Say you’re planning to build a large manufacturing facility, or transform an old mill into a mix of condos and retail space. You need the job done well, on time and as cost-effectively as possible. Would you commit to using all-union labor?
Amgen did for its $500-million plant in West Greenwich. So did Brown University, for its $70-million science building. And the Pawtucket Water Supply Board, for a $60-million job.
Beyond Cash Donations: How New Forms of Giving Are Transforming Not-for-Profit Accounting
Evolving Funding Landscape for Not-for-Profits Not-for-profit organizations are being asked to do more with less,…
Learn More
In the four years since Rhode Island’s construction unions and a group of union-friendly contractors created the 21st Century Labor Management Partnership, it has secured nine such commitments – known as project labor agreements – for major projects, and helped to maximize union involvement in several others.
A PLA was signed last week for the new GTECH headquarters in Providence. Also signed was another PLA for Bank of America’s new call center in East Providence, according to Gregory A. Mancini, executive director of the partnership.
Other projects, such as Jefferson at Providence Place and the Providence public safety complex, didn’t have PLAs but were built with all-union labor, Mancini said. And nearly 600 construction firms now have union contracts, up from less than 500 four years ago, he said.
That still leaves plenty of development in Rhode Island with non-union workers, or with a mix of union and “open shop” labor. But given the nationwide decline in union membership – in Rhode Island, 17 percent of workers were unionized in 2003, down from 19.4 percent in 1995 – boosting unions’ role in this fast-growing field is a coup in itself.
Since 1994, construction employment in Rhode Island has grown by nearly 65 percent, to about 22,400 people last year, state and federal labor statistics show. Nationally, about 6.9 million people worked in construction last year, up from 5.1 million in 1994. But most new jobs across the nation have been non-union, with construction union membership staying under 1.2 million most years, rising only briefly to almost 1.5 million in 2002.
Rhode Island-specific figures aren’t available, but Mancini said the unions involved in the 21st Century partnership have about 10,000 members. Consider that unions focus on commercial, institutional and large-scale residential construction, not house builders, and it’s clear that organized labor still has far more clout in Rhode Island than in other states.
Mancini’s job is to keep it that way, and make unions even stronger. What’s unusual about his position is that he not only represents unions – the 17 members of the Rhode Island Building and Construction Trades Council – but also three contractor groups whose members agree that union labor is better: the Rhode Island Chapter of the Associated General Contractors, the Rhode Island and Southeast Massachusetts Chapter of the National Electrical Contractors Association and the New England Mechanical Contractors Association.
Within those groups are key players in Rhode Island’s construction market, such as O. Ahlborg & Sons and J.L. Marshall & Sons, the contractor on the new Kent County courthouse. They choose to collaborate with the unions, said F. Eric Anderson, executive director of the Associated General Contractors, because they provide well-trained labor on demand, saving them the cost and effort of recruiting for each project.
“Yes, they have a higher rate of pay than merit shop or open shop labor – some people say 20 to 30 percent – but you have to pay for the training somewhere,” Anderson said. Union jobs often go faster and have fewer problems and delays, he added, so the client can occupy the building sooner, a value in itself.
A big part of Mancini’s work is persuading businesses, developers and builders of these things – even as critics such as the Associated Builders & Contractors deride unions as costly, burdensome and unnecessary. He explains that a part of union workers’ hourly pay supports the unions’ $1.5-million annual investment in training programs – apprenticeships, skill upgrades and safety courses. And anytime a big job comes along, Mancini tries to get a PLA in place, pointing out that union workers will likely be hired anyway, and a PLA sets uniform rules and guarantees there won’t be labor disruptions.
More and more, the pitch is paying off. In the 16 years before the 21st Century group was formed, 21 PLAs were signed in Rhode Island, Mancini said. That means the rate of PLA approval has almost doubled already, and he’s hoping to get at least four more this year.
“I think we’re definitely gaining ground again,” he said. He noted that construction is the only sector in which, by law, it’s the employer who chooses to be unionized, not the workers; clearly, plenty of Rhode Island contractors see a value to unions.
But PR alone may not be enough, Mancini knows, and at the General Assembly each year, he lobbies for tougher rules on tax credits and other government incentives, to make it harder for non-union contractors to benefit.
“I think the quality of the jobs, particularly in construction, is a question that has to be dealt with,” he said. “We support legislation that either levels the playing field for all contractors, to the extent possible, or provides more government accountability.”
