Do Union Demands Stymie Affordable Housing?
A right-wing think tank has issued a big report that, according to the Sun, says affordable housing construction would be sped up by the use of nonunion labor. The Manhattan Institute is—not surprisingly—arguing that soaring construction costs are slowing development, and a big part of that slowdown is caused by unions that demand a prevailing…
A right-wing think tank has issued a big report that, according to the Sun, says affordable housing construction would be sped up by the use of nonunion labor. The Manhattan Institute is—not surprisingly—arguing that soaring construction costs are slowing development, and a big part of that slowdown is caused by unions that demand a prevailing wage for their workers. Also not surprisingly, not everyone agrees with the report’s findings. “This is a valid area of investigation, but I would not support this recommendation,” says Richard Anderson, the president of the New York Building Congress. And Louis Colletti, president of the Building Trades Employers’ Association, said the recommendation was “absurd” and the use of nonunion labor results in “substandard housing in terms of quality and safety.” Of course, some affordable housing developers in Brooklyn, like the Fifth Avenue Committee, acknowledge that it’s very difficult for them to use union labor because of its higher costs, and the rapidly rising Toren is basically a textbook example of how quickly you can build when you leave unions behind. (The skyscraper has 42 affordable units.) Where do you stand on the issue?
Report Urges Nonunion Labor Use [NY Sun]
Photo by arecee.
1:43 — Your are right that most decisions to unionize still occur the way you describe — via an NLRB overseen secret ballot.
I think the bill he was talking about would have limited unionization _only_ to secret votes, as there are other methods by which workers can organize (e.g., gathering signature cards to force recognition of the union). My understanding is that this method was popular in the early years of unions when managment would unleash thugs on the organizers, kind of died away during the middle of the century, and has regained popularity in light of union complaints about either no or untimely enforcement by NLRB of rules regulating management efforts to defeat union drives. I think that card gathering is a very expensive decision for a union to pursue, so unions usually only use it occasionally.
Management-side advocates (like the Chamber of Commerce) complain that signature cards essentially allow stealth unionization (thus preventing them from lobbying its workers against the union) and allows unscrupulous unionizers to intimidate workers. Union-side people claim that no such intimidation occurs regularly and that there are sufficient criminal prosecutions to effectively deter adopting such strategies, and that management obviously has the wherewithal to explain why working under its current policies is a good thing.
http://www.secretballotprotection.com/issues/index/labor/cardchecksecrbal.htm
Here is a link to the US chamber of commerce describing union activity to fight the secret ballot…
fsrq – Give me one concrete example of a civil service profession where its mostly staffed by “friends of” and “relatives of.” (And staff jobs for City Council members aren’t civil service jobs.)
Believing urban legends must be nice actually
12:38 – yeah sure thats why the municipal workforce is so qualified, thats why whole departments arent staffed by ‘friends of’ or ‘relatives of’ Because it is all based on objective “tests”
You are a naive fool – must be nice actually….
Newsouthsloper: Can you provide links about the secret ballots please? I participated in a vote on whether or not to accept a union and it was a secret ballot. There were reps from the company and the union observing, but an attorney from the NLRB collected and counted the ballots. You had to sign in to show you voted, but the ballots were completely anonymous.
Unions are fune, it is the compulsory participation, shady accounting, corruption, and massive political activity of unions that needs to go.
If you want to join a union fine, maybe it is good, bad, helpful, a waste, whatever. But when you twist the arm of politicians to protect your elite status, force employers to accept only union workers, and allow extortion of business then your “Union” is really organized Thugs extracting their demands under the guise of fairness and protection of hack politicians.
One of the biggest issues the dems and their union cohorts raged against was legislation designed to allow secret ballots for workers choosing to unionize as opposed to open ballot showing how each person voted. Why do you think they fought soooo hard to crush that measure? Only 1 reason possible – If people can vote in private without consequence, then they cant easily be intimidated to vote in favor of the Union for fear of reprisals.
Sad, they claim to promote fairness but want to take away the right of people to vote in private without fear.
12.33, they’re standing outside with an inflatable rat or telling their boss right now, “nope can’t lift that hammer, union rules, you need worker X to do that” and downing tools.
Any sympathy I used to have for unions was shouted down by a bunch of meatheads at the Atlantic Yards hearing. Jobs over quality of life! Money for me and wrecking balls for you! Drop dead, lunkheads.
12:16 “What do I think happens now?” You obviously have no idea how the Civil Service works. NYC municipal unions CANNOT hire whoever they want. In order to get any entry level, and the vast majority of the other jobs, you must take a test, or fill out a questionnaire backed by supporting documents. The people who are allowed into the pool of applicants are the ones who score the highest on the test.
And who brought us the Civil Service system? The unions. And who makes sure the city follows the civil service rules for disciplinary actions, promotions and firings? Those same unions. It was a response to the political patronage system that was used to appoint almost all “public” servants from corrupt mayoral administrations dating back to Tammany Hall and earlier.
To give you an example, until the early part of the 20th century, the only way to become a NYC policeman, or be promoted to a higher rank was to a pay a bribe to the local political boss. Today, anyone who wants to be a police officer takes the same standardized test to qualify. It’s much the same for most other entry level jobs.