On Defense Over Wages, Engineers Say High Pay Matches Advanced Skill

[Omaha Steve]

Full story (Reg may be req) http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/08/nyregion/08workers.html?_r=1&oref=login




On Defense Over Wages, Engineers Say High Pay Matches Advanced Skill

By EMILY VASQUEZ
Published: July 8, 2006

Billion-dollar building projects have sat in eerie silence across the city. Two-hundred-foot crane towers have been at a standstill. And thousands of construction workers have been idle.

In the nearly weeklong walkout by operating engineers — who run heavy machinery at construction sites, including ground zero —the impasse, which was resolved Thursday night, turned on a point that is likely to remain an issue: the engineers' job responsibilities.

The fundamental issue is how much work they do to earn as much as about $45 an hour, or $80 including benefits — far more than most workers at construction sites.

And they will make even more under the new contract, which includes raises of 5.25 percent a year for four years, said Christopher O. Ward, the managing director of the General Contractors Association of Greater New York.