NEW YORK CITY-A study by the Regional Plan Association, released earlier this week, says that construction unions in the city are riddled with problems that make them increasingly cost prohibitive and non-competitive. The report, “Construction Labor Costs in New York City: A Moment of Opportunity,” had been circulating for some time, but was publicly released this week. In it, the RPA details how construction unions in New York City are pricing themselves out of business, losing huge chunks of the construction market to non-union outfits, whose share has increased from just 15% in the 1970s to roughly 40% today.

Hope Cohen, associate director of the RPA’s Center for Urban Innovation, co-authored the report and tells GlobeSt.com that it’s meant to serve as a roadmap for what needs to happen for union construction to survive--and thrive--in the city. “The overall cost of labor of a fully union job is 20% to 30% higher than the total cost of labor on an open shop job,” Cohen says. “The wages are somewhat higher, but then there are all these work rules and practices that add up.”

So while the RPA’s study shows that union workers on average earn more than their non-union counterparts--a union crane operator in New York earns on average $82.15 per hour, for instance--the work rules and practices that Cohen mentions drive costs higher, according to the study. These include standby services for some trades on site at all times, overstaffing, and paying some laborers more when lower paid workers could perform the job.

“All of those things tied together and the differential is 20% to 30%,” Cohen says. Also of note is the high unemployment rate among city construction workers, which is roughly 30%, and could climb higher as 23 construction contracts are set to expire in June. It’s created an environment in which public works spending alone has kept the situation from being “disastrous,” Cohen says.

Moving forward, Cohen hopes that an agreement reached with the Association of Master Painters and Decorators of New York and a union representing thousands of New York master painters could serve as a model. Both sides compromised and were able to reach common ground. “This could be a pattern for upcoming contracts,” she says. “There’s a lot to watch this year.”