T.R.A.D.E.S. in the Press

City Limits

"Work in Projects"
By Ron Feemster
July/August 2003

(Kenneth) Person is one of more than a dozen new painters apprentices who probably owe their jobs to a two-year battle by TRADES, a coalition of unions, public housing residents and community groups that has pushed the New York City Housing Authority to enforce federal and local regulations requiring its contractors to hire public housing residents. In early May, the Housing Authority informed APS Painting that it would lose 15 NYCHA contracts worth $8 million unless it met its obligation to spend 15 percent of its labor dollars to hire workers who live in the Housing Authority projects.

Once Igor Shikhris (president of APS Painting) realized that hiring workers who lived in the projects was the only way to save his business, he discovered that it paid to go union. Under federal law, all public housing work is supposed to be paid the "prevailing wage" for an area--and in New York City, the prevailing wage is the union wage. Had it remained a nonunion contractor, APS would have been required to pay union scale to every worker, no matter how inexperienced. But in the painters union, like other trade unions, apprentices are paid wages that are much lower than scale. That makes it profitable for a contractor to take on less experienced workers as part of its crews.

The coalition...argues that if NYCHA enforces the rules on resident hiring, contractors will have an economic incentive to hire public housing residents as apprentices.

As director of the New York City Public Housing Resident Alliance, Ethel Velez is a member of the TRADES negotiating committee. Within hours of learning that APS might sign with the painters union, she and resident leaders around the city responded to the union's call for new workers. Velez encouraged Adam Mitchell, 23, to apply for one of the new jobs. He had worked nine months as a $28-per-hour Section 3 employee at Johnson Houses last year before getting laid off. Another man from the Johnson Houses, Javon Alexander, 26, made a more abrupt career change. "I used to sell drugs," he says. "But when I looked at my future, I knew I would end up in jail or getting shot."

TRADES sees the emergence of union jobs, or at least more permanent jobs for NYCHA residents, as a historic beginning. "This is a starting point," says Nicole Branca (of Jobs with Justice). "TRADES is about systematically changing the resident hiring and procurement processes of NYCHA."

Read the article online.

Gotham Gazette

"Unlikely Alliance Wins Apprenticeships for Public Housing Residents"
By Brad Lander
June 30, 2003

After three years, an unlikely alliance of public housing residents and several building trades unions have won a significant victory. The New York City Housing Authority has agreed that $600 million of construction work in public housing over the next three years will be built by union contractors. At present, almost none of the housing authority's work is built with union labor. In exchange, the carpenters, painters, laborers, and plumbers have agreed to hire approximately 220 residents of public housing during each of those years. In addition, the housing authority has increased enforcement of "Section 3" requirements - a section of the Housing & Urban Development Act of 1968 which requires that federal public housing funds be used to hire local residents and subcontractors - for contractors working on public housing.

The building trades unions hope this will be a model for other publicly-subsidized construction work which is currently non-union. And Jobs With Justice (TRADES' sponsoring organization) hopes that if alliances can be built between trades unions and public housing residents, many more labor-community partnerships are possible.

Read the article online.

City Limits

“NYCHA Apprenticeships”
By M. Kenny
June 9,2003

The New York City Housing Authority has finally agreed to enforce federal and local mandates requiring its contractors to hire public housing residents. According to the Trade Unions & Residents for Apprenticeship Development & Economic Success (TRADES) coalition, in an effort to boost the number of residents working on NYCHA projects, the authority has promised to devote $450 million from its construction and maintenance budget and 225 new jobs for first-year union apprenticeships, all to be spread out over a three-year period.

Read the article online.

Gotham Gazette

“Unlikely Alliance Wins Apprenticeships for Public Housing Residents”
By Brad Lander
November 6-12, 2002

After three years, an unlikely alliance of public housing residents and several building trades unions have won a significant victory. The New York City Housing Authority has agreed that $600 million of construction work in public housing over the next three years will be built by union contractors. At present, almost none of the housing authority’s work is built with union labor. In exchange, the carpenters, painters, laborers, and plumbers have agreed to hire approximately 220 residents of public housing during each of those years. In addition, the housing authority has increased enforcement of “Section 3” requirements – a section of the Housing & Urban Development Act of 1968 which requires that federal public housing funds be used to hire local residents and subcontractors – for contractors working on public housing.

Public housing residents are looking forward to the jobs that will be created. The building trades unions hope this will be a model for other publicly-subsidized construction work which is currently non-union. And Jobs with Justice (TRADES’ sponsoring organization) hopes that if alliances can be built between trades unions and public housing residents, many more labor-community partnerships are possible.

Read the article online.