Construction workers and city officials rallied outside the Durst Organization's Queens Plaza Park project this week to protest the developer's decision to hire a nonunion concrete contractor for the tower.
Iron Workers Union Local 46 and Council members Jimmy Van Bramer and Costa Constantinides gathered outside the project, which will rise 710 feet and feature 958 apartments. The group chanted: "If it ain't union, shut it down," and "New York City's a union town," to protest Durst's hiring of RNC Industries, Politico reported.
"Get rid of RNC, and get a solid, reputable union contractor to get this work done," Van Bramer said, according to Politico.
Durst's Jordan Barowitz noted that wages on the project will exceed what is required under the new version of 421a and that the project will abide by a new construction safety law backed by the Building and Construction Trades Council.
"Both these laws were aggressively supported by the Building Trades," he said.