MERITSHOP PROUD:

OVER 9.5 OUT OF 10 OF FLORIDA’S CONSTRUCTION WORKERS DO NOT BELONG TO A UNION

According to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of 2023 state union membership data published recently by UnionStats.com, 97.5% of Florida’s construction workers in private industry do not belong to a union. Nationwide, a record 89.3% of construction workers do not belong to a union, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, up from 88.3% in 2022.

Approximately 7.9 million construction industry professionals did not belong to a union in 2023, and the number of merit shop construction professionals continues to grow year after year.

President Joe Biden’s exclusionary policies may secure him endorsements from special interest donors and organized labor, but the overwhelming majority of Florida’s construction industry is operating in a nonunion environment. Biden administration policies threaten to inflate construction costs, steer public works contracts to donors with little competition and exacerbate the construction industry’s skilled labor shortage, all of which stand to undermine taxpayer investments in America’s infrastructure, clean energy and manufacturing projects. All qualified contractors and their employees should be encouraged to bid on and build taxpayer-funded construction projects, so they can be awarded based on cost, quality and safety, not union affiliation.

The Biden administration continues to push unproductive, anti-competitive regulations, like government-mandated project labor agreements on federal and federally assisted construction projects, sweeping overhauls to the government-registered apprenticeship system, the

TAKE ACTION NOW: Support our efforts in Tallahassee to promote merit shop construction controversial Davis-Bacon final rule, the redefinition of independent contractor status and the unprecedented expansion of labor policies onto private construction projects through federal tax code via the Inflation Reduction Act.

Construction industry freedom and choice to affiliate with unions independent of government interference creates immense value for taxpayers and the construction industry, which is why ABC will continue to challenge exclusionary policies and advocate for all construction workers to be welcome to build taxpayer-funded construction projects.

ABC of Florida, once again, worked hard in Tallahassee to protect Merit Shop construction this past session through changes to Continuing Contracts with a bill to increase the current statutory cap from $4 million to $7.5 million, private provider reforms, as well as a bill on career and technical education to help address the expanding workforce shortage while allowing teenagers to better explore careers in construction. 

Sources:

• https://unionstats.com/state/htm/state_2023.htm

• www.abc.org/News-Media/News-Releases/abc-president-bidensfinal-rule-forcing-corrupt-project-labor-agreements-will-face-legalchallenges

• www.abc.org/News-Media/News-Releases/abc-bidens-proposaloverhauling-government-registered-apprenticeship-programs-willexacerbate-construction-industry-labor-shortage

• www.abc.org/News-Media/News-Releases/abc-final-davis-baconrule-undermines-taxpayer-investments-in-infrastructure

• www.abc.org/News-Media/News-Releases/abc-irs-must-provideclarity-withdraw-anti-competitive-labor-policies-from-inflationreduction-acts-clean-energy-construction-tax-credit-rules