David Rampone, President of Hart Engineering, a signatory contractor based in Cumberland, Rhode Island isn't shy about being a union contractor. Last year he volunteered to be one of the latest union contractors to do a radio ad on behalf of the New England Regional Council of Carpenters. Now, he's published an opinion piece in the Providence Journal explaining why his business is better with a union partnership. Click through to read it.

The following opinion piece appeared in the January 10 print edition of the Providence Journal-Bulletin.

The benefits of employing unionists

DAVID RAMPONE

Regarding Charles Chieppo’s Dec. 20 column, “Unions are 1 percenters in Mass.,” in which he portrayed the construction industry inaccurately:

As the chief executive of a major Rhode lsland construction firm that does work all over New England, I’ll set the record straight. I am the president of Hart Engineering Corp., a general and process mechanical contractor founded over 70 years ago and based in Cumberland.

While I have read several opinion pieces by “public-relations experts” articulating the “evils” of the unionized construction industry, it needs to be pointed out that these experts have no actual experience in the construction industry and draw their conclusions based purely on anecdotal information provided by those who wish to see the unionized construction industry fail.

For the record, the National Labor Relations Act lets construction companies decide for themselves whether to be affiliated with the industry’s trade unions. It is the only industry that has such a provision. Since its inception, our firm has made the business-driven decision to be affiliated with several trade unions — a decision that has been beneficial to both our company and employees.

Currently we employ more than100 union tradesmen and women on dozens of jobs, large and small, throughout New England. These employees receive a fair wage, full health-care benefits and pension contributions — a package that lets them provide their families with a respectable standard of living. And in light of the negative attention cast on public-sector unions in these times, note that unionized construction workers are not guaranteed employment. In fact, Rhode Island unionized construction workers average about 1,500 hours worked a year. They do not receive vacation time, sick days or holiday pay, nor do they receive any benefits if they do not work the required number of hours a year — usually between 1,200 and 1,400, depending on the trade union involved.

Beyond my own company, the performance of Rhode Island’s trade unions and union contractors speaks for itself. There are more than 200 local contractors with union agreements in the Rhode Island area, and there have been more than 50 all-union project labor agreements (PLAs) worth billions of dollars completed in this area, including most of the state’s highest-profile projects. Most of these PLAs have been in the private sector.

These agreements symbolize the marketplace at work. Owners, construction managers and contractors enter into these agreements for one reason only: It is in their best interest to do so. And why? The trade unions in partnership with their contractors invest millions of dollars annually recruiting, training and retraining their workers to provide the safest, most skilled workforce in our industry. In today’s world, owners want their projects completed safely, on time, under budget and to the highest level of quality possible. That is why owners from small firms to Fortune 500 companies enter into project labor agreements.

While there are far fewer PLAs in the public sector than in the private sector, they are becoming more prevalent. However, before any public entity in Rhode Island can implement a PLA, it must complete an independent “objective and reasoned” study that recommends their use.

The trade unions’ record of providing contractors and owners with a safe and productive workforce is unmatched in our industry. Those who oppose them assert that using nonunionized workers would provide the owner with great savings. Unfortunately, those savings are usually the result of substandard wages, failure to provide health-care benefits to employees, or misclassifying employees to pay them a lower wage.

For 70 years we have provided our clients with the safest, most capable and productive work force in the industry, and our employees with a fair wage and benefits for them and their families. We are proud of what we have been able to achieve with our union partners.

David Rampone is president of Hart Engineering Corp., in Cumberland.  

First they helped it win approval, now they're helping it become a reality. Union carpenters in Bridgeport are now building the Fairchild Wheeler Multi-Magnet School, a combination of facilities and programs that are bringing excitement and hope to a troubled area. The building will be LEED Gold Certified and offer Aeronautics, Information Technology and Zoological/Ecological programs underwritten by corporate sponsors. The 340,000 square foot building is the largest school project in Connecticut's history and is employing hundreds of local trades workers.

See more of this project and others in NERCC's Project Portfolio.

The New England Carpenters Labor-Management Program is proud to provide an interesting look at the work of union contractors and carpenters at the Old Colony Housing Project in South Boston. The time lapse video, synchronized to music was shot over the course of a year, during the project's first phase. Suffolk Construction was the Construction Manager.

Union carpenters employed by Suffolk Construction and numerous subcontractors were proud to recently complete Phase One of the redevelopment of housing at Old Colony in South Boston. The project involved demolition of old buildings and construction of 116 energy efficient affordable apartment units as well as a 10,000 square-foot community center and other improvements and amenities. As the largest property managed by the Boston Housing Authority, demolition and construction was completed on a 15 acre occupied site containing 850 housing units. The project changes the face of a community and the lives of many who will live there.

