Crains New York - June 17, 2013 - (Page 10)
OPINION
A house of cards, this idea
I
n New York’s City Council, few causes get higher
priority than organized labor. But one that usually
does is affordable housing. Elected officials receive
more constituent calls and emails about housing
than anything else, so when union-backed wage
bills snake their way through City Hall, affordable
housing is inevitably exempted. It doesn’t take a
mathematician to figure out that when union labor adds
30% or more to construction costs, the result is fewer
affordable units, higher rents, or both.
That’s why affordable-housing developers were shocked
this month when Councilwoman Letitia James suddenly
began demanding “prevailing wages” for workers who would
build affordable housing for a mixed-use development
involving three cultural institutions in her Brooklyn district.
The project hinges on a council vote scheduled for Monday.
By all appearances, Ms. James was responding to pressure
from trade unions that might aid her campaign for public
advocate. Until this month, her focus when it came to
projects was ensuring that locals and minority- and womenowned contractors got a good chunk of the work. Ironically,
the wage mandate she seeks would shift the jobs to union
tradespeople, who tend to be white and live outside of her
largely black district, and often outside of the city entirely.
Our point is not to pick on Ms. James, whose protest vote
(should she cast one) should be ignored by her colleagues in
the City Council. It’s to flag the effort by some
underemployed unions to bully their way into low-rise
CRAIN’S ONLINE POLL
affordable-housing work. If successful, it would exacerbate
the city’s housing shortage and suck money out of minority
neighborhoods, where nonunion tradesmen tend to live.
Several Democratic mayoral candidates have endorsed
this effort, parroting the lame line that special deals called
project labor agreements, or PLAs, could hand affordablehousing construction to unions without reducing the
number of units built. But PLAs often save less money than
expected, and sometimes none at all. Moreover, many of the
trade unions that would be needed for these projects want no
part of PLAs.
The candidates have
also said subsidized
housing has been
shoddily built, pointing
to anecdotal examples.
Weaving a broad fiction
out of isolated cases is a
dangerous way to make
policy. The facts are,
nonunion-built
affordable housing
across the city has held up nicely, and some union-built
affordable housing has been plagued by problems.
Affordable-housing construction is employing minority
workers at good wages in their own communities, and
providing more units than union-built projects could. This
model must not be undermined by election-season politics.
A ‘prevailing
wage’ mandate
would worsen the
housing shortage
COMMENTS
Scoffing at scaffold law
newscom
TEAR DOWN
THIS LAW
SHOULD THE U.S.
PROSECUTE NSA LEAKER
EDWARD SNOWDEN?
Yes. This was an illegal act. Ignoring it would
lead to other confidential information being
leaked.
No. This man did a public service. Now we’ll
have a much-needed debate about
government snooping.
Date of poll: June 10
293 votes
54%
Yes
45%
No
FOR THIS WEEK’S QUESTIONS:
Go to www.crainsnewyork.com/poll to have your say.
10 | Crain’s New York Business | June 17, 2013
Crain’s hit the nail on the head
in its recent editorial
highlighting the obsolete and
costly absolute liability
standard of the scaffold law
(“New York’s stupidest law,”
June 10).
The costs of the law are
outrageous, and the purported
safety benefits are merely a
fabrication of the trial-lawyer
lobby. Reforming the law
would have widespread benefits
extending far beyond the
construction industry.
Of course, New Yorkers
have yet another good reason to
support reform of the scaffold
law—doing so would lower the
cost of construction in areas
affected by Hurricane Sandy.
With more than $30 billion in
damage, rebuilding after the
storm is a massive undertaking.
Thanks to the scaffold law,
millions of dollars will be spent
on unnecessary insurance and
lawsuits, and taxpayers and
private citizens will be on the
hook for the bill.
Moreover, reforming the
scaffold law would make New
York businesses more
competitive, allowing local
companies to bid competitively
on reconstruction projects. This
would generate jobs and tax
dollars.
New York voters should
understand the impacts of the
scaffold law and begin asking
their elected officials where
they stand on reform.
—thomas b. stebbins
Executive director
Lawsuit Reform Alliance
of New York
BLAME INSURERS,
NOT WORKERS
What’s most amazing about
the campaign opposing New
York’s scaffold law is that it’s
supposedly based on concerns
about rising insurance
premiums but includes no
analysis of the fundamentals
driving these costs.
When those in charge of
projects fail in their
responsibility for safety on
work at heights and workers
suffer what can be catastrophic
injuries, compensation under
the scaffold law is totally
appropriate. New York’s
highest court has plainly held
that workers have no case if
they cause their own injuries by
ignoring safety protections the
owner or contractor put in
place.
We share the concern of
businesses that insurers appear
to be gouging them. Rather
than blaming the victims of
accidents, we ought to improve
safety and bring transparency
to the insurance market.
That the campaign
opposing the scaffold law says
nothing about this speaks
volumes about its misguided
agenda.
—gary labarbera
President
Building and Construction
Trades Council
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Crains New York - June 17, 2013
IN THE BOROUGHS
IN THE MARKETS
THE INSIDER
SMALL BUSINESS
BUSINESS PEOPLE
OPINION
GREG DAVID
FOR THE RECORD
REPORT: FORTUNATE 100
THE LIST
REAL ESTATE DEALS
CLASSIFIEDS
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
SOURCE LUNCH
OUT AND ABOUT
SNAPS
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