Passenger Air Service in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula: Overview and Analysis

[Excerpt] Rural America needs safe, efficient, reliable, and accessible passenger air service. Federal government subsidies have long been necessary to assure that residents in smaller, less profitable markets have access to the nation’s transportation network. That access is necessary for a community’s economic health, is arguably a right of all taxpayers and residents, and is in public interest. But market forces within the aviation industry are today driving a restructuring that may curtail or eliminate service to many communities in the nation. And the present political climate raises a serious question about the federal government’s continued commitment to the nation’s rural air transportation system. This report focuses on the state of passenger air service in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula [U.P.]. The U.P. is among the most geographically remote areas in the eastern half of the United States. The region’s economic, social, and cultural institutions are increasingly related to a global marketplace. These depend, in varying degrees, on access to the national and global transportation network. Scheduled, commercial passenger air service is especially critical for this area too distant from passenger rail, without adequate commercial bus service, with few four-lane highways and very limited connection to the Interstate Highway system

Alternative Dispute Resolution [ADR] for Workers Compensation in Collective Bargaining Agreements: An Overview

This paper addresses the argued benefits for cost savings and efficiency of alternative dispute resolution [ADR] procedures for workers compensation. Particular focus is on legislative “carve-outs” that authorize collectively-bargained ADR procedures for the construction industry in New York and other states. Given the particular pressure to contain rising workers’ compensation costs—and the burden that these costs represent for the construction industry— ADR procedures are one of the most important advantages of unionized construction and, in particular, Project Labor Agreements [PLAs]. The negotiated alternative procedures, subject to Workers’ Compensation Board [WCB] approval, use an expedited and non-adversarial process that can potentially save considerable project time and costs

On-Demand Employment, Worker Misclassification, and Labor Standards

[Excerpt] On-demand platform work, like other forms of contingent and temporary employment, destabilizes industries, undermines worker protections and living standards, and significantly contributes to wealth and income inequality

Project Labor Agreements in New York State: In the Public Interest

It is especially challenging in these tough economic times for officials within New York City’s and New York State’s many entities to decide how best to use public money for construction and renovation projects. This article is intended to serve as a resource to help officials make better informed decisions about the value of project labor agreements [PLAs]. It also encourages readers to see PLA use within broader objectives of sound public policy. PLAs have been demonstrated to be a very useful construction management tool for cost savings, for on-time, on-budget, and quality construction. But PLAs are not necessarily appropriate for every project. This report reviews the background and legal standards for the appropriate use of PLAs on public works projects in New York City and State. It details what PLAs do, how they have been used, and the benefits they offer — benefits that extend to workforce and economic development. This report also tests the validity of the claims made by PLA opponents that PLAs drive-up construction costs. Focus is on the studies conducted in recent years by the Beacon Hill Institute, a particularly outspoken opponent of PLA use in both the public and private sectors

Project Labor Agreements in New York State II: In the Public Interest and of Proven Value

[Excerpt] This report is a follow-up to the earlier Cornell ILR report, Project Labor Agreements in New York State: In the Public Interest, issued in March 2009. There has been a significant increase in the authorization and use of PLAs for both public and private sector work during the intervening two years – particularly for New York City and, generally, throughout New York State. PLAs now govern the labor relations for a broad scope of projects involving tens of billions of dollars of infrastructure, new construction, and renovation work. The current report details how and why these agreements are serving the interests of taxpayers, businesses, communities, as well as the construction industry and workforce

The Cost of Worker Misclassification in New York State

[Excerpt] This study uses data based on audits performed by the NYS Department of Labor Unemployment Insurance Division during the four-year period 2002-2005. Audits were performed on firms in certain industries, and data was extrapolated statewide for these industries only, based on given employment information. Using general and specific audits conducted during the four year period 2002-2005, it is estimated that 39,587 New York employers (of about 400,732) in audited industries misclassified workers each year as independent contractors. Of these, approximately 5,880 employers, or 14.9%, were in the construction industry

On-Demand Employment, Worker Misclassification, and Labor Standards

[Excerpt] On-demand platform work, like other forms of contingent and temporary employment, destabilizes industries, undermines worker protections and living standards, and significantly contributes to wealth and income inequality.WI_On_Demand_Employment.pdf: 155 downloads, before Oct. 1, 2020

New York State Prevailing Wage Law: Defining Public Work

New York’s prevailing wage standards require that contractors on state funded construction projects pay their workers no less than wage and benefit levels “prevailing” within the local construction market. Much has changed since the prevailing wage was enacted by statute in 1897 and written into New York’s Constitution in 1938. “Public works” projects then typically meant construction of public facilities, funded by public money, for public use. Today public resources are leveraged creatively to attract private capital for economic development. The commingling of the various forms of public support with private funding has blurred the definition or boundaries of “public work.” Sixteen other states have statutes that more broadly apply the standards to include loans, tax incentives, and other forms of public support to private projects. New York is among ten other states that enable private developers to accept public money without paying prevailing wages and benefits. This report examines the taxpayer interest in redefining “public work” to include both traditionally funded public works projects and private, economic development projects funded at least in part by public assets.NYS_PWL__Defining_Public_Work_03_14_18.pdf: 2867 downloads, before Oct. 1, 2020