Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the Columbus/Central Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council Dorsey Hager started his monthly appearance on America’s Work Force Union Podcast and started the interview with an update on the Intel project.
Dorsey Hager, C/COBCTC Executive Secretary-Treasurer
The Intel project has faced a few setbacks, including the project timeline being pushed back. Hager believes the setbacks will give the C/COBCTC tradesmen and tradeswomen more time to prepare for when thousands of workers will be onsite.
“Senator Sherrod Brown encouraged Bechtel, the contractor for Intel, to enter a Project Labor Agreement, which they’ve done,” Hager said.
The first phase of the Intel project includes building two fabs, which are the two factories that produce chips. The total cost is around $20 billion.
Right now affiliated members of the C/COBCTC are working onsite producing concrete and using it to pour the foundations for the two fabs.
“Intel is incredibly happy with the progress, they’re happy with Bechtel, they’re happy with everything the Columbus Building Trades and our members’ unions are doing when it comes to terms of advocating for women and people of color,” Hager said.
The Building Futures Program is scaling to provide more workers for not only Intel but to man the other $40 billion worth of projects in Central Ohio, Hager added.
Hager then explains to host Ed “Flash” Ferenc how Local Unions are recruiting and expanding.
America’s Workforce Radio Host Ed “Flash” Ferenc
“When I took this job, the IBEW had a little over 900 members and now they have over 2,600 so they’ve almost tripled in 10 years.
“Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 189 have quadrupled their training facility. They went from a little over 10,000 square feet to over 44,000 square feet in their brand new state-of-the-art training facility to make sure they can continue to grow and increase membership so they can man not only the Intel job but the other jobs that are happening,” Hager said.
On the day Iron Workers Local 172 opened their new training center, they broke ground on another one to double their training space as they continue to increase their apprenticeship ranks, according to Hager.
Roofers and Waterproofers Local 86 and Sheet Metal Workers Local 24 also both opened new training centers, recently.
Hager thinks of it as a blessing that the pace at Intel slowed down. He believes it will ramp up when more of the Federal CHIPS funding starts hitting the ground, which he estimates will be quarter two or three of next year.
“I anticipate this time next year we’re going to have close to 6,000 people working for Bechtel building the fabs. I would say we would have another 4,000 people on the office buildings, roads and bridges so by this time next year there will be close to 10,000 tradespeople working,” Hager said.
Hager and Ferenc wrapped up the interview talking about the new Community Center that will be built under a Community Benefits Agreement.
A CBA was signed for the Fran Ryan Center a couple of weeks ago. The project is scheduled to be completed by early 2025.
The C/COBCTC negotiated a CBA for a previous recreational center project, which Hager said was tremendous for the community.
“The $32 million project was finished on time, under budget and we were able to recruit a local and diverse workforce so folks could see people or even themselves working on the projects, which is what the building trades are all about,” Hager said.
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