Large Construction Projects in Cleveland Now Must Use Labor Unions to Build After Mayor Signs Order
With a stroke of a pen, Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb signed an executive order ensuring labor unions would be part of all critical infrastructure projects in the City of Cleveland that cost $500,000 or more.
“It's so important because we know that unions create good paying jobs for Cleveland residents," Bibb said.
Dave Wondolowski, with the Cleveland building trades, said the legislation the mayor signed would create a pipeline of work, making it sustainable to bring more workers into the trade. It begins with the apprenticeship program, most of which are three to five years.
“And so taking people in and getting them ready for apprenticeship is one part of it, one step, and then putting them and placing them into the apprenticeship programs is the next step. And you get paid while you work, so you earn while you learn," Wondolowski said.
Bibb said they have hundreds of millions of dollars planned for neighborhood development. Five billion dollars worth of investments are planned for the city’s waterfront, and then there is the $500 million investment in the proposed stadium project.
Cleveland has invested $10 million in its workforce development training initiative, but one of the biggest obstacles to building these projects is a shortage of construction workers.
“We need people everywhere, and the volume of work that we're faced with in Northeast Ohio is unprecedented, so we're looking at a lot of work coming up,” Bibb said.