NYC Mayor Adams Announces Historic Labor Agreements Covering Over $1 Billion In Capital Projects

PLAs Support Fair Wages, Community Hiring, Investments in M/WBEs; Promote Efficient Project Completion

Our Bureau

New York, NY

New York City Mayor Eric Adams has announced two Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) with the Building & Construction Trades Council of Greater New York (BCTC) that will cover more than $1 billion in construction projects throughout the term of the agreements, including generational infrastructure improvements in Willets Point. These historic PLAs will allow the city to complete capital projects more effectively and efficiently, connect more underserved New Yorkers to quality union career and apprenticeship opportunities through community hiring, and strengthen the city’s commitment to minority- and women-owned businesses (M/WBEs). Covered construction projects will include green infrastructure improvements and repairing the city’s sewers, roads, and bridges. Mayor Adams also announced that the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) has signed a letter of intent with BCTC, to negotiate in good faith additional PLAs for the Hunts Point Produce Market, the Kingsbridge Armory redevelopment, and the Science Park and Research Campus (SPARC) Kips Bay projects — a cumulative $1.88 billion in construction work. The PLAs announced today also establish the framework for future negotiations with the BCTC for upcoming PLAs that could cover as much as $50 billion of future capital construction projects. These PLAs will cover design-build projects, new construction projects, and renovation projects of city-owned buildings and structures. BCTC represents more than 100,000 tradesmen and tradeswomen across New York City and consists of local affiliates of 15 national and international unions.

PLAs enable the city to establish fair wages, benefits, and safety protections for workers, and provide opportunities for workforce development, while controlling construction costs and ensuring the timely completion of projects. Today’s announcement will allow $800 million in planned infrastructure projects across the city to be completed using design-build delivery, an innovative method where the design and construction are under a single contract. These projects range from improvements to critical below-grade infrastructure, roadway and waterfront reconstruction, and new greenway projects — all projects with complex site conditions that will benefit from site investigations and constructability input from contractors during the design development. A separate PLA will support the administration’s historic $270 million investment in the transformation of Willets Point. They also include the largest-ever commitment to investing in M/WBEs, and for the first time, they incorporate Community Hiring goals to ensure that job and apprenticeship opportunities are made available to workers living in New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) housing or a ZIP code where at least 15 percent of the population lives below the federal poverty threshold.

“These agreements, covering more than a billion dollars in work, are a win-win-win: good union jobs for New Yorkers; faster, better, and more efficient capital projects; and billions of dollars of investment in communities that went ignored for decades,” said Mayor Adams. “But we’re not stopping with these projects — and we’re not stopping at just $1 billion. These agreements give us a framework for future agreements covering another $50 billion in projects. That means tens of thousands of good-paying jobs for our union brothers and sisters and hundreds of projects delivered on time and on budget for New Yorkers. My thanks to Gary LaBarbera, BCTC, and the hard-working New Yorkers who put their blood, sweat, and tears into building a better city for all.”

“Through our collaboration with the Building & Construction Trades Council on these Project Labor Agreements, we are not only investing in world-class infrastructure but also creating thousands of good-paying union jobs that will benefit New Yorkers for generations,” said First Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer. “Our administration is committed to driving economic growth, creating jobs, and building a more resilient city for the future. I want to thank our labor partners and everyone involved in securing these historic PLAs, which will help lay the foundation for a stronger, more equitable New York.”

“Strong project labor agreements are a key ingredient in supporting the workforce that delivers infrastructure to our city, and so much more,” said Deputy Mayor for Operations Meera Joshi. “They enable us to unlock the promise of design-build delivery tools that we advocated for over the past several years, meet our commitments to project timelines, and manage costs. With a range of these agreements, we will be able to expedite projects to improve our sewers, roads and bridges — meeting the demands of climate change and population growth across all five boroughs.”

“Transformational development and green infrastructure upgrades will reinvigorate our communities and bring much-needed stability and economic stimulus to all New Yorkers; but the full scope of benefits from these capital projects can only be unlocked through project labor agreements that will guarantee thousands of good-paying union careers for workers from surrounding neighborhoods,” said Gary LaBarbera, president, Building & Construction Trades Council of Greater New York. “We are grateful for these historic commitments and collaboration from Mayor Adams and NYCEDC, as we must ensure that our city’s hardworking people, including our tradesmen and tradeswomen, are provided fair wages and accessible pathways to the middle class that will allow them to reinvest in their communities and support their families in the foreseeable future. We look forward to working with NYCEDC further so that our members may take advantage of these opportunities and play a role in completing these upcoming projects that will modernize and improve our city for generations to come.”