The Building Tradesman the Building Tradesman
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THETHE BUILDINGBUILDING TRADESMANTRADESMAN Official Publication of the Michigan Building and Construction Trades Council VOL. 70, NO. 3 Since 1952 • Serving the highly skilled men and women in Michigan’s building trade unions 65 Cents February 12, 2021 SHORT Unions, more or less, CUTS held their own during COVID-impacted year Unions elections By Marty Mulcahy going electronic? Editor Labor’s numbers are With the pandemic raging, The annual federal govern- down, but workforce the National Labor Relations ment report on the statistical state Board (NLRB) has had to face of the nation’s labor unions has percentage is up; the reality that in-person voting almost never offered an opportu- not bad, Michigan in a union election might not be nity for a “good news” headline safe. To fix this Congressman for organized labor in any year in Shierholz. “Due to this, unionized Andy Levin (D- MI, 9th District), recent decades. workers have had a voice in how introduced a bill to allow elec- And, 2020 was no different, their employers have navigated tronic voting. but there were some glad tidings the pandemic, including negoti- The bill, known as the for a very difficult year. ating for terms of furloughs or SAFE Worker Act, was intro- The Bureau of Labor Statis- work-share arrangements to save duced into the new Congress in tics reported on Jan. 22 that the jobs. This likely played a role in January. The bill would repeal a nation’s labor unions represented limiting overall job loss among ban on electronic voting and 15.9 million workers, a decline of unionized workers.” would order the NLRB to de- ANCHORAGE POINTS for the foundation that will support the tower on the Detroit side of the 444,000 from 2019. However, while In Michigan, BLS figures velop a system for accepting Gordie Howe International Bridge are placed along the Detroit River. The span will come ashore the unionization level dropped in show the union membership rate electronic ballots, and $1 million overhead at the Lafarge North America's riverfront aggregates plant, just north of Zug Island. terms of counting individual work- grew from 13.6 percent (589,000) in funding for the NLRB to fund ers, the actual percentage of work- of the workforce in 2019 to 15.2 the new procedure. ers represented by a union rose percent (604,000) in 2020. Cer- The SAFE Workers Act is Here comes the Gordie Howe Bridge by 0.5 percent, to 10.8 percent in tainly the COVID-related, wide- endorsed by the AFL-CIO and By Marty Mulcahy 2020, because union workers spread loss of nonunion service other member unions. “Having Editor have seen less job loss than non- jobs bumped up the overall union- electronic voting processes DETROIT – No, there’s union workers during the COVID- ization rate. would add a useful and neces- nothing going up quite yet that 19 pandemic. It’s not much good Michigan’s 15.2 percent sary tool in the NLRB’s toolbox looks like a major international news, but it’s something. unionization rate remained one of to protect the safety of work- crossing. “Where workers have been the top states in density. ers... while ensuring that the But the acres of cleared able to act collectively and bar- AFL-CIO President Richard right to organize is preserved,” land in Southwest Detroit and gain through their union, they Trumka cited unions’ 65 percent Levin said. The bill has biparti- the newly erected structures have been able to secure en- approval in public polls and union san support. popping up and foundation hanced safety measures, addi- activism which helped put Joe Biden Beyond a pandemic, elec- work going on near the Detroit tional premium pay, and paid sick in the White House and predicted fu- tronic voting would help to de- riverfront are signs that the $4.4 time, during the pandemic,” said ture gains. Biden “showed on his first crease the power that bosses billion Gordie Howe Interna- A RENDERING of the Gordie Howe International Bridge over the labor-backed Economic Policy day he is willing to fight for have over their workers during tional Bridge is starting to be- Detroit River, which will be of a cable-stay design – much cheaper Institute Director of Policy Heidi (Continued on Page 3) an election. For example, in the come a reality. to build with precast concrete than a steel-heavy suspension de- current organizing drive in Ala- Building trades workers in sign like the nearby Ambassador Bridge. This will be the longest bama against Amazon, the com- recent weeks have started con- cable-stay span in North America. Image credits: U.S. construction Bridging North America pany is pushing hard for in-per- struction on bridge tower foun- North America, the Windsor-De- son