Listen to article \u2022\u00a00:00 min<\/p>\n
In May, Passyunk resident Peter Kim found a vivid orange flyer on his door that read, \u201cTheir Profit. Your Loss!\u201d<\/p>\n
The messaging on the material inveighed against shoddy and irresponsible real estate development, without naming any particular company or specific foe. <\/p>\n
It encouraged residents to sign the Build Fair Philly pledge and attend registered community organization (RCO) meetings, which developers have to hold in advance of large projects or a zoning change. <\/p>\n
Kim is a pro-housing advocate, and after checking out the website he at first thought that some new antidevelopment political organization had come to town. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhile on the surface, the talking points sound reasonable, I think because I\u2019ve become so conditioned to NIMBY [not in my backyard] groups finding any reason to oppose new development, I just assumed this campaign was from some NIMBY anti-housing group,\u201d Kim said. <\/p>\n
But Build Fair Philly\u2019s website lists as its address 1803 Spring Garden<\/a> St., which is the Philadelphia headquarters for the Eastern Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters until its forthcoming move to the Navy Yard<\/a>. <\/p>\n The Carpenters, like the rest of Philadelphia\u2019s building trades unions, are generally pro-development. After all, the more projects \u2014 especially big ones \u2014 that get built, the more their members work.<\/p>\n \u201c[I] was surprised to learn it\u2019s the Carpenters union because, obviously, they\u2019re not anti-housing,\u201d Kim said. <\/p>\n In recent months, conspicuous orange Build Fair Philly lawn signs have been popping up on rowhouses and lawns around Philadelphia, decrying harmful real estate development. (Another common message: \u201cOur block! Our standards!\u201d)<\/p>\n The campaign\u2019s sponsor is not listed on its material, leaving many recipients wondering what the notices are about. <\/p>\n In an interview, leaders of the Carpenters said that the Build Fair Philly campaign is an attempt to raise popular consciousness about irresponsible construction \u2014 which Philadelphia\u2019s rowhouse neighborhoods are very familiar with<\/a>. <\/p>\n \u201cWe are not against development; if anything, we want more development,\u201d said James Hocker, assistant executive secretary-treasurer with the Eastern Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters. <\/p>\n \u201cBut we want more responsible development, development that\u2019s built in a fair way that is creating opportunities,\u201d Hocker said. \u201cWe want to see licensed contractors on these projects. We want to see contractors that are paying their workers a responsible wage.\u201d<\/p>\n The Carpenters say Build Fair Philly is an effort to give community members a way to get involved in a campaign to better regulate the construction industry, forging alliances with community groups to ensure quality building and get pro-labor laws enforced. <\/p>\n The move comes amid a difficult environment for Philadelphia\u2019s building trades unions. (The Carpenters are not part of the Philadelphia AFL-CIO or the Philadelphia Building and Construction Trades Council.)<\/p>\n After interest rates spiked in 2022, construction slowed<\/a>. The commercial sector, which is most likely to employ union labor, has taken a hit from the remote work-induced cessation of new office construction<\/a>. That is part of why the trades fought so hard<\/a> on behalf of the proposed, then abandoned, 76ers Center City<\/a> arena. <\/p>\n Mayor Cherelle L. Parker<\/a>\u2019s $800 million housing initiative<\/a> will create work for the unions. But a lot of the funding \u2014 like the signature Turn the Key program<\/a> \u2014 goes into rowhouse construction and rehabilitation, which labor has largely ceded to nonunion, often immigrant, workers<\/a>.<\/p>\n There also are not many public works projects currently in the pipeline, and longtime fonts of trades work<\/a> like the Philadelphia Housing Authority are less reliable sources of employment<\/a>. <\/p>\n The website Unionstats.com<\/a> shows a steady downward trend in union representation in the Philadelphia metropolitan area\u2019s private construction market since the pandemic. <\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s part of a general campaign by unions in the Northeast to reverse their declining market share,\u201d said Stephen Jacob Smith, executive director of the Center for Building in North America. <\/p>\n \u201cExactly what they have in mind as the mechanism, I do not know,\u201d Smith said of the Carpenters. \u201cThey have a bunch of political levers, and I don\u2019t know which of them they\u2019re trying to pull with this.\u201d<\/p>\n But Hocker says the effort is not only about winning more work for the Carpenters members. It is also about holding contractors and developers accountable for not hiring in the city. <\/p>\n After all, the building trades unions have been criticized<\/a> for having memberships that do not represent the demographic makeup of Philadelphia. Why are developers not getting attacked if they are also not doing representative hiring? <\/p>\n \u201cWe want development that\u2019s going to create opportunities, whether it\u2019s union or nonunion, for individuals that live in the city of Philadelphia,\u201d Hocker said. \u201cWe feel that the development that happens in these communities should reflect what the community looks like. It shouldn\u2019t be a bunch of out-of-state license plates.\u201d<\/p>\n Build Fair Philly\u2019s Instagram account includes footage of a rally with City Council members, including Quetcy Lozada<\/a>, Jeffery Young, and a cigar-wielding Jimmy Harrity. <\/p>\n But the union leadership says that the campaign is not necessarily about passing new legislation \u2014 which many other trades<\/a> have successfully won<\/a> before \u2014 but about getting the city to enforce the regulations that are already on the books.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re not asking for elected officials or anybody in any kind of position to create new laws and policies,\u201d said Joseph Lockley, senior council representative for the Carpenters. \u201cThese are laws, policies, and procedures that are already in place that are just not being pushed and enforced, or even prioritized.\u201d<\/p>\n As of early July, the Carpenters said, they had already had 10,000 people sign on to Build Fair Philly\u2019s pledge. \u201cI believe Philadelphia\u2019s development should be safe, fair, and built for all of us \u2014 not just for investors and insiders,\u201d it reads.<\/p>\n They had distributed 6,536 signs and canvassed 17,537 people, knocking on doors and interacting with people on the street. <\/p>\n They have also put up nine billboards attacking Post Bros., a major Philadelphia developer. (\u201cPhilly\u2019s Worst Neighbors. Stop Post Brothers,\u201d the signage reads.) <\/p>\n