Union, contractor groups ink new contract

The Western Missouri & Kansas Laborers District Council and the Associated General Contractors of Missouri penned a new five-year contract that affects workers in the Springfield area, the organizations announced yesterday.

Jeff Phillips, communications and outreach manager for the district council, this morning said the deal’s represented an increase in pay and benefits for union workers in Locals 663, 579 and 319. However, he declined to disclose the value of the new pay rates for Local 663 construction workers in Springfield and Greene County.

Phillips said the new pay rate for union workers does not exceed the current state-mandated, guaranteed prevailing wage of $25.16 for general laborers on public works projects such as roads, bridges, schools and sidewalks. General laborers also are entitled to $13.67 in fringe benefits under state law. However, he said union workers covered by the district are typically paid the prevailing wage for all work they do, not just public works projects.

“They work hard and they get paid well,” Phillips said. “The difference is that with ours, we have a specific breakdown between the wage and the benefits. Nonunion people, they may pay their people the entire amount and then they might have to go get their own insurance.”

Phillips said there are about 400 Local 663 workers in the 20-county service area his Clever office covers in southern Missouri. In total, the Western Missouri & Kansas Laborers District Council represents employees in 54 western Missouri counties, he said.

Local companies with Local 663 union workers include DeWitt & Associates Inc., Leo Journagan Construction Co. Inc., Hunter Chase & Associates Inc. and Carson-Mitchell Inc.

Phillips said an example of local work performed by union employees is the recently awarded $5.5 million contract for DeWitt & Associates to renovate Missouri State University’s Woods Hall.

The new labor union contract goes into effect May 1, according to a news release.

“The representatives of the Western Missouri & Kansas Laborers District Council and our representatives of the AGC of Missouri spent more time discussing ways of better serving the community and their customers than dollars and cents,” AGC President Leonard Toenjes said in the release. “Both sides were fair and we believe that the outcome of this agreement puts us both in a more competitive position entering the next five years.”