Wednesday, February 9-15, 2022 - // no. 146
Puerto Rico and the Caribbean
www.theweeklyjournal.com
2022: Not out of the woods yet P6 Financial and pharmaceutical sectors are posed for local growth P7 Evertec: Supporting Women Through Hard Times P9
General contractors worry
LUMA could affect reconstruction of Puerto Rico’s electric network Contracting requirements increase construction costs
L
Juan A. Hernández, The Weekly Journal
Lincoln’s 100th Anniversary P14
jhernandez@wjournalpr.com
UMA Energy’s requirement to local contractors to hire unionized labor from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), at the rates they pay in the U.S. could jeopardize not only the construction labor market on the island, but the reconstruction of its electric network. “LUMA is requiring their contractors to sign an agreement that forces them to hire from their labor union [the IBEW] in the U.S., at the same rates they pay there.
Of course, that creates a problem in Puerto Rico’s construction labor market, but more importantly, it also increases the cost of the reconstruction projects authorized after [Hurricane] Maria,” said Eduardo Pardo, president of the Association of General Contractors (AGC). According to Pardo, if contractors in Puerto Rico want to bid in any of the anticipated hundreds of contracts for the reconstruction of the electric network, they must sign the agreement, which would effectively make wages three times higher than the ones currently being paid by the industry. GO TO PAGE 4
