Update: Cement Workers Ordered Back to Work

Crain’s New York Business is reporting that an arbitrator has ordered striking concrete workers back to work on four sites covered by project labor agreements (“PLA’s”).  In my previous post, I discussed how these workers were violating the terms of the PLA’s No Strike/Work Stoppages Clause.

Despite the Cement Union’s decision to ignore the clear terms of the PLA and go on strike, the Real Estate Board of New York still finds value in them:

“When we got the [project labor agreement], the main thing we got out of it was the no-strike clause,” said Mr. Spinola said. “The fact that we had the PLA and enforced it, and they’re back working today demonstrates there was a value to the PLA.”

Moreover, although it is reported that workers have honored the arbitrator’s ruling and returned to work on some sites, the Union plans to appeal the decision.  According to Crain’s:

“A source close to the building trades said the Cement and Concrete Workers District Council would appeal the ruling. The source said the union’s counsel was not properly notified about Tuesday’s hearing and therefore did not know about it in time to show up. Had officials known about the hearing, they would have argued that the no-strike provision was no longer in effect because the workers’ contract expired at the end of June.”

I will continue to monitor this interesting story.