The New York City FC’s New Stadium Will be Built by Union Labor
Unions will build a new soccer-specific stadium across the street from Citi Field in Willets Point. The rest of the new complex, affordable hosing, a hotel, a school, will be built by non-union contractors.
A new soccer-specific stadium for New York City Football Club will be built in Queens next to the existing CitiField complex, creating a multi-sport super-plex facility that will benefit the city for decades. It will be the first fully electric stadium in Major League Soccer, in addition to being the first fully electric professional sports stadium in New York City.
Unions will build the stadium.
The New York City Council officially approved the transformational Willets Point Phase II Redevelopment Plan in April, and recently agreed with local unions on the stadium portion of the project. The project will also include new affordable housing, a hotel, and a school.
Why NYC Chooses Unions
Council Member Francisco Moya, who represents District 21 where the project will come to life, said, “This once-in-a-generation project will create a community like no other in New York City, with access to all-affordable housing, a brand-new public school and New York City’s only soccer-specific stadium.”
The assignment of the stadium work to NYC unions echoes the wise choice made earlier this year regarding the revitalization of the down-trodden Port Authority Bus Terminal. New York also chose unions to do that important work. Architectural plans have been approved and a timetable established. Unions will soon be converting one of the city’s worst eye sores into a gleaming new tourist attraction.
This is why New York is proud of our construction unions. They have exhibited time and again their ability to do work of the highest quality, and to get it done on time and on budget. It’s a source of comfort for the city to rely on unions for these very important civic projects.
Is this the company we want building the largest all-affordable housing development in 40 years?
But the Housing Part Goes to Non-Union
New York City Mayor Eric Adams also weighed in. “Housing is the goal—and with today’s City Council vote, I’m proud to say that we just scored the goal of the decade. We’re bringing 2,500 affordable housing units, 150,000 square feet of public open space, thousands of good-paying jobs and the city’s first soccer-specific stadium to a neighborhood in Queens that used to be known for its junkyards. We’re building a brand-new community out of the ‘Valley of Ashes,’ and we couldn’t have done it without all our partners.”
Which makes the contractor decision for the rest of the Willets Point project — the housing, hotel and school efforts — all the more troubling. Related, a large construction company with a troubling record, will be building the rest of the 23-acre venue.
Steve Ross is the former CEO and current chairman of Related, and is on record saying "unions have kind of exceeded their bounds, if you know what I mean, in just about every aspect of life." He added, "Every single industry that is union dominated, those companies are in trouble. You look at every state and city government, they're all bankrupt. ... There's a reason why there's a lot of anti-union sentiment in the country today."
Actually, he’s dead wrong on every single count in that statement. In every state where unions are in essence outlawed – we call them right-to-work states and there are 26 of them – average worker income, level of health benefits and life expectancy are demonstrably lower than in union-friendly states. Unions lift up workers, which is why the public’s approval of unions is near an all-time high at 71%.
Rich People Are Mad at Unions
But the people in Steve Ross’s bubble see the uplift of workers as a threat to their own billionaire’s take-home pay. What make’s Ross’s objections to unions even more disgusting is the fact that despite making billions from projects like the Time Warner Center and Hudson Yards in Manhattan, he pays essentially no federal income tax whatsoever. An exposé by Propublica revealed that he claimed massive business losses on his tax returns for 10 years, which resulted in a net-loss of income. So, no federal taxes owed for a decade. Meanwhile, Mr. Ross is considered the second wealthiest real estate developer in the country.
And in 2014, the United States Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the Related claiming failure to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
This is the company that will be building the largest all-affordable housing development in 40 years, the new 650-seat public school, a brand-new hotel and more than 150,000 square feet of public open space.
One Step Forward, Two Steps Back
The Willets Point stadium/housing project is an example of the direction of our construction industry. For the really important, civically central projects, like the Port Authority, the greenway on Manhatan’s East River, and the new soccer stadium in Queens, we smartly rely on unions. But big projects are still going to the people who despise unions and take advantage of our public systems for their own benefit. At the very least, the city should mandate that Related pay their workers a living wage and meet every single safety requirement mandated by law. Because that’s what unions do.
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