Turner halts work on $1.5 billion Meta site over recurring racist graffiti

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Dive Brief: Turner Construction and Meta kept a huge data center construction site idle in Nebraska for a third day on Wednesday after two consecutive incidents of racist graffiti were discovered on the project last week. Workers discovered the first racial missive at the sprawling $1.5 billion construction complex in Sarpy County, Nebraska, south of Omaha, on Wednesday, September 14. Turner held an initial stand with the workers to resolve the issue the next day. But on Friday, after Turner emphasized his zero-tolerance policy for hate at his worksites, a new racial epithet was found in an area that had previously been declared graffiti-free. Overview of the dive:

We do regular inspections of our projects and were confident the Friday graffiti was new, Turner vice president and spokesman Christopher McFadden told Construction Dive. So the decision was made with Meta and with the directors and business partners to pause and do a bit of a reset on the way forward here.

Turner has been outspoken against hate as numerous racist protests have emerged on construction sites nationwide in recent years. Turner closed other Meta yards in 2020 in Ohio and Iowa when similar racist epithets, as well as a noose, were found.

The new graffiti is at least the fifth racist incident at a Meta construction site, including a noose found earlier this summer at a project in Redmond, Washington that had a black worker’s name plastered on it and one of many where Turner stopped working on his projects in response.

When asked why incidents continue to occur at the Meta and Turner sites, McFadden said the issue happens regularly in the industry, but some contractors and clients may not be so outspoken about it. solve it.

What Turner and Meta and others working on Meta projects are committed to is speaking up and taking action when we see something, McFadden said. I’m not sure this is universal at this point, others may choose to treat it differently. But we have collectively chosen to act very publicly.

Meta told Construction Dive that it was proactive with its construction suppliers to resolve the issue.

While this is an industry-wide challenge, we are working with our general contractors to implement measures that will help prevent them at one of our construction sites, a Meta spokeswoman Melanie Roe said in an email. At the Sarpy County site, we work closely with Turner Construction and trade leaders to identify perpetrators.

McFadden said Turner notified local law enforcement of the incident, but could not confirm whether a reward was being offered in the case. At a Meta construction site in Utah, where MA Mortenson was the general contractor, a $100,000 reward eventually resulted in a worker being fired.

An anti-racism handbook

In a move that shows how prevalent these racist incidents are in construction, Meta said it is developing a manual on how to respond to such occurrences, in partnership with the contractors who build its data centers in the United States. United. The document includes advice on what to do. when an incident occurs, including site preservation and notifications. It also requires CGs to designate a contact person for diversity, equity and inclusion.

Meta said it also requires all of its data center general contractors to sign contracts requiring them to maintain a workplace free of harassment and discrimination, and to report incidents when they occur.

The company said its contractors are setting up anonymous reporting channels at all of its jobsites.

McFadden said Turner shared his own anti-bias toolkit with Meta, a copy of which was emailed to Construction Dive. He said the company has also made unbranded copies of anti-hate videos and construction site posters available to its business partners.

Despite these efforts, racist incidents continue to plague the construction industry. This latest event comes as the industry prepares for its second annual Construction Inclusion Week from October 17-22, which was launched by Turner and five other top contractors to promote a more tolerant culture on construction sites.

McFadden could not quantify the daily cost of stopping work, or when work would resume. But he said the work stoppage helps draw attention to the company’s attitude towards the acts.

There’s a person or two who act in a way that goes against the culture we want in our jobs, McFadden said. It’s hard to say what motivates someone to do this and jeopardize their future ability to support themselves and their families.

Completion of the project is scheduled for the end of 2024.

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