Brown commits to all-union labor, Building Futures support on construction projects over $25 million
Brown University
Through a new landmark agreement with the Rhode Island Building and Construction Trades Council and Building Futures, Brown University has marked a milestone in its longstanding commitment to ensuring that campus development serves as a regional economic engine and career catalyst for local workers.
During a signing ceremony at Brown on Monday, Nov. 14,
University President Christina H. Paxson joined leaders from RIBCTC and
Building Futures in signing a five-year memorandum of understanding that
formally commits Brown to employing all-union labor for all campus construction
projects over $25 million. This builds on a strong history of engaging union
labor for Brown capital projects.
The agreement also extends the University’s existing goal of
ensuring that at least 15% of labor hours worked to construct those projects
are performed by graduates of Building Futures. Paxson said the formal project
labor agreement deepens Brown’s commitment to the Rhode Island building trades
by supporting an array of well-paying union jobs as well as training for local
residents looking to build careers in construction.
“As Brown continues to invest in spaces for cutting-edge research, dynamic residential life and innovative teaching and learning, we rely on our longstanding partnerships with the talented tradespeople of Providence and Rhode Island to advance our physical campus and support Brown’s mission,” Paxson said. “This new agreement formalizes Brown’s commitment, and we look forward to building on our history of support for career development among construction laborers and seeing even more local residents thrive and succeed.”
The RIBCTC represents
16 trade unions and approximately 10,000 construction workers, and advocates
for safe working conditions, training opportunities and fair wages for Rhode
Island workers in construction trades. Building Futures is
a Providence-based nonprofit apprenticeship program that helps low-income
workers build skills and move into fruitful construction careers.
RIBCTC President Michael Sabitoni said Brown’s longstanding
support of the construction trades has had “a massive impact on the economy and
on people’s lives.” He views the new project labor agreement as a testament to
the University’s existing dedication and future commitment to economic
opportunity for Rhode Islanders.
“Brown has impacted so many people’s lives and brought them into
the middle class, not just by creating jobs, but by building careers,” Sabitoni
said. “The fact that Brown is memorializing that commitment to the community
with this labor agreement is larger than life for the men and women who work on
capital projects on campus.”
Building
on a track record of support for local construction industry
Brown’s partnership with RIBCTC and Building Futures dates back
more than 15 years, and since 2012, a Building Futures workforce agreement has
been embedded in labor contracts for every Brown construction or major
renovation project over $5 million. Those partnerships have translated into 34
capital projects fueled by union labor on which 128 Building Futures
pre-apprenticeship program graduates have logged over 465,000 hours employed as
construction trade apprentices and laid the foundation for their careers.
Building Futures Executive Director Andrew Cortés said the new
memorandum of understanding builds on the success of the University’s
longstanding partnership with Building Futures and will accelerate future
growth and training for laborers on capital projects on Brown’s campus and
beyond.
“As one of our first institutional partners, Brown has been
absolutely essential for us throughout our history,” Cortés said. “This
agreement allows us to scale up to meet future demand and enroll more people
from disadvantaged communities throughout Providence to help start their
careers, and through apprenticeship, become the skilled journey workers needed
in Rhode Island.”
Michael Guglielmo, Brown’s vice president for facilities
management, said that in addition to supporting the local economy through
employment and purchasing, Brown’s support of workforce development for the
state’s construction workers is increasingly critical as its construction labor
force ages, leading to an ever-shrinking pool of qualified tradespeople who are
available to work on major projects.
“This project labor agreement demonstrates that Brown is
investing in the pipeline of local workers while also providing a workplace
through our capital projects,” Guglielmo said. “Having a qualified workforce to
build state-of-the-art facilities is essential. If not, Brown and other local
organizations would have to go outside of Providence and outside of Rhode
Island to construct new buildings.”
In-progress projects on campus include the Brook Street Residence Hall project and
the state-of-the-art Lindemann
Performing Arts Center, both of which are expected to open in Fall
2023. The Lindemann project alone has employed up to 200 union trade workers
daily since 2018, including 24 Building Futures pre-apprenticeship program
graduates now employed as apprentices in various trades — the largest number on
a site to date — all of whom are helping to create a world-class arts and
performance center for students, scholars, artists and community members. That
bustling construction site was the backdrop for Monday’s signing ceremony, held
in the Granoff Center for the Creative Arts, which overlooks the site.
“Construction careers are started and maintained on Brown
University’s campus,” Sabitoni said. “Brown has been one of the largest clients
of the Rhode Island Building and Construction Trades Council, and that
commitment to the community and to the men and women that work on these
projects should be commended.”
Making
an economic impact individually and statewide
Over the last 20 years, Brown has executed individual labor
agreements for more than $350 million in complex development projects, which
have employed thousands of skilled union-member tradespeople, according to the
memorandum of understanding. The new five-year project labor agreement further
solidifies Brown’s commitment while helping to create efficiencies by removing
the time required to create standalone agreements for each new project.
“By not sitting down for each project over $25 million and
negotiating new terms, the agreement will help with timely completion of
construction projects within budget,” Guglielmo said. “Perhaps most
importantly, the agreement ties in the Building Futures program so we’re
providing younger qualified individuals opportunities to enter the construction
workforce.”
We want to memorialize who we are and what we do as the
stakeholders affecting so many young people’s lives, both in higher education,
but also the amount of economic activity that Brown University gives to the
community through its vendors as well as what it does via the construction
activity.In recognition of Brown’s longstanding commitment to the
organization, Building Futures will present the University with its inaugural
Impact via Apprenticeship Award during the organization’s 15th anniversary
celebration on Thursday, Nov. 17. The event is timed to coincide with National
Apprenticeship Week, and the award recognizes the University for supporting
“hundreds of Rhode Islanders to launch rewarding careers while helping to
develop Rhode Island’s construction workforce,” according to Building Futures’
announcement.
“Brown University has been a leader in helping demonstrate to
other institutions why apprenticeship utilization is important for the
industry,” Cortés said. “By doing so, Brown has paved the way for placing
community residents on projects well beyond Brown.”
When Paxson, Sabitoni and Cortés signed the new memorandum of
understanding on Nov. 14, it underscored the University’s campus-wide
commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, Guglielmo noted.
“Our core values of diversity and inclusion are embedded within
the decision to pursue this agreement,” Guglielmo said. “We’re intentional
about making sure that women and workers from historically underrepresented
groups have a pathway in the construction industry to living wages, career
opportunities and permanent employment.”
Cortés noted that 75% of Building Futures apprentices are people
of color, and 100% of participants have low incomes upon program entry.
“It really goes to show that when Brown creates opportunities,
it has a ripple effect for the community and residents beyond the campus’s
borders,” Cortés said. “I cannot overstate the impact that our partnership with
Brown has had across the state — and this agreement is a continuation and
celebration of that.