More Changes

The framing crew and I came together pretty well and we were able to exceed our production quotas easily. The younger Hawai’ian members of the crew would disappear around 10 AM as usual, but we never noticed anymore. The studs just flew into place and time passed quickly.

Then we started hearing rumors. True; men on construction sites love to gossip! And the gossip was all about the mistakes being made by the other framing crews and then whole wings of completed drywall being removed because backing strips were absent or in the wrong place. Big layoff’s! We were still the ‘good guy’s’. None of our work had been faulted, but once a contractor gets into the ‘firing’ mode, it is hard to tell the good guy’s from the bad guy’s. And every one is suspect.

It was about this time that Mr. Ernie Jackson decided to bring in some heavyweight supervisors. He recruited them from the Fresno area; people he knew and was comfortable with. And their method of supervision had me ready to find another job. First, they assembled the crew, all 300 plus men. Then they told us that there was going to be all new foremen. But only after an evaluation period. All who were foremen at the current time were no longer in charge…or being paid as foremen. We would be foremen in name only. The exit was being prepared for me, but I decided to stick around for awhile and see what developed.

I seem to remember that we were already framing on the 21^st floor with 3 more to go. So, framing wasn’t a problem area and I was assigned to a drywall crew. Some good things had been said about me and this was going to be my foremen’s ‘test’. I decided to press the issue and said, “No, thanks.” And told them I wanted foreman’s pay now and not at some later date if they wanted me to run a crew. That worked, I got the pay and I was told not to tell anyone else.

I returned to the 11^th floor and began re-installing drywall. We quickly moved up the tower and were soon installing on the 14^th floor.

Success? It was not be. All of the foremen were asked to attend a meeting at Ernie’s house in Sparks. (He had bought a house for his new superintendents) At the meeting, he informed us that it was all over. He was turning the project over to the bonding company and sailing back to Hawai’i. Whoa! That was startling news. He was going to lose the cost of his bond ($250,000) and lose the ability to be bonded ever again.

Well, I didn’t have to agonize over a decision. Should I quit? Ha! The next morning found me at the Carpenter’s Union hall and talking to my new friend, the business agent. He informed me that C. Solari and Son’s, the local drywall contractor, would probably take over the job and finish it for the bonding company, so he was going to see if he could get me hired by them. Sure enough, a phone call later and I had orders to report to Art Engebrittsen the following morning.