Y. says protest aimed at builders

PROVO — Brigham Young University math major Tom Bell said he meant it as a friendly warning when he told pickets they should be careful about protesting on school property.

"Well, call the cops on us," tossed back one of three 20-something men standing on the corner of Bulldog Boulevard and Canyon Road.

There, right in front of BYU's legendary stone marker that declares "The World is Our Campus," the men held a banner with a competing message in large, red block letters: "Shame on Brigham Young University."

Bell, 22, continued his brisk walk to class but glared over his shoulder as he paused and twice slapped a street sign just 75 feet up the street: "Entering BYU property. Distributing Handbills and Soliciting Prohibited."

The protest is legal because the sidewalk on the corner is public property, but BYU officials want to make clear the protest isn't aimed at the university.

Instead, it is part of a dispute between a union and Okland Construction, which built the university's indoor football facility and Ezra Taft Benson science building and is completing work on the Joseph F. Smith humanities building.

"They're not picketing us," university spokeswoman Carri Jenkins said. "This is a concern with Okland Construction. It does not have anything to do with their labor practices at BYU. We are working with the management of the construction company and the labor union to maintain order."

The protesters are members of two union chapters — Carpenters Locals 184 and 1498 — of the Southwest Regional Council of Carpenters. In April, the union filed four charges against Okland with the National Labor Relations Board for allegedly coercing workers to bolt the SRCC and create a new union, the Utah Carpenters Association (UBC).

Okland denied the charges and filed 15 of its own, alleging that the SRCC has engaged in secondary boycotts around the state against neutral employers like BYU.

Particularly distasteful to Okland officials is the flier that protesters hand out to pedestrians or passengers in cars that stop at the corner.

Outlined on orange paper is the charge, "Shame on Brigham Young University for Desecration of the American Way of Life." A rat is shown shredding an American flag with its teeth.

The flier claims BYU is profiting from unfair labor practices and encourages readers to tell BYU to do all it can to change Okland's attempt to create a "phony" union.

Okland's secretary treasurer, John McEntire, said the company was approached by workers concerned they had lost a voice in management of their union because the SRCC is located in southern California.