NYC, Building Trades Sign PLAs For $1B+
NEW YORK—New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced two project labor agreements (PLAs) with the Building & Construction Trades Council of Greater New York that will cover more than $1 billion in construction projects throughout the term of the agreements. These include generational infrastructure improvements in Willets Point in Queens and letters of intent on PLAs for tens of billions of dollars in additional project work in the city.
These historic PLAs will allow the city to complete capital projects more effectively and efficiently, connect more underserved New Yorkers to quality union career and apprenticeship opportunities through community hiring, and strengthen the city’s commitment to minority- and women-owned businesses (M/WBEs). Covered construction projects will include green infrastructure improvements and repairing the city’s sewers, roads and bridges.
Mayor Adams also announced late last month that the New York City Economic Development Corporation had signed a letter of intent with BCTC to negotiate in good faith additional PLAs.
Among the locations are the Hunts Point Produce Market, the Kingsbridge Armory redevelopment, and the Science Park and Research Campus (SPARC) Kips Bay projects–amounting to more than $1.88 billion in construction work.
The PLAs announced on Nov. 21 also establish the framework for future negotiations with the BCTC for upcoming PLAs that could cover as much as $50 billion of future capital construction projects. These PLAs will cover design-build projects, new construction projects and renovation projects of city-owned buildings and structures.
The BCTC represents more than 100,000 tradesmen and tradeswomen across New York City and consists of local affiliates of 15 national and international unions.
PLAs enable the city to establish fair wages, benefits and safety protections for workers, and provide opportunities for workforce development, while controlling construction costs and ensuring the timely completion of projects.
The agreement will also allow $800 million in planned infrastructure projects across the city to be completed using design-build delivery, a procurement method for construction services in which the design and construction are under a single contract. These projects range from improvements to critical below-grade infrastructure, roadway and waterfront reconstruction and new greenway projects—all projects with complex site conditions that will benefit from site investigations and constructability input from contractors during the design development, city officials stated.