CCA Spin, Cooptation of Local Officials
and the Truth ~ Frank Smith

CCA slaps together pre-fabricated prisons
trucked in from out of state and uses a bare
minimum of local labor. They're even more
unlikely to use union labor. They hate unions.
When they are trying to hustle locals, they
often try to generate and stoke existing anti-
union sentiments. I don’t think any of their
prisons have guards or support staff who are
represented by unions.

If they claim otherwise, I'd ask them to cite
chapter and verse.

Of course, Einhorn is going to believe anything
they say, or will pretend to do so.

Here's a story about another CCA "detention
facility” that was forced on a community like
Crete. It has operated in the utmost secrecy
and no locals have a clue who is being held in it.
A helicopter was said to have landed it in last
week and no one can find out what's going on.
October 21, 2009 Pahrump Valley Times

A handful of union protesters picketed at each entrance
to the federal detention center job site this week,
focusing on prevailing wage disputes and the hiring of
non-union labor. “They're just paying some standard
wages for the area. That's cut and dry," said Darrell Fagg,
representative of Iron Workers Local 433. "They're
breaking down the standard of living for us out

here." Union picketers said fellow union workers
installing rebar walked off the job in sympathy Monday.
They said a concrete pour had to be stopped. But
otherwise, construction seemed to be going full steam
ahead as tilt-up concrete walls were largely in place and
a building was taking shape in the rear of the property.
Signs carried by picketers mentioned Blanchard
Hoffman Construction, a subcontractor hired by DCK
Worldwide, the general contractor, to supply and erect
metal buildings on the site. "They're non-union. We live
here, we want to work here," said protestor Bryan Rowe,
amember of Iron Workers Local 433. "We spent $300 a
week going into Vegas, why not spend $300 a week
here at the house?" Rowe said he spent eight years
commuting to Las Vegas, another union worker said he
spent 15 years commuting. “They don't have union,
structural iron workers here. They have unionrod
busters, but non-union structural hands. All the iron
going up there i going up non-union," said Ed
Williamson, a member of the local. “These guys, most of
their hands are from out-of-state.” "There's non-

union pipe fitters in there too,” Williamson said. "There's
quite a few iron workers out of work, union iron
workers." A man with another group of protesters said a
non-union backhoe driver for a plumbing company was

making $23.50 per hour with no benefits. One protestor,
bundled up wearing a hood against the early morning
cold Tuesday, said he underwent four years of training
and has 12 years of experience as an iron worker.
“There's tons of guys out of work and we don't really see
anything coming up. That's the bad part,” Williamson
said. Protestors said the federal detention center isn't
considered a federal job, which would require

paying construction workers prevailing wage. "If this was
a federal job, we wouldn't be out here -- we'd be out
here working. Then they've got to pay prevailing wage
to what we make anyway,” Williamson said.

Other union representatives have weighed in with their
concerns over the project. While a

carpenters union representative said last week four
companies they have under contract would have to pay
2 $4.50 per hour differential for Las Vegas workers -- an
incentive to hire Pahrump workers -- Scott Wichael,
business agent for the Operative Plasterers and Cement
Masons Local 797, said his union waived the differential
for concrete subcontractor Luccero Construction, who
was merely asked to hire local labor. But Wichael said
Lucero s is actually only employing one member of
their union from Pahrump. Wichael also had a concern
over two companies working on the job he couldn't find
on a list of companies licensed in the state of Nevada. "It
is not a federal project, there's not federal dollars in

the construction activity, therefore we're not governed
by prevailing wage.” said Buddy Johns, senior director of
project development for Corrections Corporation of
America. If it was a federal job, Johns said companies
wouldn't have to be licensed in Nevada but they would
have to pay prevailing wage.
October 14, 2009 Pahrump Valley Times
The construction trailer sits near the entrance to the job
site at the federal detention center on East Mesquite
Avenue, along with a water tank advertising a local
subcontractor, Wulfenstein Construction. The fact only
one subcontractor headquartered in Pahrump got a
contract to help build the federal detention center
doesn't mean the $80 million project won't put to work
many local construction workers. "Right now on the job
site, there's approximately 105 employees of which 30
are Pahrump residents," said Buddy Johns, Corrections
Corporation of America senior director for project
development. "Overall, the project is going to have
about 30 percent local labor." CCA expects a maximum
of 175 to 190construction workers at the peak. That
would mean 52 to 57 local workers based on 30-70
ratio. Wulfenstein Construction was the only
subcontractor on the list headquartered in Pahrump.
Walfenstein did the foundation work, the pad and the
on-site utilities. "When we investigated the local
contractor pool, what we found is they didn't have
enough manpower or they didn't have enough financial
strength to back the project, meaning bonding, or they
were not going to be able to meet our schedule
demands,” Johns said.