Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Appeals court rules against Jersey City in dispute over union-backed law



In a potential setback for construction unions who are benefiting from Jersey City's residential housing building boom, a federal court yesterday sided with a trade association's challenge of a city law that requires developers seeking certain tax breaks to hire union and local laborers.


The decision by the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reverses a lower court's ruling and allows the trade association's lawsuit to move forward. The group alleges the city's law requiring union labor on large-scale tax-abated projects violates multiple federal laws, including the National Labor Relations Act.

Attorney Russell J. McEwan, who represents the plaintiffs, which include the New Jersey chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors, hailed the ruling and said he feels confident his side will prevail in the end.

Jersey City's project labor agreements law — which also requires developers seeking tax breaks to hire a certain percentage of city residents as apprentices — shuts out non-union construction workers and non-locals, McEwan told The Jersey Journal.

"We think competition is a good thing," he said. "We think it's good for taxpayers. We think it's good for Jersey City."


City spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill declined to comment. The Hudson County Building and Construction Trades Council, a union group, intervened in the lawsuit as a defendant. Its president, Patrick Kelleher, did not immediately return a request for comment.

The three towers will house a total of 2,466 luxury units.

The lower court ruled in the city's favor, saying the federal laws cited by the plaintiffs do not apply because the city was imposing PLAs in its capacity as a market participant, not a regulator. Monday's ruling reverses that decision, saying the city was indeed acting as a regulator, and sent the case back to the lower court.

Source: NJ.com

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