempt to resolve the situation, Hunter said he arranged meetings twice with the president of Ghonim Steel, who canceled both times, he said.

Of the union protesters, Thompson said, “They won’t talk to me.”

He also met with Glen Fichman, member of the Campus Council, on Monday to talk about the situation.

“There are certain things that we are able to check out. Certain (ones) are hard to investigate,” Fichman said.

Among violations that UCLA cannot investigate on its own are possible wage violations, Fichman suggested. These violations need to be investigated by the Department of Industrial Relations.

Both Hunter and Thompson mentioned animosity between the demonstrators and the workers of Ghonim Steel.