voting so that they can dations north of Zug Island troit Bridge Authority’s (WDBA) for construction on the project pressure the workers to vote near where Springwells Street private-sector partner respon- is expected to occur between fatalities climb, against the election. Thankfully meets West Jefferson Avenue. sible for the design, construction, 2021-2023, when approximately the NLRB has put the safety of The foundations will support financing and operation of the 70 percent of total work hours the workers first and is allowing the new 1.5-mile, six-lane, cable- bridge, more than 2,800 workers will be expended. highest since 2007 stayed bridge between Detroit on the project in Canada and the an election by mail-in votes. “Bridging North America WASHINGTON, D.C. – A director of occupational safety and Windsor. U.S. have been oriented on the However, the election will is committed to completing the U.S. worker died every 99 minutes and health at the Laborers’ Health According to Bridging project. The most active period (Continued on Page 2) take over a month to complete, from fatal occupational injuries in and Safety Fund of North whereas an electronic election 2019, the Labor Department re- America. “Large increases in fa- could be done significantly vealed late last year in its annual talities were also seen among faster. –Brian Young, UComm State agency issues key Line 5 report on the prior year’s data. older workers (over 55) and His- Blog The report, from the federal panic/Latino workers; deaths Unions delivering Bureau of Labor Statistics, said among workers in both groups hit permit; but Whitmer’s lawsuit looms 5,333 workers died from on-the- all-time highs in 2019.” election to Amazon By Marty Mulcahy Proposed Line 5 Tunnel - job injuries, 83 (2 percent) more Schneider added: “Analyz- One of the most important Editor St. Ignace Phase III construction than in 2018, and the highest fig- ing these annual fatality numbers union elections in recent LANSING – The proposed Mackinaw City ure since 2007. The 2019 rate of is always a reminder of the criti- memory will take place starting utility tunnel under the Straits of Straits of Mackinac fatal occupational job injuries was cal importance of health and this month, at the Amazon ware- Mackinac that would encapsulate 3.5 per 100,000 workers, up from safety practices on the job. Be- house in Bessemer, Alabama. a relocated Line 5 petroleum pipe- Pipeline tunnel 3.38 percent in 2015. hind the overall numbers and fa- Voting began Feb. 8 and the line was approved Jan. 29 by the Construction Trades Council is that the proposed tunneling It was worse in the private tality rates are lives lost and fami- mail-in votes must be received Michigan Department of Environ- part of a coalition of groups sup- project would have minimal im- sector of the construction indus- lies changed forever. We must by March 29. There are 6,000 ment, Great Lakes, and Energy porting the construction of the pact on water quality in the Great try, which experienced 1,061 fatal (Continued on Page 3) workers eligible to vote. The (EGLE). $500 million utility tunnel, and the Lakes and would not affect pro- injuries in 2019, up 5 percent from warehouse is being organized “If constructed,” said a re- construction jobs it would bring tected public uses of Michigan’s 2018. Like the entire U.S. Looking up: by the Retail Workers union. lease by the state agency, “the to an area that rarely sees such a water resources.” The only workforce, it was the sector’s high- While unions are promi- tunnel would house a proposed level of activity. stipulation was the Enbridge be est number of worker deaths since nent within Amazon’s European replacement for the 68-year-old The EGLE’s issuance of the required to protect a relatively 2007. Michigan footprint, in the U.S. the com- Line 5 dual petroleum products permit follows a nine-month re- small 1.3 acres of existing Great “The increase in workplace pany is completely non-union. pipelines currently lying on view period, including four pub- Lakes coastal wetlands and pur- fatalities from 2018 to 2019 was joins space This includes its warehouse lakebed. EGLE’s review of the per- lic hearings. The stage agency chase wetlands credits from a the largest we’ve seen since 2007 workers and their delivery driv- mit applications concluded that said its permit review “confirmed (Continued on Page 3) to 2008,” said Scott Schneider, race with ers. The workers, who are call- the proposed construction of a ing themselves the BAmazon tunnel beneath the lakebed can United, say that if they are suc- be done in compliance with the Trades erect new U-M dance building new projects cessful in organizing the ware- state environmental laws that ANN ARBOR – Let’s dance.