Trident is a non-union contractor managing many construction sites in New York City, including the enormous remodel at the Waldorf Astoria. Two nearly identical gruesome injuries occurred just weeks apart at the non-union Waldorf job. One source named inappropriate, faulty equipment for the accidents.

Local 46 Metal Latherers and Ironworkers require completion of a 4-year program, and every member must complete 188 hours of training—that’s more than 4 weeks—every single year.

The New York Carpenters Union also requires a 4-year apprenticeship combining on-the-job-training, classroom instruction and shop time at the Carpenters Training Center. They also require 144 hours of annual classroom instruction to stay up to date on new techniques, tools, and safety.

The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 3 also have a 4-year apprenticeship and annual training requirements. These are just a few of the well-trained unions who have created our skyline.

Meanwhile, not a single non-union contractor can claim that they require an apprenticeship. Some will talk about their new attention to safety training. But New York local law 196 requires that all workers must have at least 40 hours of safety training annually. So the non-union guys are crowing about doing the minimum.

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As one building inspector told Union-Built Matters, "On non-union sites you have no idea who on the crew has been trained in what, or if they have licenses to practice their trade or if those licenses are up to date. There are no records to check. I’ve never seen any.”

The state-of-the-art Carpenters Union training facility.

Safety Comes First

The number one rule in every union is “Safety First,” a fact that comes through in the number of injuries and fatalities that occur in the city. According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) well over 80% of on-the-job deaths and serious injuries occur on non-union job sites.

One seldom-discussed reason for this death disparity is that unions train members to become experts in a single area - while non-unions expect their workers to be jacks-of-all-trades. On a union job a trained and certified welder will bond a metal joint. On a non-union job, people with no such experience or certification are often made to weld joints. In one case in Brooklyn, a laborer was made to weld a joint—she had no training, no face or hand guards—and she ended up in the hospital with burns and temporary blindness.