BY ANNE MICHAUD
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Cincinnati's building trade unions will press city council for a project labor agreement on Fort Washington Way construction, union leaders have decided.
A project labor agreement, which is certain to meet with controversy, would require contractors to hire workers through union halls. Opponents said Tuesday that this would drive up the cost of the $146.9 million project. Supporters said it is one way to guarantee good job conditions.
"Besides having jobs for our people, it could establish our equality for working people to meet as part of the transaction, not as an afterthought," said Jerry Monahan, executive secretary of the Greater Cincinnati Building Trades Council, which represents 16 unions.
City Councilman Phil Heimlich countered, "This agreement will jack up the price of the project while squeezing out the little guys in the business, the non-union contractors."
A project labor agreement is a negotiated deal, and the terms remain undefined until the parties sit down at a table and work out the details. Mr. Monahan said he would not argue for union-only contractors.
However, Kathleen Somers of the Associated Builders and Contractors, which exists to foster open competition, said non-union contractors are pushed out anyway. "Open shop contractors are not going to bid because they won't be able to use their own workers," she said. Closing the competition to non-union contractors would raise the cost, Ms. Somers predicted.
The unions plan to approach city council later this month, Mr. Monahan said. He will speak with the strength of a newly formed coalition behind him, which includes the Baptist Ministers Conference, the community councils of the West End and Avondale, and Prep Inc., a pre-apprenticeship training organization.
The coalition was formed in June. The unions promised to boost their minority membership to 20 percent from about a 12 percent average. In turn, the ministers and community councils promised to support project labor agreements.
Unions argue that such agreements improve safety and quality of work, and train workers for careers where they can transfer their health and pension benefits from job to job.
Councilmen Tyrone Yates and Todd Portune said they favor project labor agreements, in general.
"I'm not philosophically opposed to them as some are," Mr. Portune said. "They serve a proper purpose and can be beneficial in making sure huge public works are completed on time and within budget."
Mr. Yates said, "My general feeling is it's a constructive thing that can work to raise the wages of all employees, labor and non-labor."
The issue will be divisive, Mr. Monahan predicted: "It ends up being a political fight, and facts don't rule the day."
