Organized labor may now have a little less leverage than it had a year or two ago at the peak of the construction boom, but construction workers are still in high demand and union members appear more willing to strike to squeeze the best deal they can from contractors as their multiyear collective-bargaining agreements expire.

Some of the increases are huge compared to the 3% average annual increases in wages and fringe benefits that the industry has seen in the union sector over the past decade. In Connecticut, a two-week carpenters' strike ended recently when the union accepted a 9% annual wage hike in each of the next four years for heavy/highway carpenters and 6.25% for building carpenters, says Marvin B. Morganbesser, president of the Connecticut Construction Industries Association, Wethersfield. The wage increases "could well hurt the industry in the long run," he says. Workloads are still strong, but signs of a slowdown are starting to show up, Morganbesser adds.