NYC Construction Strike Averted

NEW YORK CITY-A strike that would have jeopardized $10 billion in New York City unionized construction was averted late Thursday night. As the dust settles, many parties tell GlobeSt.com that they’re waiting to see exactly what work rule concessions were included in the deal.

Operating Engineers Locals 14 and 15 reached the deal in the run-up to the June 30 expiration of their contracts. Hope Cohen, co-author of a Regional Plan Association report critical of non-productive construction work rules, tells GlobeSt.com that she is surprised that a deal was reached by the deadline. Like others involved, she’s waiting to hear the specifics concerning work rule concessions.

“Everything I had heard indicated that they were not going to settle by the deadline,” Cohen says. “What I’m hearing, though in vague terms, is that there was significant progress on work rules in the mason tenders, the carpenters and the operating engineers.” Cohen’s RPA study found that the percentage of non-union work on New York City construction work had increased to 40%.

Richard Anderson, president of the New York Building Congress, says that he had heard an agreement had been reached and was waiting to hear the details.

“The real test of these settlements is twofold,” Anderson says. “The first is whether they will improve the competitiveness of the New York City construction market in the national and global environment and the second is whether they will have a positive impact on the growth of non-union activity in the City of New York.”

The work rules, in particular, have been a contentious issue in the negotiations toward a deal. At an RPA event last month, Steven Spinola, president of the Real Estate Board of New York, commented on the issue of non-productive construction workers. “Over a three year period, the estimate is that there is $100 million that will be spent on non-productive work--in effect, workers, who if it were up to the contractor would not be there,” Spinola said.

A strike could have halted work on several high-profile projects, including the redevelopment of the World Trade Center site. Cohen and others are awaiting the details of the agreement, which were not immediately available, but they remain hopeful that they will mean a positive change for the future.

“It’s going to take a while--it’s like turning the Titanic,” Cohen says. “But I think there is some hopefulness that the industry is evolving.”