East bank redevelopment project update: Master developer, labor union strike deal

The master developer of Nashville's massive East Bank redevelopment project has struck a deal with The Laborers' International Union of North America Local 386.

The Fallon Company is charged with hiring and managing development of approximately 95 acres of Metro-owned land on the East Bank riverfront, located across from downtown. The company will oversee construction of a new Tennessee Performing Arts Center and 695 affordable housing units among other commercial and public uses.

The Fallon Co. is finalizing its complex master development agreement with Metro Nashville Council members, who will consider it Tuesday night on second reading. The third and final reading is scheduled later this month.

This memorandum of understanding between Fallon and Laborers' International Union of North America Local 386, also known as LiUNA, strengthens worker pay and security protections, said Ethan Link, vice president of LiUNA Local 386. The Madison-based union represents construction workers and Vanderbilt University service workers.

Workforce development apprenticeship programs are key to the union's efforts to keep job sites active with limited labor supply.

"There will be a tight labor market around this work in Nashville," Link said. "Nobody can afford to live close to this project site at this point so you’re going to have to pay workers better or hire local Nashvillians and train them. An agreement like this gets ahead of those issues."

The union has a pre-apprenticeship program at Music City Construction Careers, which allows students to earn wages starting at $18.70 an hour (on average), while training for full-time work at job sites.

Worker pay and security protections in the memorandum of understanding, Link said, include prequalifying contractors to ensure they are reputable and intend to fully compensate workers and keep security managers on site.

"It makes sure all contractors are licensed with the state of Tennessee to prevent misclassifying workers as independent contractors. That changes the whole dynamic," Link added.

"The stars were aligned on this. We have a developer who is used to doing the right thing and Councilperson Sean Parker called out these issues in the East Bank Committee meetings."

Parker, who is chair of the Ad Hoc East Bank Committee, said this deal bodes well for the complex project.

"I have worked for months with The Fallon Company and the O’Connell administration to strengthen the workforce development aspect of this agreement and I appreciate both parties’ good faith engagement," Parker said, in a written statement. "These commitments are about more than transforming the East Bank — they’re about transforming the lives of working people in Nashville."

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville East Bank master developer, labor union strike deal