Strike could affect 1,000 construction sites!

[krulltime]

Crane Operators Threaten Strike at Many Construction Sites


By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
Published: June 30, 2006

The union representing most of the city's crane operators is threatening to strike tomorrow in a move that could shut down most of the city's major construction sites.

Building industry officials said that if the International Union of Operating Engineers struck, it would be hard for other construction unions to continue work at most sites because the engineers' union does such crucial work, controlling the cranes that carry building materials.

"A strike would affect more than 1,000 sites," said Christopher O. Ward, managing director of the General Contractors Association of Greater New York, which represents 150 construction contractors. "It could range from very important public projects, like the foundation of the Freedom Tower, to small roads and bridge jobs."

Talks broke down yesterday between the contractors association and the operating engineers' union, which represents more than 2,600 workers who operate cranes, backhoes, compressors and drilling rigs that dig to help prepare for footings and foundations.

Mr. Ward said the main sticking point was the contractors' demand to increase productivity by reducing what some industry officials say are jobs that require almost no work, like engineers who do little more than turn on a compressor in the morning and shut it off in the afternoon.

One of the union's main concerns was that there be an adequate retraining program for any workers whose jobs are phased out.

James. T. Callahan, president of Local 15 of the operating engineers, said in a statement that his union was offering to sign interim agreements with contractors to prevent work from stopping at several especially important projects, like the World Trade Center site and Water Tunnel No. 3, which will help supply the city's drinking water and is expected to be complete in 2020. Such interim agreements would allow these high-visibility projects to continue and would provide work for at least some of the union's members.

Mr. Callahan did not return calls requesting an interview.

Mr. Ward said the contractors association and its individual members would decide whether to sign interim agreements.

The General Contractors Association has already reached contract agreements with seven unions, including the carpenters, but has not yet reached agreement with three unions: the operating engineers, the Teamsters and the underground construction workers known as sandhogs.

Mr. Ward said the association had offered the operating engineers a five-year contract with raises of 6 percent every year. The basic pay scale for union members is $72.03 an hour to $82.65 an hour, he said.

"For those people where technology has taken the place of their jobs, it is our hope that we can retrain them and bring increased productivity to the workplace," Mr. Ward said.


Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company

[Ninjahedge]

$160K a year for operating a crane?

Screw 'em.


(PS, something does NOT sound right with that....)

[Eugenious]

$160K a year for operating a crane?

Screw 'em.


(PS, something does NOT sound right with that....)

It's takes alot of skill, but they dont need more money.

[Eugenius]

Fire the lot. Hire strikebreakers.
It's ridiculous how these union bastards are driving up NY construction costs.

[lofter1]

Fire the lot. Hire strikebreakers.

Oh yeah ... there's the solution to the construction problem in NYC.

Every other union would refuse to work on those sites.

[krulltime]

Strike Halts City's Biggest Construction Jobs


By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
July 2, 2006

Large construction sites throughout New York City, including the Freedom Tower at ground zero, were shut down yesterday after the union that runs the building cranes began a strike.

The International Union of Operating Engineers, whose members operate the cranes that carry building materials, informed the city's building contractors on Friday that its members would go on strike as of 12:01 a.m. yesterday.

Upon learning that, the General Contractors Association of Greater New York told its 150 members that they should not even try to operate their construction sites because the operating engineers are such a crucial union.

"It's safe to say the strike will affect hundreds of construction sites over the weekend," said Christopher O. Ward, the managing director of the contractors association.

Besides foundation work for the Freedom Tower, the strike also shut down construction of Water Tunnel No. 3, a huge underground project that will bring additional drinking water to the city and is expected to be complete in 2020.

Mr. Ward said the industry hoped to reach an agreement before Wednesday so work could resume normally after July 4.

The contract for the operating engineers expired yesterday morning, as did one for the Teamsters, who deliver building materials. Seven other building trades unions have signed contracts, but industry officials say it is hard to continue construction when the crane operators and truck drivers who deliver and carry building materials are on strike.

Negotiations with the contractors association were last held on Wednesday. Mr. Ward said that on Friday the operating engineers rejected the contractors' latest offer.

But officials with the operating engineers said they made a counteroffer on Friday and had not yet heard back from the contractors association.

"We're on strike," said Joseph D. McCann, special counsel to Local 15 of the operating engineers. More than 2,000 operating engineers are on strike, and the resulting citywide construction shutdown involves tens of thousands of workers, when members of other unions are included.

The main issue is the contractors' demand for productivity increases. Management officials say too many operating engineers do little work, asserting that many do little more than turn on and off lights and compressors.

Officials with the operating engineers insist that they agreed to some concessions on reducing staff, but are not ready to go as far as the contractors have demanded.

Last Thursday, James. T. Callahan, president of Local 15, offered to sign interim agreements with contractors to allow work to continue at several of the largest, most important projects, like the Freedom Tower site.

