I’m a licensed GC working in NYC high‑end residential and brownstone renovations, and I want to push back on how fast the conversation around the Midtown building situation turned into “non‑union bad, union good,” instead of talking about the actual safety system that keeps failing workers.
From what we know so far, the sequence is pretty simple:
• Workers see buckling columns, cracks, sagging floors, and falling bricks.
• They sound the alarm and get people out.
• FDNY and DOB respond, streets close, nearby buildings evacuate.
• No one dies because the people physically on the job recognize something is wrong and act on it.
That is exactly what we ask workers to do on dangerous jobs in this city. Whether they’re union or non‑union, that response is professional and it saved lives.
The part that gets lost in the union vs. non‑union flame war:
• Structural failures at this scale almost never start with “a guy on the 21st floor messed up.”
• They start with design decisions, approvals, value‑engineering, sequencing, and oversight choices made months or years before anyone is tying rebar or hanging steel.
• Owners, developers, and GCs decide what gets cut to hit the budget and schedule. Regulators decide how aggressively they enforce.
Non‑union workers end up carrying the blame publicly, while the people who structure the deal, design the building, and sign off on safety plans are treated like they were just “unlucky.”
We should be talking about:
• Enforcement: unannounced inspections, meaningful fines, and actual shutdowns when sites don’t comply.
• Training: standardized, enforceable safety training requirements for all workers, not just whoever happens to be in a union.
• Accountability: clear lines of responsibility from ownership to design to GC to subs, so you can’t hide systemic failure behind “individual worker error.”
I’m not anti‑union; I’m pro‑worker and pro‑safety. Union and non‑union guys are on the same scaffold when something goes wrong. They all bleed the same when a column buckles or a parapet lets go.
What I’m resisting is the lazy narrative that non‑union labor is inherently reckless and that blaming them is a substitute for fixing how NYC actually regulates and builds. Every time we go down that road, we let the people with real power off the hook and guarantee we’ll be back here after the next “unforeseen structural issue.”
Curious what others here (especially folks in the trades, engineering, and DOB side) think?
submitted by /u/designsbydandj
[link] [comments]
