A rendering of the Zeckendorfs’ 50 United Nations Plaza

Developers of major projects can increasingly opt to hire nonunion contractors, a trend that is helping them to cut labor costs and force construction unions to somewhat toe the line, Crain’s reported.  [more]

From left: Joseph Moinian and Gary LaBarbera

A report card commissioned by a new union advocacy organization that gave the Moinian Group’s operations an “F” has several flaws and seems to unsystematically target the developer for its penchant for hiring nonunion workers. In its report, Build up NYC, a coalition of labor groups including 32BJ SEIU, the Hotel Trades Union, and the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York, excoriated the Moinian Group for a laundry list of alleged failings at its buildings, as well as a poor record of worker relations…. [more]

A rendering of the second phase of the City Point development

The mammoth City Point development in downtown Brooklyn has become a battleground over the use of nonunion workers, the Wall Street Journal reported. The 1.8 million-square-foot project is being built on city-owned land and receives affordable housing subsidies. Washington Square Partners, which along with Acadia Realty Trust is developing the 670,000-square-foot retail space, told the Journal that construction would involve at least some nonunion workers in order to cut costs, expedite work and use more minority, local and female workers. Developers added that a portion of the 700-unit apartment project would also hire nonunion workers…. [more]

Dr. Simeon Schwartz

Brooklyn has become a hot spot for new medical practices, Crain’s reported. Next month, Freelancers Union will open a clinic at 408 Jay Street in Downtown Brooklyn and, in January of next year, Mount Sinai Hospital is slated to set up a large group practice at 1 Pierrepont Plaza in Brooklyn Heights. The Manhattan-based Reproductive Medicine Associates of New York last month opened a location at 26 Court Street in Downtown Brooklyn.

In addition, three clinics that cater exclusively to senior citizens enrolled in the Empire Cross Blue Shield Medicare Advantage plans will open this month in Flatbush, East Flatbush and Coney Island. [more]

Rendering of Hudson Yards

The Related Companies has won wage-cutting agreements with some four dozen construction unions in its efforts to save money at the $15 billion development of Hudson Yards, Crain’s reported.

The developer, one of the most outspoken for the need to cut construction costs during contract negotiations with unions last year, got the groups to agree to cut wages and benefit packages by 10 percent to ensure they would be commissioned to work the massive construction project expected to carry on for the next decade. The deal is not yet final. [more]

Sam Chang

Two organizers for the construction laborers union were indicted on charges of inciting a riot and unlawful assembly, the New York Times reported. Robert James and Dennis Lee are accused of the crimes in connection with a protest outside a nonunion construction site at a hotel rising on 36th Street last September.

The indictment is the culmination of a six-year battle between unions and Cava Construction, which is owned by a Carmine Della Cava, reputed to be a member of the Genovese crime family. [more]

New York state has unnecessarily spent an extra $3 billion annually on public construction projects in attempts to follow the prevailing wage law, according to a new report by Columbia University cited by Crain’s. State law requires that it pay union rates when at least 30 percent of the workers on a project are members of the union to ensure the government doesn’t undercut a local job market. [more]

Equity Residential Chairman Sam Zell and 400 Park Avenue South

One of unionized labor’s harshest critics, Equity Residential Chairman Sam Zell has chosen union labor to construct the $190 million Park Avenue South tower he’s developing with Toll Brothers. Crain’s reported that Zell’s construction manager on the site, recently penalized Lend Lease Construction, struck an agreement with the Building and Construction Trades Council that will reduce standard union labor costs by 20 percent.  [more]

370 Jay Street

The Transport Workers’ Union is not pleased about the recently announced deal to turn 370 Jay Street, an office building in Downtown Brooklyn that houses Metropolitan Transportation Authority offices and equipment, into New York University’s Center for Urban Science and Progress, NY1 reported.

Members of the union packed a meeting of the MTA board in today, urging them to vote down the deal to abandon the agency’s former transit headquarters in the Downtown Brooklyn neighborhood. [more]

47-20 Center Boulevard and Council member Jimmy Van Bramer

The Service Employees International Union Local 32BJ petitioned TF Cornerstone yesterday in Long Island City, the New York Daily News reported, alleging the developer doesn’t provide proper benefits to workers in its LIC buildings and “bullies” workers who want to unionize.

TF Cornerstone workers and City Council member Jimmy Van Bramer delivered the petition to the leasing office at 47-20 Center Boulevard, signed by about 430 tenants in the 485-unit building, where the News noted rents for two-bedroom apartments are $5,400 per month. [more]