Gary LaBarbera

Building trades chief Gary LaBarbera has his hopes for New York’s construction recovery pinned on the state’s green energy projects and federally funded infrastructure upgrades. To realize these hopes, the labor leader is very active on the legislative front. 

He is currently pushing for a bill that would require any developer of a state solar project greater than 1 megawatt to pay its workers prevailing wages. Larger solar projects and offshore wind developments are already subject to wage minimums, thanks to a deal that the construction unions negotiated last year. LaBarbera and his colleagues also secured a number of project labor agreements and prevailing-wage requirements in this year’s New York state budget. 

In addition, any state construction project that’s worth more than $25 million must have a project labor agreement (PLA), while projects valued at $10 million to $25 million must have a feasibility study for a PLA. 

The construction trades were also successful in winning labor standards for New York’s proposed $4.2 billion environmental bond act, which includes green building upgrades on public college campuses, stormwater mitigation projects and sewer replacements. Voters across the state will decide the bond act’s fate in November. 

LaBarbera also has his eye on infrastructure megaprojects like the second phase of the Second Avenue Subway, the Gateway Tunnel under the Hudson River and the redevelopment of Pennsylvania Station. He hopes that all of these projects will get underway in 2023, thanks to federal infrastructure dollars.

Right now, “the industry is fairly flat,” LaBarbera said. “We’re waiting for a lot of major projects to start. By next year this time we’ll be in a very robust construction market. The trades are preparing for that now with improvements to their apprenticeship programs.”