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.
The problem isn’t necessarily “Unions” as a concept – but rather that overtime Unions (and management) lose cite of their original purpose and become static (often corrupt) institutions that cost far more than they deliver.
There is no question that Unions add cost and thereby make housing more expensive, but since builders can also use non-union labor, it doesnt matter – it creates for healthy competition.
And as to the saftey issue, I am fairly certain that all the crane accidents (and near misses with unsafe cranes) were on Union Jobs (with Union inspectors also btw).
The only Unions that I think should be illegal are municipal unions – it gives workers too much power – political (through voting and organization) as well as normal negotiating power – this creates ridiculous excesses and expenses – when the workers can vote for who is management – I fail to see the need to also have a Union.
9:45 is correct
9:55 is an idiot
pretty much every problem in America traces back to unions
9:55 the 10:00 whistle just blew…back to work.
The unions bankrupted the steel, auto, rail & airline industries each at one point. They are largely the problem with the MTA, Amtrak & the post office productivity/profitability issues.
Shorter Spun: If only we didn’t have all those stoopid unions, we’d have more poors to build themselves more affordable housing. That they couldn’t afford.
Also, I thnk the project on Schermhorn/Livingston b/w Smith and Hoyt was union, and it went up 25 stories very quickly, maybe 1-2 stories a week. And I think the reno and expansion at 110 Livngston was also union labor.
Frankly, I wouldn’t trust a new building built without decent wages — if they are cutting costs there, there’s no reason to assume they aren’t cutting costs elsewhere.
Also, shouldn’t the lead article for this posting have been the Voice’s reporting on death threats against union organization — I don’t recall hearing about it on this site before. Maybe those type of threats are just too commonplace to warrant highlighting, but it’s still interesting to hear.
9:45 The only reason we’re not all working six days a week for sub-minimum wage jobs with no healthcare, retirement, etc. benefits is because of unions. Blow me, you conservative “businessman” d-bag.
Irony : the use of words to express something other than and especially the opposite of the literal meaning
If we didn’t have to provide a middle class wage than we could build more middle class housing….
Labor Unions are slowly destroying this city and country – Greedily extracting self-serving concessions from taxpayers and private entities alike. They then funnel millions into politicos that will further their protectionist and greedy goals.
They hamper competition, reduce efficiencies and promote extrotionist tactics to protect their members at the expense of the general public at large.
Whenever I see that stupid rat outside of a building or store, I laugh and think how pathetic these guys are to go to such lenghts in trying to convince us they are actually protecting us from some unfair or unsafe condition. They are only trying to protect their own lazy asses from having to compete in the real world against people that arent bound by archaic work-rules that limit how many bricks can be layed in an hour, or how much concrete can be poured…