Construction-industry collective bargaining negotiations completed in 2020 resulted in an average first-year increase in wages and fringe benefits of $1.63 or 2.8 percent, according to the annual year-end Settlements Report recently released by the AGC-supported Construction Labor Research Council (“CLRC”). This is slightly down from raises negotiated in 2019, when the average first-year increase negotiated was $1.67 or 2.9 percent, and it marks the first decline in the size of increases negotiated since 2011. However, CLRC notes, the average dollar-amount increase negotiated in 2020 remains more than double the amount negotiated in 2011.
The report includes a special COVID-19 Impact on First Year Settlements in 2020 addendum. The addendum shows that bargaining in 2020 yielded fewer large increases and more small increases than in 2019. It also shows that settlements for three-year contracts become much less prominent in 2020, replaced in large part by one- and two-year contracts.
“The major force acting on the rates is the COVID-19 pandemic,” says CLRC. “Another significant impact is the declining market share for union construction, which has been going on for many years. The shortage of craft workers may become a less prominent force on union craft wages under the current circumstances.”
The report also includes breakdowns by region and by craft. Regionally, the highest average first-year increase by percentage in 2020 came from the Northwest Region (AK, ID, OR, and WA) at 4 percent. The lowest came from the South Central Region (AR, LA, NM, OK, TX) at 1.6 percent. CLRC point out that “seven of nine regions were within one percent of the mean, indicating homogeneity among most of the regions, and suggesting outlier properties for the Northwest (high) and South Central (low) regions.”
The craft that negotiated the highest average first-year percent increase in 2020 was the Operating Engineers at 3.4 percent, and the craft that negotiated the lowest was the Iron Workers at 2.0 percent.
The full report is accessible to AGC members and chapter staff from AGC’s online Labor & HR Topical Resources library under the main category “Collective Bargaining” and subcategory “Collective Bargaining Agreements Data.” You must be logged in as an AGC member to access the material.
Collective bargaining chapters are reminded to please send new contract data directly to CLRC promptly upon settlement of collective bargaining negotiations. Chapters and members are also reminded that CLRC consulting and custom research services on local matters at a discount to AGC affiliates. This includes market share analysis, union/nonunion wage and fringe benefit comparisons, collective bargaining agreement language cost analysis, workforce/labor analysist and projections, and more.
For more info, contact Denise Gold, associate general counsel, at denise.gold@agc.org or 9703) 837-5326.