Unions push for local labor on John Glenn airport terminal project

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Columbus area trade unions and other groups are pushing the Columbus Regional Airport Authority (CRAA) on how it is handling the construction of the new $2 billion terminal at John Glenn International Airport.

Trade unions said the airport’s contractor has stopped negotiations over a community benefit agreement (CBA).

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The talks had been going on for months, and now Columbus and central Ohio trade unions said the airport’s contractor has ended the negotiations. The unions said a CBA will ensure everyone, union or not, is paid a fair wage to work on the project.

“It’s been over seven months of negotiations, and nobody can give us a clear reason,” Executive Secretary-Treasurer at Columbus/Central Ohio Building & Construction Trades Council Dorsey Hager said about not knowing why the contractors will not agree to a CBA.

The Columbus/Central Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council said an agreement would benefit the entire community and the airport, guaranteeing workers are paid a living wage and are hired from within the area. They also said it creates new opportunities in the building trades especially for young workers.

“We have CBAs and we have project labor agreements all over central Ohio, all over the state where we’ve worked with open shop companies who have signed on to that one job agreement, just that job, not a full-blown union agreement,” Hager said.

“Part of what community benefits agreements do is provide to make sure that women, women of color, people of color, disadvantaged, disenfranchised people have opportunities to get these employments,” Creating Central Ohio Futures CEO Leland Bass said.

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CRAA said no one was available for an interview but did send a statement reading:

• The new CMH terminal is a transformational project that will serve the community for years to come, improving the travel experience at John Glenn Columbus International Airport.

• The Columbus Regional Airport Authority (CRAA) supports policies that benefit our community. This includes working with underrepresented businesses and supporting local workers, including union labor.

• CRAA has committed to:

  • Pay labor rates equal to prevailing wage rates to all contractors performing onsite work on the new terminal project, which will be enforced by project contracts.

  • Target a 25% Disadvantaged Business Enterprise/Disadvantaged Business Program (DBE/DBP) participation goal, equating to approximately $400 million worth of contracts going to underrepresented businesses including small, local, minority, women- and veteran-owned firms.

  • Pursue good faith dialogue with community groups in order to achieve the project’s inclusion goals.

People who came out to a meeting of the airport authority Tuesday said they don’t understand why the contractors will not agree to a CBA or why the CRAA will not push for it.

“We’ve been willing to negotiate an agreement that protects all workers Black, white, male, female, union or non-union,” Hager said.

The CBA is something some lawmakers and leaders in the community are backing.

“I don’t believe they have a commitment to this community,” Nana Watson, president and CEO of the Columbus branch of the NAACP, said. “If you’re not from this community, you don’t have a commitment to it is our opinion.”

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“Community Benefits Agreements have been utilized by the city, by the county repeatedly with great success not only for workers but for minority contractors and others, and it is really just disappointing to see the contractor here in this case, break off negotiations,” Columbus City Council President Pro Tem Rob Dorans said.

If all goes according to plan, under the current timeline, construction could start in late 2024 and the terminal could open to the public in late 2028 or early 2029.

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