Posts tagged nonunion contractors
Opinion: Construction Unions Face Fork In The Road: Shrink Or Seize The Moment
February 16, 2024 // “This is the best shot the unions have had in decades,” said Joshua Freeman, a Queens College, City University of New York history professor. “There’s low unemployment, a sympathetic administration, an infrastructure ramp and sympathetic public attitudes. Lots of things are going in the right direction for unions.”
Appeals panel: Chicago must force telecom companies to hire union labor to upgrade their equipment on city-owned poles
January 6, 2023 // A state appeals panel has ruled a labor union can force the city of Chicago to require telecommunications companies to hire union workers to install 5G antennas on city-owned utility poles. After Chicago officials allowed nonunion contractors to install modern cellular service antennas on light and traffic poles, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local No. 9 filed a grievance alleging a violation of its multiproject labor agreement with the city. An arbitrator ruled in favor of the union. But after the city challenged that ruling, Cook County Circuit Judge Anna Loftus vacated the award in June 2021.
Exclusive: 16 GOP Governors Oppose Biden’s Executive Order Creating Monopoly On Federal Construction Contracts
April 26, 2022 // Reducing competition from some of the best union and nonunion construction firms and workers will exacerbate the construction industry’s skilled labor shortage, delay projects, and increase construction costs by estimates of 12% to 20% per project, which will result in fewer infrastructure improvements, less construction industry job creation, and higher taxes.
Editorial: Biden’s favors to unions keep costing taxpayers
March 16, 2022 // Pitching the executive order as a cost saver is disingenuous, as collective bargaining inherently drives up costs. It’s the same faulty logic used to defend prevailing wage laws that force union-level pay and benefits on publicly funded construction projects.