Unions Want Occupational Safety and Health Included in NY Gov. Hole’s Housing Plan as Budget Deadline Approaches

ALBANY — Politically powerful labor leaders in New York are stepping up their efforts to include more worker protections in Governor Hole’s ambitious housing development plan.

The chapter of 32BJ-SEIU, the nation’s largest service workers union, is among those calling for fair wages and labor standards to be included in housing overhaul plans across the Empire State.

“Trying to create more housing without fair wages and labor standards will simply undermine the foundation on which working class affordability is built,” 32BJ president Manny Pastreich told Daily News on Monday.

“We can and must do both: improve and accelerate the path to more affordable housing, making sure that family-supporting wages are part of the process,” he added.

Governor Kathy Hochul

Hochul, a Democrat, hopes to solve the state’s housing crisis with her New York City Housing Pact, a plan she says will set the state on track to build 800,000 new homes over the next decade.

The plan, discussed with the Democratic-led legislature before the state’s April 1 budget deadline, would force every municipality in the state to increase its housing stock and set growth targets.

New York City and surrounding suburbs will be required to increase the number of housing units by 3% every three years, with a focus on areas near rail stations and transportation hubs.

Under the Governor’s plan, projects with affordable housing components that are denied approval in municipalities that are not meeting their growth targets may be eligible for government-supported fast-track approval.

Pastreich and other union leaders generally support the plan, but fear that a “fast track” approach could discourage developers from engaging constructively with community stakeholders, especially unions.

Union members applaud at a rally in support of 32BJ SEIU construction workers.

32BJ is pushing legislators to ensure that any projects that circumvent established local land-use approval processes continue to require construction workers employed on the site to receive no less than the applicable applicable wages and benefits.

The union also supports Hole’s call for an easing of restrictions on commercial-to-residential conversions in the city. However, he wants prevailing wage requirements to be tied to any tax credit programs set up to encourage such transformation.

The union, which represents thousands of doormen, porters, supervisors and repairmen, will launch a massive media campaign and mobilize members to urge lawmakers to anchor protection measures in the final budget.

Hochul’s commercial transformation proposal includes prevailing wage requirements for building maintenance workers.

“Gov. Hole’s Executive Budget includes transformative investments to make New York more accessible, more livable and safer, and she looks forward to working with the Legislature on a final budget that meets the needs of all New Yorkers,” she said. press secretary Hazel Crampton-Hayes.

Other union leaders have previously urged the Legislature to work with Hochul to include such language.

Michael Hellström, vice president and eastern regional manager of North America Workers International, welcomed the governor’s proposal, calling for more guarantees for builders.

“If done right, the Housing Treaty will not only build housing, but build a long-term career in the unionized construction industry and set workplace standards that go well beyond any one building program,” he said. .

Similarly, the New York City Carpentry District Council last month called for the inclusion of labor protection measures in the housing plan.

The union noted that about a quarter of all New York City builders do not have health insurance, and 41% of builders and their families rely on public assistance.

“We call on the Governor and the Legislature to encourage good jobs with family pay and to protect workers and tenants on their housing agenda,” Joseph Geiger, Executive Secretary and Treasurer of the United Council of Carpenters of the City of New York and Surrounding Areas, said in a statement. .

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