STL Union Painters Strike, Offer Interim Contracts
Pictured Above: 58064766 – on strike, 3d rendering, metal text on rust background
Date Posted: September 2, 2016
Posted In: News, Workforce,
by Tom Finan, Executive Director, Construction Forum STL
Approximately 1,400 union painters in the St. Louis region went on strike Thursday after rejecting the latest wage offer from approximately 160 contractors represented by the Painting and Decorating Foundation (PDF).
Dan Wienstroer, executive director of PDF, said that union leaders had said Thursday that the union would not offer interim agreements to contractors. But Wienstroer said that on Friday the union − Local 58 of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) − was offering to let contractors sign interim agreements paying the last wage offer submitted to the contractors by the union.
The offer from PDF that was rejected Thursday by union members was for 90 cents per year in wage increases over the next three years, totaling $2.70 in increases by the final year of the agreement. The contractors had previously offered 60 cents increases in wages per year.
Journeymen painters currently earn $30.59 per hour in wages, Wienstroer said. The total package with health and pension benefits is $45.69 per hour.
The striking painters are represented under the St. Louis arm of Local 58, based in Collinsville, which merged with Local 2 based in St. Louis 2 years ago. Missouri and Illinois painters operate under separate contracts and there is no portability between the jurisdictions.
Picketing has been limited to the offices of companies represented by PDF. Union painters remain at work on sites covered by national maintenance agreements and project labor agreements with no-strike language.