Somerville aldermen urge hiring union in Assembly Square

    As Federal Realty continues construction at Assembly Square, activists and city officials are pushing for the developer to use union labor to build its large residential buildings.

    The Board of Alderman unanimously approved a resolution “strongly urging” Federal Realty to hire union workers and give preference to qualified Somerville residents at their Jan. 22 meeting. The practice would not only benefit Assembly Square, but set a precedent for future construction Union Square, aldermen argued.

    “This is a partnership. If you want to get the work down right there, hire union labor. I’m a big proponent of union labor,” Ward 3 Alderman Bob McWatters said at the meeting. “This is going to set a precedent for the development of Union Square. If we are bonding out and helping these private developers then we should be able to have some say based on what type of labor they hire.”

    Mayoral Spokesman Denise Taylor would not say if Mayor Joe Curtatone would urge FRIT to hire union workers as the aldermen did. She said the mayor tries to facilitate negotiations between developers and labor unions for projects in Somerville and was central in getting union workers to construct the new Partners building.

    “The priority is to ensure there are good jobs and good benefits in Somerville and union labor is one way to do that,” Taylor said. “Facilitating is what makes theses things happen. You can speak or you can act and he has actively tried to get both sides at the table every time we have a development and he will continue to do so.”

    Federal Realty is constructing a large building at Assembly Square that will include retail and restaurant space on the bottom floor and 447 residential units above.

    Federal Realty spokesman Andrea Simpson said the company built commercial structures at Assembly Row entirely using union workers and has hired 1,700 union construction workers through the entirety of the project. She added half of employees at Assembly Row Marketplace are Somerville residents.

    At the Jan. 22 meeting, Ward 1 Alderman Matt McLaughlin praised FRIT for bringing local employees to Assembly Row through job fairs held last year by the row’s tenants. But he said the company should continue committing to union labor.

    “We want to make sure people are getting paid enough to live here,” McLaughlin said. “We’re in a position to make some demands here. There is about $60 million in bonds that have been given to Assembly Square and I do think we have a right to say we would like to see some local hires here, we would like to see some union hire.”

     And he was concerned with Federal Realty’s options for residential construction. The developer is looking at Bridgewater-based Callahan Construction Management to build the 447-unit structure, he said. Despite a 2010 covenant requiring developers of Maxwell’s Green to consider using union labor for their 199-unit development, they hired Callahan and Callahan used non-union labor for construction.

    “I’m very concerned about having a developer whose already shown a complete lack of respect for this community to come in and now be rewarded for their bad behavior,” McLaughlin told the Journal after the meeting.

    

    Competing costs

    But Federal Realty wants to use cheaper non-union labor to build residential units, Simpson said. In order to pay higher union wages, the developer would charge higher rents for the new units.

    “We have been working with representatives of the labor unions since July to come up with creative ways to make the construction of residential property affordable to renters and cost effective to build,” Simpson said. “At the moment we have not been able to find an innovative way to bridge the construction cost gap and Federal Realty is not willing to pass the excess cost onto future renters.”

    SEIU 888 member Rand Wilson told the Journal on Tuesday that Federal Realty could easily afford to pay its union staff without raising rents if its executives take a cut in their own pay. He added there has been many other projects similar to Assembly Square that were recently completed in the Boston area using union workers.

    “What (Simpson) calls the cost gap is what I call the labor exploitation gap between treating people fairly and allowing low road workers to provide cheap labor,” Wilson said. “Like (FRIT) gives a hoot about Somerville renters… That’s absurd.”

    Wilson said during last week’s meeting that with rising rents throughout Somerville it is critical the city provide job opportunities for its residents and having union labor working at Assembly Square would help.

    “We need jobs to make sure that people who grew up here, that live here now can stay in the city,” Wilson said. “The rents are going through the roof, they need good jobs to be able to stay here and we’re not going to get that without strong union labor.”

Source: Wicked Local Somerville