Army builder and
unions sign dealThe 50-year pact will standardize pay
and work conditions for union workers
The winning bidder of a $7 billion Army housing contract for Oahu has signed an unprecedented 50-year agreement with the islands' trade unions that pledges to standardize pay rates and working conditions for the project's workers.
"It's the first of its kind in the nation insofar as the 50 years go," said Hawaii Carpenters Union Financial Business Representative Ron Taketa, who helped negotiate the pact. "We can now move forward with recruiting and training programs to support the huge scope of the residential construction programs proposed for the military."
The agreement means all construction workers employed at the project will be paid according to rates assigned to their trades annually by the federal government, putting competition between union and nonunion contractors on more even ground, Taketa said.
Actus Lend Lease, whose officials announced the agreement's approval last night, won the bid to construct, renovate, operate and maintain 7,700 military housing units for the Army over the next 50 years.
But congressional approval of the contract is still pending, and the state and county are deciding whether to approve millions of dollars in tax exemptions that would go to finance construction costs.
Last month, U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie told the City Council's Budget Committee that the contract should be offered to the project's next-best bidder if Actus continues to "extort" the state and city by asking for the tax waivers.
"If the private developer can't fulfill their obligations, just as any contract with the city or for the state, for that matter," Abercrombie said, "then you go to the next bidder."
In an Actus news release yesterday, Abercrombie said that the agreement "ensures that work in Hawaii will be done by Hawaii people." He also said that "now we can move on to other outstanding issues."
It's unclear whether those "issues" refer to the tax exemptions. An Abercrombie spokesman did not return telephone calls last night.
Ryan Mielke, Actus regional communications director, said it's unclear whether the agreement will influence the decision on the waivers.
U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye said in a news release that the agreement will "move this project forward and put our residents to work."
"There were those who said it could not be done," he said. "I had no doubt because when people of good intentions come forward, a meeting of the minds was sure to occur in the best interest of Hawaii's working tradesmen and women, and for our Army ohana in Hawaii."
More than 500 workers affiliated with between 30 and 50 subcontractors will be working on the project at its height, Mielke said.