Organized Labor

Michael Paves
Project Manager-Webcor Builders

The building site is difficult to access because of it’s location on Howard and Fifth, with no street offsets and with the new structure abutting the Moscone Center on the east and a Wells Fargo Office building on the north. Both adjacent streets lead to the freeway and are on commute routes. For that reason we will be conducting the mat pours at night. The first pour will begin at 9:00 tonight and continue throughout the night shift until noon tomorrow. Webcor Concrete has sub-contracted the work to Dolan Concrete. We will be using 440 concrete trucks for a total pour of 4,400 square yards. The mat for the foundation will run up to eight feet in depth. Next Friday we will pour the second part of the building foundation with an additional 2,200 yards of concrete.

We ran into a slight delay during the excavation of the site. We found a substantial marsh deposit of clay, which had to be removed. We filled in the space with 3,000 yards of slurry backfill, which is comprised of a straight sand-cement mixture without gravel. The job is currently running pretty much on schedule with completion targeted for December 3, 2007.

The building will be all reinforced concrete, rather than steel frame, providing both building strength and seismic integrity. One of the big advantages in using reinforced concrete construction is that finish work including plumbing, electrical and drywall can proceed on the lower floors as the building goes up. In a steel frame building none of that work can begin until the entire steel frame is installed, plumbed, welded and fireproofed.

Paul R. Colta
Carpenters Local 22

I’ve been a member of Carpenters Local 22 for 22 years and have worked for Webcor the entire time. Webcor has been a good employer and has provided me with steady full-time employment. I’m married with one boy and we live in Daly City.

I’m the lead foreman on this project. I do the layout for the building, the grid lines and control lines. I learned to read blueprints during my classes as an apprentice. I’ve been doing the layout work for seven years now. I’ve worked on quite a few Webcor projects in San Francisco including the Avalon Bay apartments on Fourth Street in Mission Bay, the Watermark condos by Lend Lease, Mandalay Bay in South San Francisco, and the Catellus N-1 condominium project in Mission Bay.

This project is proceeding as in the right direction. The shoring work is complete along Howard and Fifth streets with steel beams and lagged 4” timbers. We’re setting up the rebar work with false walls abutting the Moscone Center on the east and the Wells Fargo building on the north. The rebar is in place for pouring the basement mat later today. I’m confident that our union will survive the current disaffiliations as long as we watch out for one another. I have confidence in the younger members coming up. They need to keep the faith and understand that union members have always taken pride in their work.