Tom Holsman, CEO of AGC of California, notes the main sticking points in local negotiations: “Benefits, benefits, benefits,” he says. “This is driven by underfunded pension plans due mainly to unemployment numbers.”

A recent contract agreement with the five-county laborers' union council in southwest Washington state should set a trend for the rest of regional negotiations, says Robin Edgar, labor relations manager for the Oregon-Columbia AGC chapter. Locals will receive a 65¢ increase, which represents a 1.76% bump. “Unions would like to see money in the checks, but it appears the laborers are looking at putting increases into fringe benefits,” she says.

“Contracts with most of the major unions come due this year after signing one-year stopgap extensions last year. Things haven't improved in the interim,” says Sean Stewart, executive director of the Nevada Contractors Association. “Make no mistake, this negotiation is pivotal for the survival of many of our firms. It's our hope that we can reach a reasonable accord with our union partners that preserves the industry's future.”

Although specific concerns vary from union to union and market to market, pressures are palpable all across the U.S. Gregory Butler, a New York City carpenter in Local 157, says the situation there is the most dire he has seen in 18 years in the construction business. “This year, it feels like [employer groups] have a shotgun pointed at our heads,” he says. “They want to price us to open shop, and if they do, you have to ask, why bother being in a union?”