Work stoppage could threaten start of Naperville Central's school year

Striking workers have shut down construction at Naperville Central High School in a move that could affect the start of classes for thousands of students this fall.

Naperville Unit District 203 Superintendent Mark Mitrovich said work on the $87.7 million renovation project came to a halt Thursday morning.

He said the work stoppage could be "potentially devastating" if it causes major delays in a project that already was operating on a tight timetable.

The school at 440 W. Aurora Ave. serves roughly 3,000 students.

"They're jeopardizing the future of young people here, particularly the graduating seniors," Mitrovich said.

The International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 150 and Laborers' District Council of Chicago and Vicinity both are at odds with the Mid-America Regional Bargaining Association and Excavators Inc. over wage and benefit issues. The groups represent about 15,000 workers.

The strike is affecting at least 300 area road projects and, as of Thursday morning, Naperville Central's renovation.

The school is building a three-story addition that will house all major subject areas. It also is getting infrastructure upgrades, a new learning resource center, new athletic and music spaces, improved traffic flow inside and out and synthetic turf on the football field. The project will affect roughly 75 percent of the building.

School board member Terry Fielden, who works in the construction industry, called the project at Central "an aggressive program with an unparalleled scope of work." He said via e-mail the school cannot open until the work scheduled for this summer is complete.

The district already was racing the clock and had pushed back the start of classes a week to Aug. 25. Crews of 175 to 250 - representing more than just laborers and operating engineers - have been on site six days a week since classes let out in late May and are tearing up 165,000 square feet of the building this summer.

Mitrovich said each day the project is delayed likely will require more than a day to be made up. Officials are studying options in the event school can't begin on Aug. 25, including split shifts at Naperville North High School or moving to an off-site location.

"We're doing everything we can and looking at every option to preserve this for the students and believe me no one is going to be resting up here," he said. "We may have to see how creative we can get in terms of alternatives."

Any delays in construction also are likely to drive up costs, but Mitrovich said it is too soon to say by how much.

He said school officials previously had discussed labor issues related to the construction project, but given the rate of unemployment in the construction industry a strike didn't seem like a strong possibility.

Union negotiations are scheduled to resume July 7, but Ed Maher, communications director for the operating engineers, said his group would like to meet sooner.

He also said he understands the school district's frustration.

"Our members never want to go on strike ... a strike is not good for anybody," he said. "But when contractors are trying to use the economic downturn to take away what we spent 30 years negotiating and fighting for, we can't have that either."

Among the points of contention in the negotiations are 10 percent to 15 percent increases in health care and reduction in annual work hours from 1,600 to 1,000 on average.

Contractors argue that operating engineers and laborers are paid between $35 to $45 an hour and the 5 percent annual wage increases they are asking for are impossible given the state of the economy.

Mid-America Regional Bargaining Association spokeswoman Lissa Christman said she doesn't understand why the unions went on strike since they had previously agreed not to until July 7. She added they are losing out on wages by doing so.

As for the impact on District 203, she said, "We feel their pain. We're all in a difficult time and hopefully it will be negotiated soon."

Start: Union fears 30 years of fight for progress at risk