Construction unions help diversity, but expense is a problem: Reducing contractors' costs would allow apprenticeship programs to aid minorities

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams ("Union work crews should be as diverse as NYC," Op-Ed) is absolutely right that sometimes lost in the haze of New York’s affordable housing crisis is the need to focus on creating good-paying middle-class jobs.

Constructing affordable housing and promoting a strong middle class go hand-in-hand. A diverse, upwardly mobile, middle class that lives in New York’s neighborhoods is essential for the future of our city.

However, there are some critical distinctions that the borough president missed in his op-ed that can help us better frame the conversation. In Brooklyn, as in many other places across the city, many of the buildings that are going up are being built with nonunion, or merit-shop, labor.

The anecdotal evidence that he cited about a lack of diversity in construction can be tied directly to that fact. In reality, and backed up by the numbers, New York’s building trade unions are growing more diverse every day.

Union labor is providing the stepping stone for thousands of minorities to work in their own communities and earn a middle-class wage. Of the 8,000 Building Trades union apprentices in NYC, 65% are minorities and women. More than 60% are African American and Latino. And 75% live in New York City.

As one of the proud co-founders of the Construction Skills program created in 2000, I will explain how this happens. New York City high-school graduates are given direct-entry into the apprentice programs. Direct entry also applies to veterans through programs like Helmets to Hardhats, and to women through the Non-Traditional Employment for Women Program.

The borough president specifically cites these union apprenticeship programs as a failure. That could not be further from the truth. Rather, they are a pathway to permanent employment with the cost picked up by the private sector.

These recent graduates are card-carrying union members who work every day on construction sites. Over the course of the program, apprentices receive a salary, health benefits and pension credits. They work during the day and go to school either at night or on Saturday to fulfill the educational requirements to advance to journeyperson status.

All of these costs are 100% paid for by private-sector contractor contributions. Training costs about $25,000 to $30,000 per apprentice per year, a large incentive for apprentices to be successful. Some trades now require associate degrees in order to graduate from apprenticeship to journeyperson status. Those costs are also paid 100% by private-sector contractor contributions.

The proof of success is obvious: Roughly 76% of apprentices from the Construction Skills Pre-Apprentice Program graduate to journeyperson status.

However, all of this progress is threatened by the high cost of union labor, which drives developers to use nonunion labor. The share of the residential market building union is decreasing.

The best way to create upward mobility for New Yorkers, and to develop an even stronger, truly middle-class workforce, is to reduce union labor costs. That simple step would enable many more of Mr. Adams's constituents, and residents from every borough, the chance they need for a step up.

Most simply, cost reductions can come in the form of scaffold law reform that will drastically reduce the cost of general liability insurance.

The Building Trades Employers’ Association is ready and willing to do the tough work that we need to do. We know the formula. All we need are the partners.

Louis J. Coletti

President

Building Trades Employers' Association

Source: Crains New York