Building Trades
Scaffold Law at Stake
June 18, 2013
By Marc Bussanich
Queens, NY—Marc Proferes was badly injured on the job six years ago when the plank he was standing on gave way and a scaffold collapsed on him. The real estate and building industries have been pushing to repeal New York’s Scaffold Law because they claim it adds millions of dollars to construction costs, and they might get their way before the legislative session ends in Albany. Watch Video
From Cook to Carpentry: Outstanding Woman Hammers Out A New Life
June 17, 2013
By Joe Maniscalco
Bronx, NY - Not long ago, Local 157 carpenter Saadia Walters, 43, was working a dead-end job as a line cook in a New York City Olive Garden where the best that she could hope for after years of sweating behind a hot stove was a lousy .35-cent raise. Then 9/11 hit, and the then 35-year-old single mom from the Bronx realized that not only did she want a better life for herself and son Darius John Ortiz, she also wanted to help her hometown recover.
Construction Workers’ Protest Blocks Traffic Near Ground Zero
June 14, 2013
By Steven Wishnia 
Chanting “Whose work? Our work!” more than 200 union construction workers blocked traffic in Lower Manhattan in a lunch-hour protest June 12, loudly demanding that developer SL Green stop using nonunion labor on a college dormitory it just started nearby.
One WTC, Where the View is Never Boring
June 12, 2013
By Marc Bussanich
New York, NY—John Schaffner has to contend with some headaches getting to work—a 61 mile drive from the quaint town of Cornwall, New York to Journal Square where he then hops on a PATH train to his office at the top of One World Trade Center. Watch Video
Scaffold Law protects New York workers
June 12, 2013
By Edward J. Walsh, President New York State Ironworkers District Council
In 2011, there were 721 fatal construction injuries in the country, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Between 2009 and 2011, there were 101 deaths in New York state alone. But despite the dangers inherent at construction sites, a small number of unscrupulous developers and contractors are trying to undermine the law that ensures safe equipment and practices for construction.
USW Urges New York MTA to Reconsider Rebuilding Verrazano-Narrows Bridge with Domestic, not Chinese Steel
June 12, 2013
By Stephanie West
Pittsburgh, Penn. – United Steelworkers (USW) International President Leo W. Gerard recently wrote to Fernando Ferrer, Acting Chairman, and Thomas F. Prendergast, Interim Executive Director of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), questioning its decision to use 15,000 tons of steel, all sourced from China, to rebuild the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge.
Law Protecting Construction Workers In Jeopardy
June 11, 2013
By Joe Maniscalco
New York, NY - On April 9, 2008, Christopher Gunn was a 28-year-old ironworker with Local 40 doing the job he loved best and looking forward to new life as a married man, when a beam he was helping to install at a job site near Bellevue Hospital broke loose and sent him plunging 25 feet below onto his head. Now, the law that has helped the Gunn family finally welcome Chris home after five long years of intense rehabilitation, is in danger of being repealed.
Strong Oversight Needed On Public-Private Partnerships
June 11, 2013
By Diane Cohen
Albany, NY - In January 2011, DiNapoli issued his first report on the role that public-private partnerships might play in New York’s infrastructure needs. In December 2011, the Governor and Legislature agreed to the Infrastructure Investment Act, which authorized five state agencies and public authorities to use design-build procurement for a limited number of projects, including the replacement of the Tappan Zee bridge. Under the design-build model, design and construction services are awarded to the same contractor and not procured separately.
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