Video of the three buildings in this piece was gathered over the course of a year, from December 2010 through December 2011 during almost weekly visits. Videographer Ellen Webber of the New England Carpenters Labor Management Program produced the piece.

See more pictures of this project in our online portfolio. 
 

For over a year, union carpenters and other trades workers in New England have been lending their time and valuable skills to assist in the construction of a hospital in Mirebalais, Haiti. After the devastating earthquake, the hospital is a source of hope in many ways. NERCC's Mark Erlich recently visited Haiti and wrote a piece for CommonWealth magazine about this amazing project.

Click here to see pictures taken by Mark Erlich during his trip.

Work by the members of Carpenters Local 275 and Turner Construction at the soon-to-be-open Wellesley High School was featured at the top center of Boston.com today. The online arm of the Boston Globe posted close to 20 large photos detailing various aspects of the project.

You can view the images here.

After more than fifteen years of conversations in offices and run-ins on jobsites, the New England Regional Council of Carpenters and Mark Richey Woodworking have come to terms on an agreement for the company to become union and its employees to join Shop and Mill Cabinet Local 51.

Richey operates a 130,000 square foot fabrication shop in Newburyport, Massachusetts where they produce architectural millwork. The company now plans to aggressively market themselves to union general contractors, some of whom have turned down Richey in the past in favor of union produced millwork.

"This is a major accomplishment for both the Carpenters union and Mark Richey," said Mark Erlich, Executive Secretary-Treasurer of NERCC. "Though we’ve always advocated for union shops, we recognized that Richey produced high quality work. We now look forward to helping them expand as a union shop in markets throughout New England."

While some construction companies struggle to keep the doors open, Suffolk Construction continues to take advantage of opportunities to grow. Yesterday they announced the purchase of Roel Construction, a San Francisco-based general contractor that boasted $300 million in business last year, according to the Boston Herald.

Suffolk has continually grown its book of business locally and nationally. It is the largest general contractor in Massachusetts as ranked by the Boston Business Journal according to dollar volume of contracts. ENR ranks Suffolk as the 31st largest contractor in the United States, with $1.7 billion in revenue. They profiled owner John Fish in the magazine a year ago.

Roel is not the first company Suffolk has bought during the current recession. A year and a half ago it purchased Boston-based William A. Berry and Son, boosting its presence in the health care segment of the industry. It also purchased Dietze Construction Group, a Washington, D.C. area contractor last year, which helped Suffolk increase its work in the mid-Atlantic region.

Suffolk Construction has a regional agreement to hire union carpenters and union carpentry subcontractors for all of its projects in New England. It signed that agreement in 1997, after having signed a similar agreement for its Massachusetts work in 1991.

Suffolk was also the general contractor for the Carpenters Center, the headquarters for the New England Regional Council of Carpenters, which was completed in February of 2010.

Eight senior representatives managing renovation and construction of Walmart and Sam's Club stores came to the Carpenters Center last week to talk to over fifty union contractors about future building projects in New England. The retail giant reviewed their internal contractor prequalification process and talked in general terms about upcoming projects in a two-hour meeting. The developing relationship is the result of coordination between the New England Regional Council of Carpenters and the New Jersey State Council of Carpenters, which has had significant success having Walmart stores build union there.

"Walmart is a huge company that has taken some hits about how they do business," said Mark Erlich, Executive Secretary-Treasurer of NERCC. "As a result, they appear to be focused on eliminating future problems including those that might occur during construction. They have a comprehensive prequalification process for general contractors and they've brought in serious people from the industry and regulatory agencies to help them become compliant with the law."

The company plans to build more than 150 new stores in the next year and doesn't want any store to go more than 5-7 years without being renovated.

For NERCC, the meeting highlighted the business development role the union plays for contractors: "Some union contractors only see us as a supplier of labor, affordable benefits and craft training," Erlich said. "We also view the relationship as a partnership in which we can help them generate business and, therefore, jobs for our members."

J& J Contractors was the winning bidder today for the $61 million Plymouth (MA) North High School project.

Good news for Local 624 members.

Congratulations to Component Assembly Systems, a union drywall contractor with offices in Medford, Massachusetts and five other states, which was recently written up for ENRs website by blogger Tricia Attalah. ENR is one of the leading national print and online news sources for the construction industry.

The article, "How a Drywall Contractor Became a Powerhouse via Smart Information Management " highlights Component's incredible growth as a result of its use of specialized computer software and a culture where input and participation is sought from all employees.

According to her ENR blog, Transitions, "Tricia Atallah is Principal of VantagePoint Strategy Group, a management advisory firm, and author of Building a Successful Construction Company. [Her] blog is dedicated to decision-makers who have a stake in the business and/or process of construction."