Canton City Council President and Iron Workers Local 550 Business Manager/Financial Secretary William Sherer II heads the list of endorsed building trades members who are running for public office. Besides Sherer, several other Northeast Ohio building trades members are either seeking re-election to their current elected position or running for a seat. Each has received the endorsement of the Cleveland Building and Construction Trades Council.
Read More
President Biden and U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm announced the creation of seven regional clean hydrogen hubs that will receive $7 billion in Infrastructure, Investment and Jobs Act funding to accelerate the domestic market for low-cost, clean hydrogen. According to the White House, the seven selected regional clean hydrogen hubs will utilize more than $40 billion in private investment and create tens of thousands of good-paying jobs – bringing the total public and private investment in hydrogen hubs to nearly $50 billion.
Read More
The Cuyahoga County Council approved the purchase of land in Garfield Heights to build a new county jail on Sept. 26. The 72-acre site, located off Transportation Boulevard and Granger Road, was purchased for $38.7 million. County Executive Chris Ronayne told the council the Garfield Heights site was large enough to build what the county needs in the future, which may include multiple buildings and a central service campus with wrap-around services that people will need in addition to the county jail.
Read More
Affiliated 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.
BEW Local 38 was the big winner at the 41st Annual Cleveland Building Trades Softball Tournament, with teams from the Local taking home the titles in both the A and B divisions. The two-day, double-elimination tournament at James Day Park began on Aug. 31 and stretched past midnight the following evening.
Read More
When a non-profit drug and alcohol rehab center needed a new compressor for the chiller at one of their properties, members of Pipefitters Local 120 and the Mechanical Contractors Association of Cleveland stepped up to help. The Ed Keating Center operates three non-profit sober living facilities for recovering alcoholic, and drug-addicted, men and women. The organization takes in individuals struggling with addiction at no cost to the individual or their health insurance.
Read MoreThe Cleveland Building and Construction Trades Council (CBCTC) voted to oppose amending Cleveland’s City Charter to create participatory budgeting. The charter issue will appear on the November 7 ballot. "...the reality is participatory budgeting is a gimmick that presents a very real danger to a city budget that is already cut to the bone. Further cuts could do irreparable damage to City services and public safety,” said David Wondolowski, Executive Secretary and Business Manager for the CBCTC.
Read MoreThe 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 More
Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su strongly pushed workers’ rights enforcement to a Republican-controlled House committee that at times challenged her plan. Her testimony before the House Education and the Workforce Committee on June 7 was intended to be a discussion of the Department of Labor budget for fiscal 2024, which begins Oct. 1, but it also gave insight into how Su will lead the Labor Department.
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 More
Ohio State Building and Construction Trades Council Secretary-Treasurer Mike Knisley and U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) were among the speakers at the annual OSBCTC Delegates Breakfast held during the 2023 North America's Building Trades Unions Legislative Conference.
Read More
Holding a copy of this year’s AFL-CIO Deaths On the Job Report, an angry federation President Liz Shuler had a blunt message for the nation’s employers. “This report should not have to exist …These pages should be blank,” she said. Shuler joined a large crowd in the U.S. Labor Department’s main auditorium to honor the 5,190 workers killed on the job in 2021, the latest federal data available, which is what the AFL-CIO uses for its annual report
Read More
President Joe Biden was the featured speaker at the 2023 North America's Building Trades Unions Legislative Conference held in Washington, D.C. Biden addressed roughly 3,000 union construction delegates hours after officially announcing the start of his re-election campaign and received raucous cheers as he discussed the many ways his administration has helped organized labor, specifically the building trades.
Read More
Laborers’ International Union of North American (LIUNA) General President Terry O’Sullivan announced his plan to retire effective April 30, after leading the union for almost
24 years.
“There has been no higher honor or privilege than to represent, defend and fight for the strong, proud and united men and women of LIUNA,” O’Sullivan said. “Each and every day I have served as General President, I have been awed by the power of this union.”
Read More
Union leaders, signatory contractors and community leaders gathered on March 14 to celebrate the dedication of a Habitat for Humanity home built only by union construction workers and contractors.
Read More
Women 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 MoreUnion leaders hailed President Joe Biden’s nomination of Deputy Labor Secretary Julie Su to succeed Marty Walsh, in the U.S. Labor Department’s top job.
Read MoreThe strongest and loudest supporter of union construction, U.S. Department of Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, announced his intention to step down from his current position in mid-March. Walsh, 55, the former Mayor of Boston and Massachusetts state representative, will become the first traditional Cabinet secretary to leave since President Joe Biden took office. The former leader of the Greater Boston Building Trades Unions and a card-carrying member of Laborers Local 223 is returning to organized labor via professional sports.
Read More
Cleveland City Council will soon vote to allocate $10 million from its American Rescue Plan Act funding to help bolster the region’s construction workforce. According to a presentation made at Council’s Workforce, Education, Training and Youth Development Committee held on Jan. 24, the funds will be used for work development purposes in the following manner:
Read More