Standing at a crossroads: the building trades in the twenty-first century

Abstract

American building trades unions have historically played a critical and stabilizing role in the nation's construction industry, establishing uniform standards and leveling the competitive playing field. Union members have enjoyed better than average wages and benefits, excellent training opportunities, and decent jobsite conditions. But in the last thirty years the industry has undergone a dramatic transformation. This article describes the decline in union density, the drop in construction wages, the growth of anti-union forces, the changes in labor force demographics, the shift toward construction management, and the emergence of an underground economy. It also analyzes how building trades unions have responded to these changes, identifies structural impediments to union renewal, and proposes strategies for building trades unions to reassert their presence and power.

Notes

Jeff Grabelsky, Cornell University, School of Industrial and Labor Relations. Email: [email protected]

 Millman, ‘Blueprint for Outsourcing.’

 Perez, ‘Construction Industry Split,’ F1.

 BNA Construction Labor Reports 46, no. 2296 (2000): 920.

 O’Hanlon, ‘Unchecked Power of the Building Trades,’ 102.

 Data provided by International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

 Data provided by Building and Construction Trades Department (AFL-CIO).

 Interviews with Terry O'Sullivan, president, LIUNA (23 November 2004) and Doug McCarron, president, UBCJA (11 January 2005).

 Interview with O'Sullivan.

 Engineering News Record, 16 December 1982, 132.

 Wells, ‘The Construction Industry,’ 13.

 Eisenberg, ‘Construction Wages and Labor Supply,’ 7. Since union rates are still relatively higher, non-union construction workers are absorbing a disproportionate share of falling construction wages.

 Data provided by BCTD.

 Engineering News Record, 25 December 1995, 34.

 Engineering News Record, 18 September 2000, 14.

 BNA Construction Labor Reports 47, no. 2339 (2001): 697.

 Engineering News Record, 18 September 2000, 14.

 BNA Construction Labor Reports 47, no. 2350 (2001): 1005–6.

 Justich and Ng, ‘Underground Labor Force,’ 2.

 Engineering News Record, 22 October 2001, 38.

 BNA Construction Labor Report 47, no. 2321 (2001): 138.

 McTague, ‘Going Underground,’ 18.

 Engineering News Record, 19 January 2004, 10.

 BNA Construction Labor Report 47, no. 2323 (2001): 214.

 Engineering News Record, 31 July 2000, 15.

 McTague, ‘Going Underground,’ 19.

 Engineering News Record, 19 January 2004, 10.

 Fletcher, ‘Bush Immigration Plan,’ A6.

 Bosch and Philips, Building Chaos, 317.

 Wells, ‘The Construction Industry,’ 21.

 McTague, ‘Going Underground,’ 17.

 ‘Independent Contractors: Prevalence and Implications for Unemployment Insurance Programs’, US Department of Labor, February 2000, iv.

 ‘The Social and Economic Costs of Employee Misclassification in Construction’, Harvard Construction Policy Research Center, December 2004, 2.

 ‘A Study on the Magnitude of Loss of Workers’ Compensation Premiums in 1997 Due to Employer Fraud and Exemptions in the Florida Construction Industry’, Construction Education Concepts, March 2001, 28. See Governor's Commission on Workers’ Compensation Reform Final Report, 31 January 2003.

 Justich and Ng, ‘Underground Labor Force,’ 2.

 McTague, ‘Going Underground,’ 17.

 Interview with Tim Nichols, former secretary-treasurer of the Michigan State Building and Construction Trades Council (12 June 1997).

 Engineering News Record, 16 January 1985, 28.

 Grabelsky, ‘Lighting the Spark.’

 J. J. Barry, International president, IBEW, Construction Conference Speech, 2 April 1994.

 BNA Construction Labor Report 47, no. 2320 (2001): 101.

 Interview with Ed Sullivan, 16 November 2004.

 Interview with Doug McCarron, 11 January 2005.

 Interview with Terry O'Sullivan, 23 December 2004

 ‘A Preliminary Report on Associated Builders and Contractors Apprenticeship Training: Flawed and Failing Initiatives’, Building and Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO, October 2003; Bosch and Philips, Building Chaos, 298, 305.

 A number of union strategists argue that a business development approach that ‘sells’ contractors and owners on the added value of union construction is the single best path to growth. See Breslin, Organize or Die.

 Interview with Ed Hill, 16 November 2004.

 BNA Construction Labor Report 47, no. 2320 (2001): 101.

 PBGC Pension Insurance Data Book, 2003.

 VNS Exit Polls, Peter Hart Research; interview with Sullivan.

 Interview with Joe Hunt, 16 December 2004.

 Engineering News Record, 15 May 2000, 15; BNA Construction Labor Report 50, no. 2499 (2003): 1206–7; interview with Doug McCarron, 11 January 2005.

 Interview with Ed Malloy, 25 January 2005.

 Interview with Terry O'Sullivan, 23 December 2004.

 Lerner, ‘An Immodest Proposal.’ This was one of the first articles that helped spark the debate about labor's future.

 These data exclude the ‘Big Dig’ mega-project.

 Edwin D. Hill, International president, speech to IBEW Construction Business Managers, St Charles, IL, 30 August 2004.

 Engineering News Record, 10 April 2000, 15.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jeff Grabelsky

Jeff Grabelsky, Cornell University, School of Industrial and Labor Relations. Email: [email protected]