But Mr. Ward said the industry did not want to sign piecemeal, interim agreements, saying it instead wanted a citywide collective bargaining agreement.

He said that the basic pay scale for operating engineers was $72.03 an hour to $82.65 an hour. Management, he said, has offered a five-year contract with raises of 6 percent a year.

"We've offered a 30 percent raise over five years, and no one loses their job, and we're committed to retraining anyone who needs retraining," Mr. Ward said.


Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company

[pianoman11686]

Strike Halts NYC Construction Work

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: July 5, 2006

Filed at 12:47 p.m. ET

NEW YORK (AP) -- Construction stopped at the World Trade Center site and hundreds of other projects in the city Wednesday after a walkout by heavy equipment operators.

''All major work sites are shut down,'' said Chris Ward, managing director of the General Contractors Association of Greater New York, which represents a large number of the city's contractors.

The contractors association's contract with the International Union of Operating Engineers expired at 12:01 a.m. Saturday. Depending on holiday work schedules, Wednesday was the third day that work was stopped on some projects, Ward said.

Ward estimated more than 1,000 sites were affected, 90 percent of them public projects.

Among them were the foundation work on the 1,776-foot Freedom Tower and the $2.2 billion transit hub being built at the trade center site.

Officials for the union representing the more than 3,000 heavy equipment operators on strike didn't return telephone calls Wednesday. The union represents operators of cranes, drilling rigs and backhoes who earn between $73 and $82 an hour.

Last week, the union rejected a contract that offered workers 6 percent increases for each of the next five years, in exchange for agreements to be retrained for new responsibilities.

No new talks are scheduled, Ward said.

Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company

[Ninjahedge]

Something smells funny with all of this.....

I know there are some overpriveledged people working on the union rolls, but I do not think that all of the OE are paid $140K-$165K a year (not including OT)

Is that the AVERAGE salary? And are there a few family members earning 250K-500K and making it seem like they all have it sweet?

I do think it IS a possibility that these guys are overpaid, but this is a bit too much of an overmentioned disparity to be the whole truth at this point.

[MikeW]

I've alway's heard this was a big money job. Not very many people can do it, and it's crucial. Think about it. There can be hundreds of guys on a worksite, but there's only one guy driving the crane. If he isn't there, they whole operation stops. Oh, and if he screws up, people die, and millions of dollars can be lost.

[Ninjahedge]

I've alway's heard this was a big money job. Not very many people can do it, and it's crucial. Think about it. There can be hundreds of guys on a worksite, but there's only one guy driving the crane. If he isn't there, they whole operation stops. Oh, and if he screws up, people die, and millions of dollars can be lost.

So the question still is, what makes him worth that ammount of money?

You could probably find any number of qualified individuals that would be able to do that job and be happy with $80K a year (A professional salary). For that pice you could get two guys, noe as a backup, instead of one....

I wonder if the insurance cost is high, or if there are other factors that we are not being told (such as those salaries including OT or not, etc etc)

[pianoman11686]

Manhattan: Talks Set in Construction Strike

By STEVEN GREENHOUSE

Published: July 6, 2006

Negotiators for the General Contractors Association of Greater New York and the crane operators' union have agreed to hold a bargaining session at Gracie Mansion this morning in an effort to end a five-day-old construction strike, Christopher O. Ward, the managing director of the contractors group, said yesterday. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg invited the two sides to meet in the hope of ending the strike, which has shut down construction at the Freedom Tower and hundreds of other construction sites, most of them government projects. The International Union of Operating Engineers, which represents operators of cranes, compressors and backhoes, began the strike on Saturday over management's demands for more efficient staffing levels.

Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company

[krulltime]

CITY HALL SWINGS INTO ACTION ON CRANE PAIN


http://www.nypost.com/photos/news07062006002.jpg
'WAGING' WAR
Crane Operator - $73 - $82.


By HEIDI SINGER

July 6, 2006 -- City Hall is stepping in to help end the crane operators' strike - which has halted construction of the Freedom Tower at Ground Zero.

Stalled talks will resume this morning between contractors and the union representing more than 3,000 heavy-machinery operators.

"The mayor reached out to both sides and invited them to use Gracie Mansion for their discussions," said spokesman Stu Loeser, adding they took him up on the offer.

Their strike has forced more than 1,000 construction projects across the city to grind to a halt.

Almost all of them are publicly financed projects, according to the contractors.

Blasting work on the Freedom Tower foundation has been on hold since midnight Friday, when the contract between operating engineers and the General Contractors' Association of Greater New York expired.

"All major heavy-construction projects are shut down," said Chris Ward of the contractors' association. "Things ended badly on Friday."

The workers, who run cranes, backhoes, compressors and other pieces of heavy equipment, earn $73 to $82 an hour, including benefits.

They're among the highest paid blue-collar workers in the city.

They rejected an offer that would have given them 6 percent raises annually over five years, with a guarantee of no layoffs.

