Trade unions have struck out in securing a labor deal over the construction of the new terminal at John Glenn Columbus International Airport that they say is necessary to protect wages and benefits of union and nonunion workers on the site.
"It's really just disappointing," said Mike Knisley, secretary-treasurer of the Ohio State Building and Construction Trades Council.
"I think they're going to find great challenges to get the project done on time and under budget," said Dorsey Hager, executive secretary-treasurer of the Columbus/Central Ohio Building & Construction Trades Council.
The Columbus Regional Airport Authority, which oversees John Glenn, and Hensel Phelps, the Colorado-based general contractor on the project, said they made significant efforts to collaborate with trade unions.
"Despite our comprehensive proposals, the Columbus/Central Ohio Building & Construction Trades Council has rejected all offers," the airport said in a statement.
In a similar statement, the company said, "Hensel Phelps has offered numerous compromise proposals to the (trade unions), who have rejected all offers."
John Glenn Airport's new terminal to replace one built in 1958
The airport expects to break ground this year on the ambitious, $2 billion project to build a new terminal to replace the existing one, built in 1958. The new terminal will be built west of the current terminal on what is now the "blue" parking lot, south of International Gateway, the main drive into the airport from Interstate 670.
The project is expected to be finished in 2029.
The new terminal will be capable of handling 13 million passengers, which is more than 4 million above the 8.7 million passengers that traveled through John Glenn Columbus and the Rickenbacker airport passenger terminal combined in 2023, the second-best year for both airports on record. The airports are on track to hit a record this year.
The project could have as many as 1,500 construction workers on site, Hager said.
What are project labor deals?
Project-labor deals guarantee that workers on the site will be paid good wages and benefits, and that local contractors and workers will be hired, labor leaders say.
They also say that since the $2 billion project is being financed in part with tax dollars, the project should benefit Ohio workers.
"We wanted everybody to make top wages and benefits," Hager said.
The unions have been able to strike similar agreements with other major projects in the region, including Intel's $28 billion semiconductor plant in Licking County, the $3.5 billion electric vehicle battery plant that Honda and LG Energy are building in Jeffersonville, the Hollywood Casino hotel project on the West Side, the Franklin County jail and other projects, they said.
Projects with such agreements tend to come in under budget, on or ahead of schedule, and are done safely, Knisley and Hager said.
"You have to have willing partners to see the value of this thing,’’ Knisley said.
Without such a deal, workers and contractors could be brought in from out of state and may not receive the wages and benefits they're due, Hager said.
The airport authority has previously said it already has a prevailing wage policy, along with other hiring requirements for small companies and companies owned by minorities, women and veterans.
Hensel Phelps, which is working with Columbus-based general contractor Elford on the project, said on its website it has partnered with several Ohio-based diverse business partners and disadvantaged business enterprise-certified small businesses "who will be integral during the preconstruction phase of the project."
"Hensel Phelps is committed to paying prevailing wages and fringe benefits and is utilizing the most qualified best value trade partners to meet or exceed the (airport authority's) local, small and disadvantaged business goals," the company said.
Columbus Urban League President Stephanie Hightower wrote in a column last month in The Dispatch that the Urban League welcomed the project and the benefits it will bring to small, minority, women and veteran-owned companies.
"Those who weren’t invited or don’t know how to find their way into the room where decisions are made, those who have confronted closed doors or found themselves slammed against glass ceilings understand how profoundly important it is that entities like the Columbus Regional Airport Authority are pressing hard to involve minority, veteran and women-owned small businesses in their expansion," she wrote.
mawilliams@dispatch.com
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