Buffalo, NY (WBEN) While many in WNY are cheering for a new stadium deal in place for the Buffalo Bills, the boo-birds are coming from non-union construction teams, who feel left out because of a clause in the deal.
As part of the $1.4 billion Bills' stadium deal announced Monday, Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz announced the Bills will enter a project labor agreement with the Buffalo Building Trades.
Brian Sampson of the Empire State Chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors is not happy. He says the project labor agreement shuts out a majority of those in the trade. "When you look at the overall construction workforce in Western New York, about 80% of that is people that are not in a union. So they work for what we call merit shop or non union contractor," says Sampson. He says contractors won't put in bids for projects like this because they can't bring their own team aboard. "By using a PLA, you're freezing out 80% of the construction workforce in the region," explains Sampson.
Sampson says another issue is unnecessary cost. He cites a report from the Empire Center called "Prevailing Waste." Sampson says when you have a project labor agreement, that means you're going to use local prevailing wage to build the project. "They, in their report have said that it will add 20% to the cost of construction in the local market," says Sampson. He calculates you essentially take away $170 million in taxpayer burden by not having a PLA in place.
Sampson says he's upset about another misconception about non-union labor: the quality. "There's absolutely no difference in the quality work," says Sampson. "When you look at some of the wonderful work that goes on in Western New York, that's being done by both union and non union workers, there's no difference in the skill set of those workers," he says. Sampson adds many would argue those that work for non-union contractors are actually slightly more skilled, because they have different trades that they can work on.
Sampson also offers advice for people unhappy with the PLA. "If the Pegulas and the NFL are going to turn their back on you, perhaps you should consider not sending your corporate sponsorship dollars to the Bills," suggests Sampson. Instead, he says consider spending your money at local establishments, bars and restaurants that have largely been supporting youth sports teams and other charitable organizations in the communities for years.
