The Building and Construction Trades Council, representing unions, and the Building Trades Employers' Association, representing contractors, say they've formed a "
historic compact" on 12 New York building projects that will save between 16 and 21 percent on labor costs. Under the Obamaish-named "Economic Recovery Project Labor Agreement," the unions agree to no strikes or stoppages, and the employers to no lock-outs; standard eight-hour days and 40-hour weeks, with time and a half for overtime; "maximum utilization of apprentices at training wages," reductions in management wages and "profit margins," etc. Among the beneficiaries of the agreement are
Forest City Ratner's Beekman Tower, on which work stopped two months ago, and Ratner's 34-story
DeKalb project in Brooklyn (
pictured).
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