Cleveland Building and Construction Trades Council Executive Secretary/Business Manager Dave Wondolowski normally watches the State of the Union Address on television. He had to change his plans this year, as U.S. Rep. Max Miller (R-Rocky River) invited Wondolowski to be his guest on March 7 for President Biden’s the State of the Union Address.
Read MoreOn Nov. 9, by a 5-2-1 vote, the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority Board of Directors voted to repeal its Prevailing Wage provision. The Cleveland-Cuyahoga Port Authority is a public agency that provides financing solutions for economic development projects in Cuyahoga County and beyond. The Port Authority partners with economic developers, government entities and banks to provide funding options for projects in the private, non-profit and public sectors. According to its website, since 1993, the agency has funded 150 projects, issued $4.5 billion in bonds and leveraged $6.1 billion in construction.
Read MoreActing U.S. Department of Labor Secretary Julie Su visited Cleveland in mid-December to announce details related to the final rule to implement President Joe Biden’s Executive Order requiring Project Labor Agreements for most large-scale federal construction projects. This rule will help ensure large federal construction projects are completed by union construction workers, who will earn good wages and excellent healthcare and retirement benefits in exchange for performing quality construction work efficiently and on time, helping to complete the project on or under budget.
Read MoreIt was a busy year in most regions
Read MoreCuyahoga County Council voted on Dec. 14 to extend the County’s sales tax to pay for the new jail, set to be built in Garfield Heights. Taxpayers will pay the County’s 0.25 percent sales tax for an additional 40 years, which local leaders estimate will create enough revenue to fund the construction of the new county jail. The tax, which was set to expire in 2027, passed Council by a 6-5 vote and will stay on the books until 2067. The sales tax revenue has funded large downtown projects since 2007, according to The Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Read MoreThe Sherwin-Williams global headquarters project in downtown Cleveland celebrated an important construction milestone on Dec. 4 with a Topping Off ceremony. Two weeks ahead of the scheduled ceremony date, Sherwin-Williams leaders were joined by elected officials, construction workers and others associated with the project to mark the installation of the final piece of structural steel on the 36-story tower (616 feet high), which when completed, will be the sixth tallest building in Ohio. “It’s really a special day for us and for all of Northeast Ohio,” said Sherwin-Williams Chairman and CEO John Morikis. “We’ve been proud to be a part of Cleveland since 1866 and call this home.”
Read MoreAffiliated members of the Cleveland Building and Construction Trades are volunteering their time and talent to help turn an abandoned home into a safe and supportive housing option for pregnant women. Located on Cleveland’s west side, the home is owned by Sisters Haven, a nonprofit organization that provides safe housing and loving communities to pregnant women and new mothers. Once work is complete, up to seven pregnant women will live there until their child is approximately nine months old.
The best of the best in the Northeast Ohio construction industry were honored during the fifth annual Excellence and Craftsmanship Awards, held on Aug. 17, 2023. About 500 individuals, including Cleveland area tradesmen and tradeswomen, were in to see over 100 of their Brothers and Sisters recognized for their work on projects completed in 2022.
Read MoreCleveland leaders gathered on the steps of City Hall on June 27 to talk about the Community Benefits Ordinance recently passed by the City Council. Ordinance 297-2023 was passed on June 5. It is designed to encourage developers to use Cleveland-based, minority-owned and women-owned businesses for construction projects in exchange for incentives. The new ordinance will also create job opportunities for members of the building trades and provide a pathway for more Cleveland residents to join the trades. “I worked closely with the city on this, so I’m very pleased it passed,” said Dave Wondolowski, Executive Secretary and Business Manager of the Cleveland Building and Construction Trades Council.
Read MoreThe following article was an op-ed piece by Cleveland Building and Construction Trades Council Executive Secretary/Business Manager Dave Wondolowski. It was was first published in the Cleveland Plain Dealer and Cleveland.com on May 21.. Wondolowski provided The Labor Citizen with a copy to publish in order to educate Cleveland-area building trades members about the Greater Cleveland Partnership and its preference for using out-of-state, low-wage construction workers on projects instead of promoting the use of Community Benefit Agreements.
Read MoreWomen in Construction Week was celebrated in Greater Cleveland for the first time with a dinner at the IBEW Local 8 Union Hall. Nearly 60 tradeswomen attended the event, which was supported by the Cleveland Building and Construction Trades Council.
Read MoreThis is shaping up to be not just a big year for Ohio’s union construction industry, but a mega-year. Keyed by several mega projects, including the $20 billion Phase I of the Intel project in New Albany and the $3.5 billion Honda/LG joint venture battery plant in Jeffersonville, 2023 is forecast to be a record year for a number of Local Unions and regional building trades councils in terms of man-hours.
Read MoreThe Cleveland Building and Construction Trades Council unanimously endorsed Gov. Mike DeWine in his re-election bid.
From the shores of Lake Erie down to the Ohio River and many areas in between, Gov. DeWine and Lt. Gov. Jon Husted have focused on job creation.
Read MoreThe Cleveland Building and Construction Trades Council secured a Project Labor Agreement with Sherwin-Williams to build its new downtown headquarters and suburban research and development facility.
Dave Wondolowski, Executive Secretary for the Cleveland Building and Construction Trades Council, said each project is expected to create about 1,800 jobs for affiliated members of the Cleveland Building Trades
Read MoreThe Cleveland Clinic announced major construction projects in May set to take place on its main campus, with all work covered by Project Labor Agreements [PLA]. In his State of the Clinic address, Cleveland Clinic CEO and President Tom Mihaljevic, M.D., announced the Cleveland Clinic is investing in multiple capital projects, including the construction of new buildings and the renovation of several facilities in Ohio.
Read MoreThe AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust (HIT) will finance a Cleveland-area affordable housing project for senior citizens. HIT will provide approximately $6.6 million of the $12.6 million needed for the substantial rehabilitation of the Pinzone Towers Apartments project, located in Rocky River, a suburb west of Cleveland.
Read MoreAffiliated members of the Cleveland Building Trades were on-hand April 18 for a groundbreaking ceremony to construct an all-union Habitat for Humanity house in Cleveland, funded in part by a donation from the Cleveland Building Trades Foundation. The $25,000 donation by the CBTF marks a significant investment in not only the project, but also the Greater Buckeye neighborhood, where the house will be built.
Read MoreA long-awaited project in downtown Cleveland will begin soon thanks to a major tax credit award from the State of Ohio, creating more work for area union trades.
On March 2, the Ohio Tax Credit Authority and the Ohio Department of Development awarded the Millennia Companies a $40 million Transformational Mixed-Use Development (TMUD) tax credit award for the rehabilitation and adaptive reuse of The Centennial. Located at 925 Euclid Ave., the building was formerly known as the Huntington Building and has been mostly vacant for over a decade.
The Cleveland Building and Construction Trades Council officially endorsed the Cleveland Indians lease extension for Progressive Field on Aug. 26, including the corresponding stadium upgrade plan that would create jobs for building trades members. Earlier in the month, the Indians announced they reached a tentative deal with the city of Cleveland, Cuyahoga County and the state of Ohio to renovate the ballpark and extend the team’s lease in Cleveland for at least 15 years. The current lease expires in 2023. The new lease is expected to start in 2022. The county is slated to pay off bonds from the original construction in 2023, coinciding with the expiration of the current lease.
Read MoreUnion pension funds help finance ‘Artisan’ project
Area leaders officially broke ground on July 29 at the new Artisan Circle Square building in Cleveland’s University Circle neighborhood, which will be built under a Project Labor Agreement.
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