Project shutdown leaves many workers worried

Wall Street may like Boyd Gaming's decision to delay the Echelon resort, but it wasn't so highly regarded on Industrial Road, where about 800 Las Vegas workers were left in the lurch.

Industrial Road is the back entrance to the Echelon site, where ironworkers, carpenters, electricians, laborers and just about everyone else working on Boyd Gaming's partially finished resort left the job Friday, not knowing when or if they'd return.

Many of the jobs at Echelon paid $15 to $30 an hour, the kind of wages that fueled the once red- hot housing, retail and entertainment boom that's come to a screeching halt in recent months.

At Echelon, workers said the project seemed to be moving along smoothly and on schedule. They were surprised when they learned Boyd pulled the plug.

"Some of the guys' wives were calling them at work, telling them they were watching it on the news," said Dean Rapp, 49, of Las Vegas.

Rapp, an ironworker, said he was hopeful there would be jobs at other projects. But he was also afraid the shutdown marked the end of a Las Vegas boom where jobs at decent wages were plentiful.

"It is kind of a scary thought, you know," Rapp said. "I don't think work will ever be as good as it was for the last 10 years, not for the middle class."

Rapp said he has a wife and five kids, three of whom are in college.

"They are going to have to start paying their own rent," he said.

Boyd Gaming CEO Keith Smith said it was unclear how many of the 800 construction workers involved in the Echelon project would lose their jobs. He said some amount of work to maintain the steel and concrete structure would take place at the site, but discussions with managing contractor Tishman Construction were preliminary.

"Obviously, we'll do what it takes to secure the site during the shutdown," Smith said. "I'm sure some minor work will need to continue."

A Tishman official, through Boyd Gaming spokesman Rob Stillwell, said the company is already looking into the prospects of placing displaced construction workers at other Tishman projects across the country.

Steve Ross, secretary-treasurer of the Southern Nevada Building and Construction Trades Council, which represents 17 of 18 unions on the Echelon site, said most workers should be able to find jobs on local projects.

He cited Fountainebleu and CityCenter on the Strip and the upcoming construction of a $1.2 billion terminal at McCarran International Airport and a new intake at Lake Mead as examples of projects that will generate demand for skilled labor.

"There is still billions of dollars of work in Southern Nevada," Ross said.

Still, Ross said the situation at Echelon was disconcerting. He said Boyd Gaming officials called him early Friday morning to break the news.

It was a surprise.

"We just had a labor management meeting at the Echelon," Ross said. "That (was) one of the good jobs that was going like clockwork."

Donny Grayman, business agent for Ironworkers Local 416, also said he was shocked.

Grayman estimated there were about 200 ironworkers on the Echelon job. He wasn't sure where they would find work.

"Fortunately for us we do have work. But it is not going to be enough to sustain a hit like this," Grayman said.

Shane Chicatelli, 21, comes from a family of ironworkers. He showed up for work Friday at Echelon where he and other workers were told to pack up their tools and head home.

Chicatelli, who said he has a girlfriend and three kids, said he wasn't worried about the future.

"There is a lot of work here in town," he said. "If they re-open this job, we go to work. Otherwise, we don't."

Laborer Salvador Ramos, 61, said he was told there might be another month or so of cleanup and other work on the Echelon site.

"After that, I don't know," said Ramos, who supports his wife and owns a house in Las Vegas, his home of 17 years. "There is not too much work."

Contact reporter Benjamin Spillman at bspillman@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3861. Howard Stutz contributed to this report.