UMass project must use union laborers - The Boston Globe

UMass project must use union laborers - The Boston Globe

UMass project must use unions

Critics say move will boost costs

By Noah Bierman

Globe Staff / June 16, 2010

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A state authority voted this week to mandate the use of union workers on a $750 million overhaul of the University of Massachusetts Boston campus, a contentious decision already making waves in the race for governor.

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The remaking of the campus is a rare mega-project in what remains a sluggish economy for builders. Groups supporting nonunion contractors say the move is anticompetitive, politically motivated, and costly. Supporters of the union-only rule, including Governor Deval Patrick, say it will guarantee a higher quality workforce and eliminate the risk of union strikes, thus diminishing the potential for slowing down the complex overhaul and disrupting life on a working campus.

For Patrick’s Republican opponent, Charles D. Baker, the vote fits into a broader critique of the governor’s leadership. Baker has argued that so-called Project Labor Agreements — which require companies that bid on construction work to hire union workers, in exchange for agreeing not to strike — are among many Beacon Hill practices that favor politically powerful interests at the expense of taxpayers. He has pledged to end them in state contracts if elected.

In a statement yesterday, he asserted that the UMass agreement could add $100 million to the cost of the project, a figure that roughly corresponds to research cited by critics of such agreements but disputed by unions.

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