Plain Dealer (Cleveland), January 16, 2008, Wednesday
Copyright 2008 Plain Dealer Publishing Co.
Plain Dealer (Cleveland)
January 16, 2008, Wednesday
Final Edition; All Editions
SECTION: NATIONAL; Pg. A1
BYLINE: Henry J. Gomez, Plain Dealer Reporter
BODY:
HISTORIC LABOR PACT
University Hospitals and organized labor have struck a novel deal that will allow union and nonunion companies to team up on $730 million in construction projects.
UH and labor officials said Tuesday that the deal is designed to give small contractors - many of them women or minorities in Cleveland - a chance to land big projects that they couldn't win on their own.
"The last thing we wanted to see was a lot of out-of-state license plates sitting on these projects," Steven Standley, a senior vice president for University Hospitals, said in a meeting with Plain Dealer reporters and editors.
The agreement, which Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson helped to broker, is tied to the Vision 2010 construction program UH plans over the next three years.
A new cancer hospital and emergency medicine center, both to be near the main Cleveland campus, are covered in the pact with the Cleveland Building and Construction Trades Council.
As part of the deal, Standley said UH has a goal to purchase 80 percent of its construction materials and equipment from suppliers in the region.
UH also has agreed to meet the hiring goals that Cleveland requires of contractors working on city projects.
The hospital system has pledged 20 percent of its construction jobs in Cuyahoga County to Cleveland residents. UH will require that 15 percent of all work, in or outside the county, be handled by minority companies and 5 percent be handled by companies owned by women.
UH will hire a diversity consultant to monitor compliance with the new hiring goals.
The announcement came after more than a year of talks with Jackson, who in October 2006 called on private businesses to voluntarily adopt the city's standards for awarding contracts.
Since then he has been working to broker such commitments.
"Slow, but sure," said Jackson, who joined hospital executives for an interview Tuesday.
The Cleveland Clinic, the region's other top health-care institution, has similar hiring goals.
Bill Peacock, the clinic's executive director of facilities and construction, cited a garage and service center at East 89th Street.
Peacock said the project's work force during the third quarter of 2007 averaged 4 percent women, 19 percent minorities and 12 to 16 percent city residents.
"The clinic has proudly participated in this," he said.
"Overall, we've been good stewards."
But Terry Joyce, head of the Cleveland Building and Construction Trades Council, said what makes the UH deal unique is its call for joint ventures between union and nonunion companies.
Several labor experts agreed Tuesday, saying unions typically secure agreements requiring that nonunion workers on a job site receive the same pay and working conditions as union workers.
But an alliance between organized laborers and their nonunion brethren?
"I've never heard of one like that before," said Gary Chaison, a management professor at Clark University in Worcester, Mass.
Richard Hurd, professor of labor studies at Cornell University, said he has never observed such a partnership either, "although that doesn't mean it hasn't happened."
For the Cleveland Building and Construction Trades Council, which encompasses 17 unions and about 18,000 laborers, the deal provides opportunities that didn't exist before.
Small mom-and-pop outfits will receive valuable experience working for a major health-care institution.
And though embracing nonunion workers is anathema to organized laborers, joint ventures encouraged by the UH plan ultimately could boost union ranks.
Joyce said nonunion workers would be paid prevailing wage in the joint ventures and might be tempted to organize or join unionized companies.
UH and the trades council also will collaborate on an apprenticeship program at Max S. Hayes Vocational High School. The idea is that young Clevelanders will get a head start on careers in the building and construction industries.
Aside from what he called selfish reasons, Joyce said the pact with UH is groundbreaking in that it benefits a third party - the city of Cleveland.
"We had a major private owner also believing in the mayor's message," Joyce said.
The city has similar hiring rules in place for publicly financed improvement projects.
Jackson announced Monday that he is seeking City Council approval to broaden the existing requirements for minority and female participation to include more small local businesses.
"We don't want to ask others to do something we aren't willing to do ourselves," the mayor said.
"What University Hospitals is saying is that there are enough local contractors to do this."
Plain Dealer Reporters Alison Grant and Joan Mazzolini contributed to this story. To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: hgomez@plaind.com, 216-999-5405
BOX
UH's 'Vision 2010'
University Hospitals officials about two years ago announced their $730 million construction plans for new facilities, expansion and renovations. They include:
Building a $27 million 40-bed neonatal intensive care unit at Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital.
Building a $250 million health-care campus, including a new 600-bed hospital in Beachwood, off Interstate 271.
Building a $232 million 150-bed free-standing cancer hospital adjacent to UH's other facilities in University Circle.
Relocating and expanding its emergency department at a cost of $27 million.
Building a $15 million parking garage.
SOURCE: University Hospitals
LOAD-DATE: January 17, 2008
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