After contract discussions about working conditions between Teamsters Union Local 533 and Granite Construction Co. broke down on Friday, the union went on strike Sunday. The striking workers set up picket lines at Granite's headquarters on Glendale Road in Sparks and in Floriston, Calif. at the site of a major Interstate 80 roadway rehabilitation.

Teamsters secretary/treasurer Paul Tea said Granite was unwilling to come to the table in regards to some articles in the contract about working conditions.

Employees voted unanimously on two separate occasions to strike.

"They have been negotiating in bad faith," Tea said. "It's catastrophic to our members. I believe these (workers) are not up to a reasonable standard of living."

Sunday's strike, in which members began setting up for as early as 5 p.m., was targeted at the entrance of Granite headquarters to prevent about 20 Granite truck drivers from exiting the site in order to haul cement to the I-80 expansion project in Floriston. Without drivers, concrete and asphalt cannot be delivered to the site to continue the project. Three or four more were expected to picket in Lockwood as well, Tea said.

The Teamsters represent about 60 local drivers.

Negotiations on a new contract began as early as February. According to Frank Thurston, the Teamsters president, Granite wants employees to take an $8 pay cut from $21 to $13 an hour.

"They've told us, 'We don't care where you take it from, whether it's medical, pension, whatever, just do it,' " Thurston said. "Some of these guys have pre-existing conditions. There's not another health insurance company that's going to take that condition."

Tea said Granite was deleting certain language from the contract but declined to delineate what those articles were.

According to Granite's Web site, www.graniteconstruction.com, Granite reported a gross profit of 18 percent of total western revenues in the country in the second quarter.

"This construction company is not hurting," Tea said. "We were not unreasonable. It has nothing to do with the economy."

Tea said many Teamsters members are the sole wage earners for their families.

"These guys aren't rich," Tea said. "They're not driving SUVs. They're just your average person making a living."

The construction industry is in such poor shape with current economic conditions that most Teamsters members have a window of work of about six months, and most only work three or four, if that, Tea said. The season, he added, is almost over.

Tea said that he is a second-generation union man.

"I believe in the working class," he said.

He said he never wanted the negotiations to result in a strike.

"We've done everything possible to sit down and negotiate a fair contract," Tea said.

Granite Construction's Sparks headquarters office was closed on Sunday; officials could not be contacted for comment.