Florida Agreements Net IBEW New Work
September 19, 2005
Changing market conditions and increased pressure from nonunion firms have prompted the IBEW in Florida to take a dramatic new approach to labor agreements. By pursuing the small works and heavy highway agreements, the IBEW is already attracting new work for signatory contractors.
All of the inside locals and National Electrical Contractors Association chapters in Florida have signed on to the small works agreement. Inked on September 1, it is putting members to work today on the smaller, non-industrial projects that make up an ever-larger share of new construction in America’s fourth-largest state.
“It increases the contractor’s flexibility and makes it much easier for us to organize the workers already out there,” said Florida Initiative Coordinator Jim Rudicil.
The agreements give contractors more power to move workers across jurisdictional lines, the ability to modify crew mixes and use more workers of intermediate ability with the new “construction wireman” classification. Workers who fit this category are performing work today for nonunion companies. The new classification was first unveiled at the Construction and Maintenance conference last April in Washington, D.C. Such a classification ensures a spot for those who do not meet the highly skilled qualifications of the inside journeyman wireman but are competent for many tasks. Adding the classification is an indication to all workers in the Florida electrical industry that those with good attitudes, work ethic and the desire to be part of the union are welcome by the IBEW.
“The IBEW will provide training if their skills need upgrading but we want all good electrical workers to know there will be a place in the IBEW for them and an opportunity for advancement,” said IBEW International President Edwin D. Hill.
With the small works agreement, which targets projects like high-rise apartment buildings and condos as well as shopping centers and hotels, IBEW leaders hope to break into a residential market that, at 54 percent of overall construction spending in the state, is 20 percent higher than the national average. Buddy Satterfield, Assistant to the International President for Membership Development, said the agreement will increase the IBEW’s participation in light commercial and small industrial construction.
It is already netting construction jobs for the IBEW. A 35-story condominium project in Orlando is being constructed with the assistance of 50 members of Orlando Local 606. The $90 million, 900,000 square foot project is among the first large-scale residential jobs for Local 606. “We’re enthusiastic about this step into the high-rise residential market,” said Business Manager Harry Brown.
Other projects under the small works agreement are likely soon. Satterfield said the agreement is a model that will likely be applied in many other areas that have low union density, particularly throughout the South. As with other agreements, the small works agreement must be negotiated by the local union and the NECA chapter. In the case of Florida, both sides recognized that a more competitive agreement was essential for the success of an all-out organizing effort in Florida. With the new classification for construction wiremen, union contractors will have more success bidding on work and creating more job opportunities for everyone, Satterfield said.
The heavy highway agreement has helped ease the IBEW back into highway construction. IBEW members are at work on a $35 million highway project for the Florida Transportation Department under that pact.
