ALBANY — Politically powerful union leaders in New York are intensifying their pressure to include more worker protections in Governor Hochul’s ambitious plan to boost housing.
The head of 32BJ-SEIU, the nation’s largest service workers union, is among those calling for fair wage and labor standards to be included in plans to redevelop housing across the Empire State.
“Trying to create more housing without fair wages and labor standards will only erode the foundation that working-class affordability is built on,” 32BJ president Manny Pastreich told the Daily News on Monday.
“We can and must do both: improve and accelerate the path to building more affordable housing, while making sure that the wages that sustain families are part of that process,” he added.
Hochul, a Democrat, hopes to address the state’s housing crisis with her New York Housing Compact, a plan she says will put the state on track to build 800,000 new homes over the next decade.
The plan, which is being negotiated with the Democratic-led Legislature before the April 1 state budget deadline, would force all municipalities in the state to increase their housing stock and impose growth targets.
New York City and surrounding suburbs would have to increase housing units by 3% every three years, focusing on areas near train stations and transit centers.
Under the governor’s plan, projects with affordable housing components that are denied a permit in municipalities that don’t meet their growth targets could be eligible for state-backed “fast track” approval.
Pastreich and other union leaders generally support the plan, but fear the “fast track” approach could remove incentives for developers to engage constructively with community stakeholders, especially unions.
32BJ is pressing lawmakers to ensure that any projects that circumvent local land use approval processes still require construction service workers employed on the site to receive no less than prevailing wages and benefits. corresponding.
The union also supports Hochul’s call to ease restrictions on the conversion of commercial buildings for residential use in the city. However, it wants prevailing salary requirements to be tied to any tax incentive programs put in place to encourage such conversions.
The union, which represents thousands of doormen, janitors, superintendents and maintenance workers, will launch a media blitz and mobilize members to call on lawmakers to entrench the protections in the final budget.
Hochul’s business conversion proposal includes current wage requirements for construction service workers.
“Governor Hochul’s executive budget makes transformative investments to make New York more affordable, 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,” said spokeswoman Hazel Crampton-Hays.
Other labor leaders previously called on the Legislature to work with Hochul to include such language.
Michael Hellstrom, vice president and eastern regional manager for the North American Workers International Union, applauded the governor’s proposal and called for greater guarantees for construction workers.
“Done right, the Housing Compact will not only build homes, but it will also create long-term careers in the unionized construction industry and set workplace standards that extend well beyond any building program.” , said.
Similarly, the New York City District Council of Carpenters called last month for the housing plan to include job protections.
The union noted that about a quarter of all construction workers in New York do not have health insurance and 41% of construction workers and their families depend on government assistance.
“We urge the Governor and Legislature to promote good jobs with wages that support families, and protect workers and renters in their housing agenda,” Joseph Geiger, executive secretary and treasurer of the United District Council of Carpenters New York City and Vicinity, it said in a statement.
