Guest column: Union labor plays pivotal role in local, state projects
With an influx of nearly $8 billion in federal infrastructure dollars headed to Massachusetts, Worcester finds itself at the epicenter of a building boom. At the heart of this economic resurgence lies the pivotal role of union labor in ensuring substantial investments translate into successful projects and good, high-paying jobs for skilled local tradespeople.
That’s why the Dec. 10 article “Lifting the State Limit on Apprentice Jobs” by Jason Kauppi of the Merit Construction Alliance, a nonunion construction advocacy group, couldn’t be farther from the truth.
The referenced Holyoke Soldiers Home project, attacked for not meeting the registered apprenticeship goal in its six months of construction, has a completion date of summer 2028, according to the state Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance website. There are hundreds of thousands of hours to be worked before this project is finished, and a project labor agreement is in place (which was created by the Legislature to ensure a successful, beneficial project) to monitor and enforce changes throughout the project.
Using statistics from this early in the project is like calling a baseball game before the end of the first inning.
Despite Kauppi’s insinuation that the proposed registered apprenticeship mandate would apply to all private projects, the discussion of adding a workforce goal “with teeth” to projects subsidized by Worcester taxpayers remains a priority for Worcester building trades unions. To us, it only makes sense that local tax dollars fund high-quality, local jobs.
Nor would this requirement be illegal, as is falsely claimed by Kauppi. Let’s be clear — adding enforceable mandates on apprentice work hours for Worcester tax increment financing projects is legal and should be pursued by the city to ensure demand for high-quality careers that will attract and retain the new “infrastructure generation.”
The current resurgence of union support across the country is not a coincidence; it's a testament to the transformative effects of providing workers access to well-compensated union jobs with family-sustaining benefits and worker protections. These jobs don’t just lift up workers, they lift up entire communities.
Moreover, the influx of union labor means we are shaping our future workforce, with an impressive 79% of all registered apprentices in the Massachusetts construction industry affiliated with a union. With over 40 union training facilities across the commonwealth and over $60 million spent annually on training, Massachusetts Building Trades Unions have the training infrastructure to meet this moment.
Moreover, thanks to collective bargaining agreements, every union worker gains the same protection and pay regardless of age, gender, religion or sexual orientation. Nonunion companies don't make those same guarantees.
Studies confirm that unions aren’t just better for workers but safer, too. A 2019 report — which compared 2,800 at union job sites and 34,200 at nonunion job sites — “discovered that union projects were 19% less likely to have health and safety violations and had an average of 34% fewer violations per inspection when compared to nonunion projects.”
Kauppi’s further suggestion to water down apprentice ratios and standards is entirely backward. He cites Bricklayers Local 3’s apprentice ratio of one apprentice per five journeymen as an impediment to bringing new workers to the trade, going so far as to call these rules arcane and unjustifiable. Kauppi then quotes the American College of Construction Lawyers Journal from 2020, stating, “We have located no study, authoritative or otherwise, which supports these ratios."
I wouldn’t recommend asking a bricklayer for legal advice any more than I would recommend going to a lawyer for bricklaying advice. Bricklaying is probably the oldest trade on the planet, and the bricklayers union has been around since the 1860s. Who better to determine a ratio of apprentices to journeymen than the masonry contractors and bricklayers who must guarantee a safe, workmanlike job?
Anti-union firms seek to protect their profits, not people. The dilution of standards related to registered apprenticeships and ratios directly contradicts our mission of expanding well-paid, highly trained apprenticeship opportunities for the commonwealth's young workforce.
Massachusetts construction unions' efforts to do so are ramping up, and we are unwavering in our dedication to President Biden's vision of fostering the "Infrastructure Generation" by working with developers, owners and municipalities to enshrine workforce standards into meaningful, enforceable mandates. When we give opportunities to contractors that prioritize workers, everyone benefits. Jobs get done faster, buildings are safer and communities save tax dollars.
Goals are important to shape the values for Worcester’s growth and development. However, the next time you’re driving through a busy intersection, thank the lawmakers who wisely determined that stop signs should be more than just an aspirational goal.
Jorge Rivera is director of organizing and president of the Worcester-Fitchburg Building Trades Council
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Jorge Rivera on union labor's role for local jobs, projects
