Byline: Sherri Buri McDonald The Register-Guard

Construction workers who build walls and ceilings were set to go on strike today after their collective bargaining contract expired on Thursday.

About 1,300 members of the Pacific Northwest Regional Council of Carpenters in southwest

Washington and Oregon aren't expected to work today at job sites throughout the region. That would include 220 drywall workers at PeaceHealth's RiverBend hospital in Springfield, and up to 55 wall and ceiling workers at other construction sites in the Eugene-Springfield area, said Jack MacDonald, a regional council representative.

Workers said they are planning to picket at construction sites for PeaceHealth and the Slocum Center for Orthopedic & Sports Medicine near Coburg Road and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in Eugene.

MacDonald said the strike shouldn't last more than a few days. "This should be short lived," he said. "It's an unfortunate situation, and we did not want this to happen. It's not good for either side. We expect the contractors to resume bargaining in good faith very, very soon."

MacDonald said he wasn't sure whether the strike could push PeaceHealth's project off schedule.

"Schedules ebb and flow, and you do what it takes to get back on, once you're off,' he said.

In the past few weeks, the regional council had been in talks with the Wall and Ceiling Contractors Association of Oregon and Southwest Washington to try to hammer out a new contract, but as of Thursday evening, a strike appeared imminent.

The contractors association could not be reached for comment.

The main point of contention in contract talks were the raises linked to cost of living increases living for workers in southwest Washington and Oregon. Last week the contractors association and Pacific Northwest Regional Council of Carpenters renewed the contract between the contractors and the union in western Washington, settling on a 6 percent raise in the first year, followed by a 6 percent raise in the second year.

But the final offer to workers in Oregon and southwest Washington was only about 70 percent of the increase that the contractors agreed to in western Washington, according to a statement from the council. That raised complaints of unfairness from workers in Oregon and southwestern Washington.

"We're all part of the same pension and vacation (plan)," said one worker for Western Partitions, of Eugene, who asked to remain anonymous. "We do the exact same work, so we shouldn't be on a different pay scale."

In past years, the contractors association had attempted to keep pace with the cost of living in Oregon and southwest Washington, and to increase wages and benefits by the same percentage for workers in Oregon and southwestern Washington as those in western Washington, said Eric Franklin, a regional council spokesman.

The Consumer Price Index has risen 9.3 percent in the western United States since October 2003, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That index doesn't include fuel or other energy costs. Gas prices have soared 60 percent to 80 percent since January 2003, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.