The Laborers' Work Zone Safety Sentry will ride its messages into high-traffic areas and routes, daily visiting 10 to 15 construction sites that each typically employ 100 to 200 workers. The union is a nationally recognized leader in construction site safety. Please be careful out there. [MORE]

GOOD JOBS WITH A FUTURE (6-14-2023) —> Laborers' Union Local 169 is accepting applications for its apprenticeship program. Apply online at local169.com/apprenticeship/ For more info, call (775) 343-0171 or e-mail <laborerstraining@local169.com> Tell them you heard about it on the Barbwire. (Sparks Tribune 6-14-2023)

Laborers Union Local 169 Donates $12,500 in Grocery Gift Cards to 7 Nonprofits to Help Families & Veterans
11-25-2020

FIRST PLACE NATIONAL AWARD-WINNING SAFETY CAMPAIGN
The Flagger Moms of Orange Cone Hell

Local 169 President Tony Mayorga dies

Laborers' Local 169 worker Ismael Mayorga-Torres flies 40 feet, lives to tell the tale
Barbwire by Barbano /7-7-2015 Sparks Tribune

Road construction worker Ron Raiche Jr. of Battle Mountain, Laborers' Local 169 member, dies on I-80 East
By Dylan Woolf Harris / Elko Daily Free Press 3-31-2015

Coroner identifies road construction flagger killed by 21 year-old drunk driver on Nov. 7
Marilyn Rouse was 49
Las Vegas Review-Journal / 11-8-2014

Four Local 169 members hit, two dead in I-80 crash near Elko
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 11-7-2013 Sparks Tribune

Clandestine construction cash: Laborers' Union handbillers take community's case to UNR students 10-14-2013
Union wants student-moderated public forum

Laborers' Union demonstrates at UNR 9/20/13
Worker files complaint with Dept. of Homeland Security

Crash in Sparks construction zone injures three on Dec. 10
Daily Sparks Tribune / 12-11-2012

UPDATE: Laborers' Union Local 169 member Cameron Owens was discharged from Renown Regional Medical Center on Dec. 11. His father and brother are both members of the union. He stood with his back to the oncoming car in the middle of the area behind the rear of the truck at right. Its hydraulic lift was in the position shown. (Look below the stop sign on the bus.) Cameron's fellow workers began to shout "car" as they got out of the way of the auto approaching at 100mph. Cameron dove to his right, breaking his foot but saving his life. Had he not moved, he would have been cut in half between the auto and the lift acting as a blade. He had surgery to place pins and plates in his foot and is recovering, reinforcing the fact that road construction work remains one of the most dangerous jobs in the country. (Photo, John Russell, Local 169 Field Rep.)

César Chávez event looks like America
by Tony Mayorga, President, Laborers' Union Local 169
Guest Commentary / Reno Gazette-Journal / 3-28-2013

Mayorga: César Chávez's fight for justice lives on
Guest Commentary / Reno Gazette-Journal / 3-31-2012

Assemblyman Richard Daly/LIUNA Local 169:
We put the state on life support for another two years
Reno Gazette-Journal Guest Editorial / 7-17-2011

Laborers' Union opens major new northern Nevada training center
$2 million invested in region's future
International president dedicates facility at grand opening / 9-16-2010

Las Vegas Strip construction death scandal investigation validated
Twenty-five months after CityCenter construction workers walked off the job to protest workplace fatalities and safety conditions there, researchers have confirmed what the Sun reported at the time.
Las Vegas Sun follows up Pulitzer Prize-winning series / 7-6-2010

OSHA in Las Vegas probing fatal construction accident at I-15 interchange
Second fatal crash in five days — The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating a fatal construction accident in the south Las Vegas Valley. The Nevada Highway Patrol responded at 6:26 a.m. to the accident at the Blue Diamond Road and Interstate 15 interchange, but OSHA has since taken over the investigation.
Las Vegas Sun / 6-29-2010

2007 UPDATE: VIEW THE NEW JAILHOUSE ROCK TV :30

NEW LAW TOUGHENING PENALTIES IN ROAD CONSTRUCTION ZONES
IN EFFECT STATEWIDE

 NEW MEDIA CAMPAIGN PREMIERES IN RENO AND LAS VEGAS



Useful News

The Flagger Moms
of Orange Cone Hell

Going the distance vs. Coronavirus

LOCAL 169 again sponsors annual César Chávez Celebration

DÍA DE CÉSAR CHÁVEZ

Road Warrior: New website offers drivers a place to vent
LVRJ 12-10-2006

Union flagger seriously injured
9-11-2006

Cops want traffic cameras, enhanced seat belt penalties in 2007 legislative session
LVRJ 9-6-2006

DALY: Unions promote workplace diversity
June 6, 2006

Double penalties now apply whether or not workers are present

Worker killed on Interstate 80 west of Wells in N.E. Nevada

Local 169 flagger: safety comes first

Reno Gazette-Journal Street Beat by Cory Farley

Don't mess with flaggers

NDOT worker struck by 18-wheeler on I-80 near Elko

Submit your highway horrors to the Las Vegas Review-Journal

2003 Work Zone Awareness Week

SPARKS (Sept. 30, 2003) — A new Nevada law toughening penalties and fines for unsafe driving in road construction zones goes into effect October 1. It imposes double penalties whether or not workers are present or if a motorist causes substantial injury or property damage. The new sanctions apply whether or not an area is fully marked as a construction site.

