Concrete strike has hidden benefit for NW construction industry

For the past three weeks, the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 302 in Seattle has been on strike against four Washington concrete and aggregate producers.

The union's 88 striking members have so far made little progress in their demands for a wage increase and the right to honor the pickets of other crafts.

And the affected companies - Cadman, Stoneway, Glacier Northwest and Salmon Bay - have been unable to produce cement, delaying major construction projects throughout the Seattle metro area.

But despite its economic toll on producers and contractors, the strike may have at least one hidden benefit for the Northwest construction industry.

"It may be a good thing for materials because it would help us build some fly-ash inventory," said Dave Frentress, marketing director for Glacier Northwest, one of the West Coast's largest cement producers.

For the past five months, the Pacific Northwest has seen a shortage of fly ash, a concrete additive collected from the stacks of coal-burning power plants.