The New York State Building & Construction Trades Council (BCTC), NYS AFL-CIO, affiliated unions, and elected officials joined together in solidarity to rally for expanding prevailing wage requirements on publicly subsidized construction projects. Over 50 Local 3 union brothers and sisters took the charter bus from the Electric Industry Center early in the morning on Wednesday, May 28th and traveled up to Albany for the rally outside the State Capitol building.
A6708/S6378 are sponsored by Assemblyman Harry Bronson and State Senator Jessica Ramos, respectively, and they would reform Section 224-a of New York’s Labor Law to require prevailing wage on private construction projects receiving 20 percent or more of the total cost from public funds. They also would abolish the Public Subsidy Board, which has only approved six construction projects for prevailing wage coverage since 2022. A2747/S2536 are sponsored by Assemblyman Bronson and State Senator Robert Jackson, respectively, and they would include off-site prefabrication for public works under prevailing wage requirements. Both bills are currently under consideration in committees in the State Senate and Assembly.
According to a Siena College Research Institute poll commissioned by the NYS BCTC and cited by President Gary LaBarbera during the rally, over 70 percent of voters support expanding prevailing wage in these ways. Furthermore, the same poll showed that 66 percent of voters support prevailing wage on all private construction projects receiving any amount of public subsidies.
