September 4Th, 2020
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THETHE BUILDINGBUILDING TRADESMANTRADESMAN Official Publication of the Michigan Building and Construction Trades Council VOL. 69, NO. 18 Since 1952 • Serving the highly skilled men and women in Michigan’s building trade unions 65 Cents September 4, 2020 SHORT CUTS Time to request your absentee ballot No need to stand in line at Joe Biden vs. Donald Trump the polls on Election Day, Tues- day, Nov. 3. Request your ab- sentee ballot today. Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson on Aug. 20 reminded voters that the ap- plication period to request an ab- sentee voter ballot has begun. All registered voters can Ten building trades apply for an absent voter ballot MORE THAN 1,300 tons of steel have been placed this year at the Lansing Board of Water and and may do so by filling out an Light’s Delta Energy Park, and the 250-megawatt power plant’s structure was topped out on Aug. 6. online form at Michigan.gov/ Photo credit:Barton Malow video capture unions have endorsed Vote and providing information including their driver’s license or state ID card number and the The iron is up at Delta Energy Park Biden. Here’s why. last four digits of their Social By Marty Mulcahy Security number. He ‘will protect our ability to fight Editor Alternatively, voters may LANSING – The Lansing print out an application form for fair wages and benefits, Power Constructors Team, from the site and send it, or a Redinger Steel and members of written, signed request for a Iron Workers Local 25 and Op- while helping us win more work’ ballot, to their clerk. They can erating Engineers Local 324 By Marty Mulcahy Sprinkler Fitters and Teamsters. mail their request, email a scan celebrated the topping out of Editor Compared to the other unions, or photo of it or deliver it in per- the Delta Energy Park while Donald Trump vs. Joe Biden. the United Association on Aug. 17 son. Voters can find their clerk’s honoring five engineering con- Once again this year on the issued the most extensive defense contact information at tractors who died in a plane first Tuesday in November, we’ve seen justifying its decision Michigan.gov/Vote. crash last fall en route to visit- America goes to the polls to pick to endorse Biden, rather than Trump “With a record-breaking ing the site. a president, and once again build- or remaining neutral. And issues number of absentee ballots cast The topping out of the fi- ing trades union leaders and the that effect the UA nearly univer- in our August primary, Michi- nal structural beam was held rest of organized labor recom- sally line up with those of other gan voters have made their de- Aug. 6, marking the installation mend a candidate for president building trades unions. sire to vote from home abun- of the last of some 1,330 tons who will work in the best inter- UA General President Mark dantly clear,” said Benson. “They of steel at the site of the new ests of union members. McManus said the UA’s general recognize and trust that it is a safe, 250-megawatt power plant. The AFL-CIO, comprised of officers and Political Engagement secure and convenient way to Barton Malow and Clark Con- 55 unions representing 12.5 mil- Committee (PEC) – comprised of participate in our democracy, and struction are a joint venture lion members, endorsed Democrat business managers, business we will continue doing all we can comprising the Lansing Power Biden in May. And throughout agents, journeymen and journey- to ensure voters understand their Constructors and are the Lan- this year, Biden has also been en- women and apprentices from rights and how to exercise them sing Board of Water and Light’s dorsed by all the building trades across the country – met frequently ahead of November.” lead contractors on the project. unions that have issued endorse- over the past two years and began Local clerks will begin mail- Five stars affixed to the fi- ments, including the Bricklayers discussions for a possible presiden- ing out regular absent voter bal- nal beam commemorated the and Allied Craftworkers, Cement tial endorsement earlier this year lots on Sept. 24. The ballots will five occupants of a downed Masons, Iron Workers, Heat and He said the PEC established be available for early, in-person plane leased by The Engineer- Frost Insulators, IBEW, Painters four main policy areas to evalu- voting in clerks’ offices on that ing Collaborative, a mechanical and Allied Trades, Sheet Metal ate the candidates “on the most date as well. contracting consulting firm in Workers, and the United Asso- important issues facing UA Voters applying for absent Indianapolis working with the ciation of Plumbers, Pipe Fitters, (Continued on Page 3) voter ballots online or through BWL on the project. Five of the the mail should do as soon as REDINGER STEEL iron workers set up the