A Colorado framing and drywall company cut carpenter wages by $3 an hour on the Las Ventanas senior living project in Summerlin and failed to deliver on promises to provide housing and subsistence to out-of-state workers recruited for the job, a union representative said Friday.

A majority of workers brought to Las Vegas from Colorado and California by United Builder Services walked off the job within a couple of weeks, said Lewis Brown of Carpenters Local 1977.

"They started out promising these guys $25 an hour and when they moved here, they paid them $17 or $18 an hour," Brown said. "They promised they'd pay for rent, pick up room and board. All these guys have families and homes in Colorado and Northern California."

Brown said the National Labor Relations Board found UBS guilty of unfair labor practices and the company recently sent a check to the union for $12,000 in back pay to be disbursed to workers.

Problems at Las Ventanas started in February when Burke & Associates was named general contractor for the second phase of the $90 million project and the contract went nonunion, Brown said. Perini Building Group, which employs mostly union labor, did the first phase.

"They wanted to use a union contract," Brown said of Burke & Associates, "but the owners wanted to save money and not pay any medical benefits and pay substandard wages."

The wage and benefits package for union carpenters is about $40 an hour, he said.

Kevin Burke, owner of Las Vegas-based Burke & Associates, said the job is a mixture of both union and nonunion subcontractors. The structural steel, for example, is a union job, he said.

"We understand the carpenters' rights to have a dispute with whatever subcontractor," Burke said.

UBS did not return a call for comment.

Brown said UBS is 40 to 60 days behind schedule and Local 1977 wants the company removed from the job or bring wages up to union standards.

Dallas-based Greystone Communities is developing the 168-unit Las Ventanas senior center on West Charleston Boulevard, near Town Center Drive. Three union protesters had put up a banner that read, "Shame on Las Ventanas," on the sidewalk in front of the building Friday morning.

Westport Holdings of Florida financed the first phase of Las Ventanas and, with heavy investment capital from California Public Employees Retirement System, wanted a union contractor. Financial backing has since changed hands to American Baptist Homes West of Northern California.