In July Shane McMorrow was promoted to lead the Mechanical Contractors Association of New York as the organization’s Executive Vice President. Formed in 1885, the MCA represents dozens of union contractors in the greater New York City area. Shane graduated from Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations and began working at the MCANY in 2012.
BTEA President Elizabeth Crowley spoke with Shane about what union contractors can do to increase their market share and about how city and state governments in New York can maximize public investment to support middle class workers.
BTEA: Tell us about the Mechanical Contractors Association and the focus of your organization.
We are an employer association that represents HVAC, refrigeration, and fire sprinkler companies in New York City and Nassau and Suffolk Counties. We represent them in labor negotiations with Steamfitters Local 638. As an organization we pride ourselves on representing our membership well in a few different areas: one, of course, being in the relationship with our union partners, but also in providing educational and training opportunities, promoting safety, organizing networking events, and conducting legislative and lobbying affairs; really anything we think can help our contractors grow and sustain their business and be more successful.
BTEA: You recently became Executive Vice President of the association. How did you come to lead the Mechanical Contractors?
Prior to July 1, I was here for about 12 years in the assistant director role. My background is that my family is currently in our third generation as steamfitters and contractors. My grandfather was a helper who became a steamfitter. He then went on to start his own small contracting business, and my father and uncle followed in his footsteps working in the field, first as steamfitters before becoming contractors. Now I have some brothers and cousins that are on the same path. Growing up, I always loved the industry, loved what my family did, but never quite wanted to work in the nitty-gritty of the contracting business, so I went to college and studied labor relations. Then, after learning a bit about collective bargaining, labor law, and getting introed to a few other subjects we touch on in this work, I found that this job was a nice way to mesh being in my family’s industry without having to work for my dad.
BTEA: What are some of the challenges posed by the current state of the industry that your members are most concerned about?
There’s no way to answer that without just saying: non-union. There’s been a drive across the industry to keep prices down. Unfortunately, when folks see the initial numbers in a bid it’s easy to look at a lower price from a non-union shop and say, “Hey, why not give them a shot?” But we believe strongly that the value is still there with our union contractors and the workforce they employ. More often than not, our members are going to do the job right the first time. They’re going to keep the job site safe and, by and large, you’re not going to have to expect them to come back and fix it. They’re going to do it right and on time. Ultimately, it’s a numbers game, and what makes our contractors different is that they are committed to employing folks with good living wages and enabling them to have good careers, and that requires a higher price. But what you’re getting in return is the value and the quality that you can trust when you put an MCA of New York contractor on your job. With our members, you know they’re going to send their workforce home safe at the end of the day. Their workers are going to be able to afford to live in the New York City area. And you’re going to have a really good product, which is so important when you’re talking about something like a fire suppression system, because that’s a system that can save lives, and you don’t want to have to guess whether or not it was installed correctly. Or refrigeration and cooling systems that keep grocery stores cooled and data centers operating correctly, or any of the comfort heating and cooling systems that keep every building in New York City working properly. So, we know the value is there, it’s just a matter of convincing our clients why it’s right to go with us the first time.
BTEA: What do you think can be done to protect and expand market share for union contractors?
Ultimately, we have to be dedicated to the idea that there’s no job that’s too small to care about. I think for a long period of time the unionized industry looked at something like a 10-story building in the outer boroughs, and we said, “Ah, that’s kind of small potatoes. Who cares if non-union does that?” But then they moved into buildings that were 40 stories, then commercial, now it’s some healthcare. We’ve always taken this attitude that it’s not a big deal if non-union does that, because we’ve got One Vanderbilt, and Hudson Yards, and all these other mega projects. However, I think in order to really maintain and grow our market share, we’ve got to look at every single market as something that we want to do and be aggressive about it. How do we get in there and get competitive in those markets, so we don’t see further encroachment into the stuff that we think right now is safe? What more can we do to have competitive numbers when we’re bidding, competitive agreements, and also make sure our workforce is trained as well as anyone can expect? The apprenticeship programs are great, but what can we do to improve the training even further? Is there advanced education for journeyworkers and mechanics? Is there more we can do for our project managers and estimators to better train them? The apprenticeship program is five years of someone’s career. That’s great, but what we know is that if you’re going to work for 30 or 40 years a lot can change over that time and a lot of knowledge is lost if you’re not constantly reminded of it. So, what can we do to make sure that someone who is 15 or 20 years out of the apprenticeship is continuing to get that quality education that you expect of a union workforce?
BTEA: From a government or legislative standpoint, what would you like to see changed or improved to help your members thrive?
I’d like to see a recognition that not all businesses are the same. I believe in what a lot of New York City and New York State supports, but, ultimately, when you look at our industry we’ve got a lot of employers, whether they’re in the MCA or some of the other trades, who choose to hire people at higher wages with significant benefits that can add up, because they believe in giving people legitimate careers and legitimate opportunities to live in New York City. These businesses should be recognized for what they’re doing to help create the middle class, not looked at as folks who are taking advantage of labor. So, I believe that when New York City and New York State are thinking through their legislative priorities, there should be a little bit of prioritization for businesses that are already doing the right thing. Our government officials should be considering what they can do to support businesses that pay a living wage and are doing right by their workers, rather than painting all businesses with the same broad brush.
The other thing I’d like to see is when the City or the State invests in the economy, whether it be through housing or other building initiatives, that they make those investments in a way that’s going to help the middle class. If we decide we want to build affordable housing, that’s a great initiative, but if we’re going to build it with cheap labor, that’s just going to necessitate more affordable housing, right? You can build affordable housing really cheaply, but if you’re going to do it using a worker who’s making $15 an hour that person is going to need affordable housing himself or herself, right? So, what can we do to have a more sophisticated way of building some of this affordable housing, commercial spaces, and other public amenities so they don’t just benefit New York, but also help create families who can live in New York City and can afford to get their own apartment? If we rely on cheap labor, we’re just exacerbating the problems we’re trying to fix.