DALY — "It's for your own damn good..." (Read the complete Sparks Tribune story from 10-1-2003.)

 "The law reflects what's happening on the roadways," stated Richard "Skip" Daly, business manager of Reno-based Laborers' Union Local 169. Unions and Nevada officials are launching a new media campaign to inform motorists.

     "Double penalties now apply when certain aggravating circumstances are present, such as reduction in lane width, traffic flow realignment or road surface modifications, whether or not workers are present." Daly said.

     "The enhanced penalties include increased fines up to $1,000, up to 15 Saturdays in an orange jump suit performing community service or up to six months in jail. These are all in addition to any other penalties allowed by law," he noted.

     The previous law allowed double penalties only for speeding while workers were present.

     "Road construction continues to be one of the most dangerous jobs in the country. However, most people don't know that four of five killed in work zones are motorists. We are introducing an updated version of our longrunning media campaign to inform the public of the new law," Daly said.

     Local 169 added a media dimension to its safety program in 1994 after construction flagger Tammy Coker was killed the previous year.

She was struck by an inattentive driver on Interstate 80 east of Fernley near the Nightingale exit. The union has not lost a member since the media campaign was launched.

     On Sept. 23 at about 12:10 a.m., Local 169 members Cyrus Bearcloud and Ruben Carillo were fired upon by a motorist at the Reno Spaghetti Bowl (I-80 at US 395). A driver fired at least three 9mm bullets at the workers, who were working on landscaping.

Reno police ask anyone with information to contact them at (775) 334-2115 or Secret Witness at (775) 322-4900. Secret Witness is offering a $1,500 reward for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of the perpetrator.

   The 2000-2002 version of the campaign, "The Flagger Moms of Orange Cone Hell," was honored with a first place award in a nationwide competition conducted by the National Safety Council and the American Road & Transportation Builders Association.

     The new thrust, coordinated as always with the Nevada Dept. of Transportation, will be introduced with press conferences in northern Nevada at 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday (NDOT, 310 E. Galletti Way @ Kietzke Lane, Sparks) and in southern Nevada at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday (NDOT, 123 E. Washington Street, Las Vegas).

     Copies of the new public service announcements in both English and Spanish will be available to media.

 

Pertinent sections of the new law
(changes in blue)

   Sec. 1.5. NRS 484.254 is hereby amended to read as follows: A district attorney shall prosecute all violations of subsection 1 which occur in his jurisdiction and which result in injury to any person performing highway construction or maintenance unless the district attorney has good cause for not prosecuting the violation. In addition to any other penalty, if a driver violates any provision of subsection 1 and the violation results in injury to any person performing highway construction or maintenance, or in damage to property in an amount of not less than $1,000, the driver shall be punished by a fine of not less than $1,000 or more than $2,000, and ordered to perform 120 hours of community service.

  Sec. 17. NRS 484.3667 is hereby amended to read as follows:
(a) In an area designated as a temporary traffic control zone in which construction, maintenance or repair of a highway is conducted; and
(b) At a time when the workers who are performing the construction, maintenance or repair of the highway are present, or when the effects of the act may be aggravated because of the condition of the highway caused by construction, maintenance or repair, including, without limitation, reduction in lane width, reduction in the number of lanes, shifting of lanes from the designated alignment and uneven or temporary surfaces, including, without limitation, modifications to road beds, cement- treated bases, chip seals and other similar conditions, shall be punished by imprisonment or by a fine, or both, for a term or an amount equal to and in addition to the term of imprisonment or amount of the fine, or both, that the court imposes for the primary offense. Any term of imprisonment imposed pursuant to this subsection runs consecutively with the sentence prescribed by the court for the crime. This subsection does not create a separate offense, but provides an additional penalty for the primary offense, whose imposition is contingent upon the finding of the prescribed fact.

   4. A person who otherwise would be subject to an additional penalty pursuant to this section is not relieved of any criminal liability because signs are not erected as required by subsection 3 if the violation results in injury to any person performing highway construction or maintenance in the temporary traffic control zone or in damage to property in an amount equal to $1,000 or more.

Legislative history of AB 444

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WHY IS GASOLINE SO HIGH? READ THE BARBWIRE OILOGOPOLY INVESTIGATIVE SERIES.

 

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