Press Release

ALBANY, NEW YORK – For decades, members of the New York State Building & Construction Trades Council – including but not limited to Carpenters, Laborers, Painters, Insulators, Sheet Metal, Bricklayers, and Steamfitters – have invested in making the State University of New York (SUNY) a state-of-the-art campus system. They built and maintained the facilities, earned degrees on SUNY campuses and spent their hard-earned paychecks on tuition to send their children to these universities.

The SUNY system is a significant player in state-wide development and construction. Its current procurement system uses taxpayer dollars to subsidize development on campus but frequently awards contracts to out-of-state companies with records of wage theft, worker misclassification, health and safety violations and more. Making matters worse, these contractors also bring out-of-state workers with them, effectively barring New Yorkers from working on projects in their own backyards.

Union members from throughout NYS are advocating for legislators to put stronger binding conditions, such as project labor agreements (PLA), on SUNY projects valued at $3 million or more. Currently, there is proposed legislation that would require a PLA on SUNY-funded projects and ensure New York companies and hardworking New Yorkers are back to building our SUNY system.

“When New York taxpayer funds are used on a project, that investment should go back into New York communities. A project labor agreement protects taxpayers by ensuring a project is built on budget and on schedule – by and for New Yorkers. By requiring a PLA on large scale SUNY construction projects, Albany can restore accountability and bring effective labor standards to the public university procurement process.” – Bill Banfield, Assistant Executive Secretary-Treasurer, North Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters.