Progress Report: Florida Construction Organizing

January 30, 2006 

A growing number of contractors in Florida's residential construction market are coming up with an answer to a shortage of skilled workers--the IBEW. 

Miami, Local 349 recently signed George's Electric, Ray Butler Electric and York Electric, residential firms of 5 or fewer employees, to union agreements. 

Fort Lauderdale, Local 728 signed Always On Electric, Ace Electric, Action Electric and Newkirk Electric. Most of the firms are 10 employees or less, serving diverse markets.

Pee Wee Simpson, Local 349 organizer, says the IBEW approached the contractors with a plan to supply them with skilled workers, flexibility within job classifications and a commitment to develop mutually beneficial plans.

Local 728 organizer John Creasman says that the demand is so great for construction electricians in South Florida that nonunion contractors are approaching the union for qualified help.  Local 728 is running a 30-second advertising spot on radio stations announcing that jobs for both licensed and unlicensed electricians are available paying between $18 and $29 per hour, with family health benefits and pensions, giving the local's phone number.  The local has received 54 responses in six days of advertising. Most of the workers will be slotted into the new construction electrician job classification, says Creasman.

R. Dale Cope, organizer for Pensacola, Florida Local 676, says "the numbers look good for both sides" in the piecework plan that the local is developing for application on tract home projects.  The plan--which is near completion-- will increase productivity, put money in the pockets of productive electricians and permit contractors to increase their profits by securing bids on larger projects. Dale Cope credits IBEW International Representative Ron Burke for assisting the local and signatory contractors in the plan's development. 

While piecework plans are easiest to establish in tract home projects where design features are nearly uniform in each home, Locals 676 and 349 are already looking at applying the method of measuring productivity and compensation to Florida's growing condominium market.  "Once you get above the mechanical floor of a condominium complex," says Cope, "building condos is a lot like building tract homes."

IBEW organizers emphasize that with a growing market and fresh business tactics, the opportunities for union workers to grow with smaller firms are strong.