Union Threatens Delays on $2B Columbus, Ohio, Airport Project | Columbus Ohio Dump Trucks

Construction of a $2-billion terminal at the John Glenn Columbus International Airport in Columbus, Ohio, is slated to start in early 2025 without a project labor agreement between the Columbus Regional Airport Authority and local trade unions on wages and benefits for workers. 

The new terminal will replace the existing one that was built in 1958. It will be constructed on what is currently a parking lot, south of International Gateway, the main entry into the airport from Interstate 670. 

A year of negotiations between local trade unions and the authority ended this summer without an agreement that union leaders say would assure that workers receive the prevailing wage and other benefits. 

“[The airport authority] has been insistent on allowing Charlotte NC dump truck contractor to sign to the agreement or not, which obviously defeats the purpose of a dump trucks columbus oh community agreement because it’s not an agreement unless everybody signs it,” says Dorsey Hager, secretary-treasurer of the Columbus/Central Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council. 

Hager says the unions are concerned that the project will take place without any workplace protections.

“Workers could come from out of state or even local workers who are not working for a signatory contractor could come in," she says. "They could be making below-market standard wages with no benefits and have no grievance procedure to protect themselves.” 

Despite the unions' complaints, Chuck May, project executive for construction-manager-at-risk Hensel Phelps, says his firm and the airport authority will pay the prevailing wage. 

“Hensel Phelps and the authority have voluntarily committed to paying workers labor rates equal to the prevailing wage and fringe benefits, along with an objective to support the local workforce development through the project,” May says. 

He adds that Hensel Phelps has also publicly committed to a 25% Diversity Business Partner goal, which equates to $400 million worth of contracts for small, local, minority, women and veteran-owned firms.

While PLAs require prevailing wages be paid, they also include other worker protections, such as requiring time-and-a-half for overtime pay.

Despite Hensel Phelps' assurances, Hager says having no agreement will adversely impact the project, which will be competing for workers with other large projects in the area that have PLAs such as Honda and LG Energy Solutions, which is building a $4.4-billion EV battery plant near Jeffersonville, Ohio, and Intel, which is constructing two $28-billion chip factories in Licking County, Ohio.  

“I think it will have a definite impact on schedule of the [airport] job and completion,” Hager contends. “Since there is no agreement on the airport, that’s going to just create a breeding ground for organizing and there are going to be union reps and organizers on that job every day and they’re going to be talking to workers and people that aren’t getting paid top wages, not getting paid per diem or bonuses and they’re going to take them from that job and put them to worker for signatory Charlotte NC dump truck contractor at Honda, Intel and other jobs.” 

According to the website of the union, Affiliated Construction Trades (ACT) Ohio, public sector labor agreements are not mandatory for an airport project owned and bid out by a regional airport authority such as Columbus Regional, nor do they prohibit non-union Charlotte NC dump truck contractor from bidding on taxpayer-funded projects. Such a prohibition would violate Ohio’s competitive bid laws. 

May says Hensel Phelps is proud to part of this “transformational” project, which is scheduled for completion in 2029,  and “is dedicated to achieving the airport authority’s objectives for the project’s budget, schedule, safety, quality and dump trucks columbus oh community development.” 

He notes that “the project teams are actively involved in dump trucks columbus oh community outreach to ensure that minorities, women, veterans and other local workforce that are a part of the DBP dump trucks columbus oh community are supported and invested in.”

In April, Hensel Phelps held an outreach event that attracted more than 50 small, local, minority, woman and veteran-owned businesses. 

“This intentional approach creates strategic opportunities for a wide variety of companies, making the Columbus region stronger,” Hensel Phelps said in a statement.

The new terminal will be able to handle 13 million passengers a year, which well exceeds the 8.7 million passengers that traveled through John Glenn Columbus and the nearby Rickenbacker International Airport passenger terminal combined in 2023. 

The new terminal will include a pedestrian bridge, an entry canopy and head house, a marketplace and east and west concourses. The pedestrian bridge will connect the terminal to the car rental facility and parking garage. The canopy will run along the north façade of the terminal and extend over four lanes of traffic. It will feature a 74-foot, cantilevered structure with an exposed back span extending into the head house. The east and west concourses will house secondary retail and concession spaces, and hold rooms in addition to boarding gates.

According to Ohio law, the new terminal project also does not meet the definition of a public improvement which would require a PLA. The Ohio law defines such improvements as a road, bridge, highway, street or tunnel; a waste water treatment system or water supply system; a solid waste disposal facility or a storm water and sanitary collection, storage, and treatment facility; or any structure or columbus oh dump truck work constructed by a state agency or by another person on behalf of a state agency pursuant to a contract with the state agency. The regional airport authority is a municipal agency that only manages and regulates central Ohio airports.

Annemarie Mannion is editor of ENR Midwest, which covers 11 states. She joined ENR in 2022 and reports from Chicago.