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A hugely contentious issue has been roiling the building trades unions in New York City for quite some time. That is the Hudson Yards construction project, which I understand is the largest construction project in the country. As I understand it, the first phase was completed union, but now the plans are to go non-union with the second phase. All the building trades had gotten together to try to fight it, but the carpenters union leadership had gone behind the backs of the other unions and signed an agreement. This is happening while there has been a marked increase in non-union construction throughout the city, traditionally one of the strongholds of the building trades. Under the terms of the agreement, carpenters will take about a 10% pay cut. The head of the district council of carpenters commented, “The New York City construction market is evolving, the District Council will continue to innovate to ensure our members meet the needs of the market.” In other words, this will be repeated throughout the city. This is the inevitable consequence of the entire policy of the carpenters (and the building trades in general and, truth be told, the entire labor movement) to help "their" contractors compete with the non union contractors. In reality, this means union carpenters competing with non-union carpenters for who can make a greater profit for the employer. In that case, what's the point of having a union at all? The policy has been a devastating failure as witness this disaster at Hudson Yards. If the Carpenters can't reverse the flow of non-union construction during a massive building boom, what will happen in the next downturn? https://therealdeal.com/2018/10/23/carpenters-finalize-controversial-deal-with-related-for-50-hudson-yards/?fbclid=IwAR0HI6gDG_8yT7D5wNULOiFhbzfBRiApBukUqBNa9QyXtFJIGCIOG5wt_eg John Reimann -- *“In politics, abstract terms conceal treachery.” *from "The Black Jacobins" by C. L. R. James Check out:https:http://oaklandsocialist.com also on Facebook _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
