Union involvement to be required in building of jail
The all-Democrat Franklin County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved an agreement with construction unions saying that all workers on the county’s new $170 million jail must be members of unions or, if not, pay dues and fees to the unions.
The memorandum of understanding, commonly called a project labor agreement, was signed last week by the county and 17 local trades unions, including carpenters, roofers and electricians. It doesn’t keep nonunion firms or workers from getting jobs on the jail, County Administrator Ken Wilson said.
“There’s nothing in this memorandum of understanding that would limit who would bid on the project,” he said.
But a group that represents construction companies calls the deal “a preference program for unions” that will stifle competition and drive up prices on the project.
The contract requires the following:
All workers employed by building contractors must “become members of the union” and remain members during the term of the project. If they refuse, they must pay the union what it would have charged had they joined. Contractors must deduct union dues and fees from each employee’s pay.
Nonunion contractors must get their employees by phoning unions, who are responsible for referring all employees to the job site. The unions shall refer workers “on a nondiscriminatory basis” not based on “or in any way affected by, union membership.” If the unions can’t provide a worker within 48 hours, the contractor can hire anyone.
All hires must be given the wages, benefits, terms and conditions provided by the union contract.
The 23-page agreement is intended to guarantee quality and safety, and also rules out strikes, Wilson said. It also has a section that calls for “good faith efforts” to hire local, low-income and “underrepresented” residents, setting a goal of up to 50 percent of workers meeting this criteria.
But the real reason behind the contract is politics, said Richard Hobbs, executive vice president of the Associated General Contractors, which represents both union and nonunion construction companies in Ohio.
“They’re doing it because they have three Democratic county commissioners,” Hobbs said. “Obviously, this is organized labor trying to do marketing for themselves.”
Project labor agreements have a long history of controversy in Franklin County, which in 2006 tried using them on the new courthouse and Huntington Park baseball stadium before backing down under heavy criticism from nonunion construction firms, the state and the stadium’s corporate donors. The agreements have been upheld by the Ohio Supreme Court. State representatives tried making them illegal last year, but the effort failed in the Senate.
While nonunion firms could theoretically bid, they won’t because they can’t easily use their own workers, Hobbs said. The contract won’t mean higher wages for nonunion workers because it’s a “prevailing wage” project, meaning workers’ wages are set by the Department of Labor.
“It’s a preference program for unions,” Hobbs said. “You’re stifling competition. You’re choking it off. Anytime you do that, you bear a huge responsibility in the fact that your prices are going to be higher.”
“I absolutely disagree with Rich,” said John O’Grady, president of the Board of Commissioners. “Then why wouldn’t we do this on every single project that we do? That’s Rich making a presumption.”
O’Grady said the county was pleased with a similar agreement employed in 2013 to renovate the old courthouse, with work completed on time and under budget.
“This is a once-in-ageneration project,” O’Grady said. “You don’t build a jail every day. At the end of the day, we’re saving as much as we possibly can so we can put as much money back into the project as we possibly can, and we have the ability to reinvest, because this thing is going to be tight.”