Construction stops at about 30 sites as union concrete workers strike

Workers strike at Hudson Yards and other sites around the city due to a labor dispute.

Construction partially ground to a halt at an estimated 30 major sites across the city Wednesday morning after a group of concrete workers went on strike. Among the stalled sites are the Related Companies' massive Hudson Yards project and Time Equities' 50 West St. condo tower. The workers belong to a union umbrella group called the New York City District Council of Carpenters.

At midnight this morning, a collective bargaining agreement ran out between the council of carpenters and a trade organization called the Cement League. The league is made up of contractors that erect the concrete skeletons for high-rise buildings and hire district council workers for part of that job under a collective contract.

As of Wednesday afternoon, the two sides were still at loggerheads.

"We want a contract that is fair for both parties," a council spokeswoman said.

The league countered that the union group walked away from the bargaining table.

"We were told to take it or leave it," said Michael Salgo, executive director of the Cement League. "And it wasn’t a good enough deal to take."

In recent years, nonunion construction shops have been gaining market share in New York City, especially in smaller residential projects that were traditionally dominated by organized labor. Many developers cite costs that are about 30% higher when using union labor on a construction job.

The Cement League alleges that many of the protests—which included large banners, bagpipes and even a large drum emblazoned with the union group’s iconography—were taking place in violation of separate, site-specific contracts that forbid workers from striking.

The district council claimed that the strikes were only happening on jobs that are not governed by so-called Project Labor Agreements (and noted that the drum and bagpipes were deployed on such a strike). In addition, it does not condone walking off job sites in violation of contracts, according to the district council spokeswoman.

But Hudson Yards is governed by such an agreement, as is the 50 West St. residential project downtown. Both were strike sites Wednesday morning.

The last time concrete workers went on strike and opposed the Cement League was in October 2013.

Source: Crains New York