final beam for place- (Continued on Page 11) ment at the Delta Energy Park project. possible. After Oct. 19, voters are Photo credit: Marc Crance advised to go to their clerk’s of- AFL-CIO’s Trumka: fice in person if possible, where they can receive their ballot and Dems’ plan ‘is the most vote it while they are there. Michigan construction starts With COVID, NLRB nods to employers to succumb to COVID’s weight pro-union platform I’ve The National Labor Rela- Construction employment in ping a bit in Michigan and else- power plants in St. Clair and tions Board (NLRB), all appoin- Michigan is holding its own, but where, as our state joins the slog- Ingham counties and automotive seen in my 50 years’ tees of President Trump, re- the burden of COVID-19 is likely ging construction economy that’s work in the Detroit area. cently released a series of deci- becoming too heavy to retain its plaguing just about the entire “Renewed outbreaks of By Mark Gruenberg gust 18 “gets it,” Trumka de- sions regarding COVID-19, the momentum. nation. It is widely believed that coronavirus in numerous states PAI Staff Writer clares. first guidance that the board Since Gov. Gretchen Whitmer much of Michigan’s busy spring likely caused many project own- As they head into the home- “He’s always been a blue- has given since the pandemic reopened the state’s construction and summer have been brought ers and investors to pull back on stretch of the 2020 campaign, na- collar guy and he’s still a blue- started in March. industry last spring after a six- about by pent-up demand, plus planned construction,” said Ken tional Demo- collar guy,” the union federation In a series of five memos to week shutdown in response to the ongoing construction of new (Continued on Page 3) crats “have to chief added. Trumka gave that their regional directors the NLRB the pandemic, Michigan has en- pay attention analysis, and a critique of what instructed them to dismiss vari- joyed a too-good-to-be-true re- Dodge Index for U.S. to working 2016 nominee Hillary Clinton ous cases regarding COVID-19- surgence in building activity. In people” to win didn’t do, in a 35-minute interview related charges against employ- May and June, the state was construction starts this fall, AFL- with Jonathan Capehart of the Year 2000=100 ers. The board concluded that among the leaders in U.S. con- CIO President Washington Post before the an employer is not obligated to struction activity, with many Richard rollcall that evening at the Demo- engage in midterm bargaining re- Michigan localities ranking Trumka says. cratic National Convention. The garding union proposals for paid among the top spots in terms of AFL-CIO And presi- interview is one of a series the sick leave and hazard pay because building employment. President dential nomi- paper has run for weeks with ana- of the ongoing pandemic. They But July’s numbers, released Rich Trumka nee Joe Biden, lysts, newsmakers and politicians also said that an employer does Aug. 21 by the Associated Gen- who was for- both before and during the con- not have to bargain about a tem- eral Contractors of America, show mally approved by the party’s vir- clave. porary closure. the employment gears are slip- tual convention roll call on Au- Trumka was the sole union In regards to workers leader in the week’s 20-person speaking up about a dangerous convention-oriented lineup. The situation on the job, the board Union members continue to enjoy wage premium wrap-up on Aug. 20, before has decided that an individual The union advantage per- century-old trend that shows “Now, more than ever, we help workers organize unions.” Biden’s convention acceptance speaking out about a sists. union workers consistently out- need strong labor laws to protect And in this era of increased speech that night, featured House company’s COVID safety pro- A report issued Aug. 25 by earning nonunion workers. How- working people from the health spotlight of racial injustice, the Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., cedure is not protected speech. the labor-backed Economic ever, another persistent trend is and economic impacts of the EPI’s research shows that union- and Biden’s last presidential pri- This means that they can be fired Policy Institute finds that union- flat and falling union representa- coronavirus pandemic,” said ized black workers (+13.7 percent) mary foe, Sen. Bernie Sanders, by their employer. This guid- ized workers earn on average 11.2 tion over the past several de- Lynn Rhinehart, EPI Senior Fel- and Hispanic workers (+20.1 per- Ind.-Vt., who has enthusiastically ance came after a case was filed percent more in wages than their cades: in 2019, only one in nine low and one of the report’s au- cent) both enjoy a greater wage ad- endorsed the former vice presi- by a nurse who was fired after nonunion peers (workers in the U.S.