But in return, they would have to become more productive by training to take on extra duties - and eliminate what critics insist are do-nothing jobs on construction sites.

Up to one-third of workers on big job sites have little to do, because their jobs have been taken over by technology, Ward said.

Some construction unions have trimmed featherbedding jobs out of their contracts, but many others are balking at such concessions, said a leader of another building-trade union, who asked not to be identified.

"It's about the heads of the unions and their little fiefdoms," the union boss said.

"They want to get re-elected but, in the long run, it's bad for their unions because they get squeezed out" of major projects.

James Callahan, president of the striking union, Local 15 of the International Union of Operating Engineers, did not return phone calls seeking comment.

But in a written statement last week, he accused contractors of farming out work to lower-paid workers in other unions.

Callahan's union has been keeping a low profile during the strike.

Picketing is sporadic, said Ward, and Callahan has issued few public statements.

"It's hard to talk to the public when you're making $80 an hour - that's probably the highest paid blue-collar job in the city," said the rival union leader.

Other projects affected by the strike are City Water Tunnel No. 3, a water filtration plant in The Bronx and the new Goldman Sachs building downtown.

The union has offered to negotiate interim agreements with individual contracts to keep the Freedom Tower and other important projects going. But so far the contractors have refused to break ranks.


Copyright 2006 NYP Holdings, Inc.

[krulltime]

DEAL ENDS CRANE STRIKE


By HEIDI SINGER

July 7, 2006 -- Striking crane operators reached a tentative deal with their bosses yesterday and construction work on the Freedom Tower and other major public projects could start up as early as this morning.

The four-year deal would give heavy-equipment operators smaller raises than the 30 percent over five years that had been on the table last week, said a source familiar with negotiations.

In return, contractors softened their demands that workers submit to retraining for extra responsibilities.

"From what I know, it looks like both sides got what they needed," said the source.

Locals 14 and 15 of the International Union of Operating Engineers went on strike a week ago after talks broke down with the General Contractors Association of Greater New York.

The workers, who drive backhoes and operate drilling equipment and other big machinery on large, mostly public projects, earn up to $82 an hour. But contractors say technological advances are leaving some with little to do other than push a few buttons, and they want to retrain workers to do other jobs.


Copyright 2006 NYP Holdings, Inc.

[MikeW]

If someone is dangling 30 tonnes of steel 40 stories over midtown, I REALLY want them to know what they're doing. There are probably not that many people who know how to do this.

So the question still is, what makes him worth that ammount of money?

You could probably find any number of qualified individuals that would be able to do that job and be happy with $80K a year (A professional salary). For that pice you could get two guys, noe as a backup, instead of one....

I wonder if the insurance cost is high, or if there are other factors that we are not being told (such as those salaries including OT or not, etc etc)

[Sinsofmine]

First off let me say hi to all you guys on here. I hope that your opinions viewed on the potential strike of the Operating Engineers in New York city is based on facts and without bias. I'd like to let you know that I myself am a Engineers helper in the local 94 union which is the union of topic for us all. I know I put in a lot of overtime this year and only cleared $55K and my fellow engineers who also pulled a substantial amount of overtime made about $80-85k. Does that seem a lot for you guys? Especially in todays economy. Before you answer a question like that let me inform you as to what an Operating Engineer actually does. Obviously we maintain the heating and cooling in your commercial buildings. This just does not mean turning a machine off and on this also means fixing and maintaining countless amounts of mammoth sized HVAC units in my building we have 4 giant sized air handler per floor in a 30 story building do the math their. On top of that we also fix and replace the motors in the ceilings which distribute the air in your buildings (mind you in my building we have about 40 of these motors per floor), the plumbing and other odd requests from tenants in the building. We also take care off the cooling in Data centers if you know what that is you know that it is were all of a companys financial information is stored and exchanged via computer servers ( if something goes wrong with these servers how many millions does a company lose? or billions in some cases). In my building their are over 300 based on one floor no we do not maintin these but we do maintain the 80 cooling units that keep the servers from heating up and losing all data. We also maintain the water towers you know those giant towers you see on top of buildings. We have 15 of those in my building. Any water leaks and spills that happen in the building is taken care by us as well as the steam that the buildings use and that is a whole other separate job than what I mention. By the way Did I mention that in my building their is only a engineering staff of 16 of us for these few units I mentioned. I'd also like to inform you that 4 dollars per hour of our check goes to our healthcare not includind deductibles and copays. Oh and if there are ever emergencies like a black out or terrorrism it is our guys who have to stay and shut off all dangers in a building so people can be safe. We lost 4 of our brothers in the 9/11 attacks because they were doing there duty and saving lives. So I ask you again when companys are seeing extremely high profits is it not fair to have a fair raise and our healthcare taken care of. I don't know it seems like to me that this is one of those issues that people take for granted because they are not actually visibly seeing use do our jobs and believe me there is way too much to write as to our duties.

Hope you guys have a better understanding. Sincerely,

SINS