The Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York & Vicinity (NYC BCTC) is the New York City affiliate of the AFL-CIO’s Building and Construction Trades Department, often known as North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU). ¹ It is made up of the local unions of 15 building and construction industry labor unions, and claims to represent more than 100,000 workers in New York City. ^{1 2}

Gary LaBarbera has been president of the NYC BCTC since 2009. He is also a member of the executive board of the New York City Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO, and in 2021, he was elected president of the New York State Building and Construction Trades Council, succeeding former president James Cahill, who was indicted on federal corruption charges and pled guilty in 2022. ^{3 4 5}

Member Unions

The New York City Building and Construction Trades Council is comprised of 43 locals from 15 labor unions: International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Ship Builders, Blacksmiths, Forgers and Helpers; United Brotherhood of Carpenters; International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers; International Union of Elevator Constructors; International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers; International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental and Reinforcing Iron Workers; Laborers’ International Union of North America; International Union of Operating Engineers; International Union of Painters and Allied Trades; Operative Plasterers’ and Cement Masons’ International Association of the United States and Canada; United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry of the United States and Canada; United Union of Roofers, Waterproofers and Allied Workers; Sheet Metal Workers’ International Association; International Brotherhood of Teamsters; and International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers. ²

Activism

Lobbying and Political Operations

New York City Building and Construction Trades Council supports policies that reduce the cost disparity between unionized and non-unionized construction projects, including “prevailing wage” laws that require all government-funded construction projects to pay workers at union-equivalent rates. ^{6 7}

In 2024, the NYC BCTC reported paying $89,166 to lobbying firm Beaudoin & Company LLC, spending $10,300 in political advertising, and paying $9,000 to Washington, D.C.-based Democratic political consultant Gregory Mathis Jr., the son of television personality Judge Greg Mathis. ^{8 9}

NYC BCTC operates the NYC Building and Construction Trades Council PAC. ¹⁰

Pro-Growth Advocacy

The NYC BCTC broadly supports policies that lead to new construction jobs. In 2024, it led a demonstration of construction workers against “anti-development campaigns” that sought to limit development in Brooklyn. ¹¹

In June 2025, NYC BCTC president Gary LaBarbera and New York State AFL-CIO president Mario Cilento published an op-ed in the Syracuse Post-Standard supporting the construction of a new nuclear power plant in upstate New York. They supported the project not only for the unionized construction and operation jobs, but also out of concerns that New York’s solar and wind generation were leaving New York City’s electrical grid at risk of higher costs and potential energy shortages. ¹²

In 2021, the NYC BCTC endorsed the Green New Deal for Public Schools Act introduced by then-U.S. Representative Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), noting the unionized construction jobs that would be created by the bill’s spending on environmentalist renovations to public schools. ¹³

Controversies

Corruption and Organized Crime Ties

Over the years, New York City Building and Construction Trades Council member unions have been tied to corruption and organized crime involvement in and around construction projects in New York City. In 2022, former New York State Building and Construction Trades Council president James Cahill and 10 other union officials pled guilty to federal corruption charges involving bribes paid by a construction company for work on Long Island. Cahill admitted to having taken more than $144,000 in bribes to allow a construction company to underpay union workers, hire non-union workers, and otherwise operate against the interests of union members. ⁵ While the NYC BCTC was not directly implicated in the corruption investigation, nine of the other 10 defendants were leaders of Steamfitters Local 638, an NYC BCTC member union. ²  According to the U.S. Attorney of the Southern District of New York, all the defendants accepted thousands or tens of thousands of dollars in cash bribes, “usually stuffed in envelopes […] handed off inside the restrooms of restaurants.” ⁵

In the early 2000s, federal and state prosecutors secured more than 18 guilty pleas and roughly 30 members were expelled from the International Union of Operating Engineers in a series of investigations into Mafia control of IUOE Local 14 and Local 15, both of which are NYC BCTC members. ^{14 15} According to prosecutors and plea deals, the Colombo and Genovese crime families effectively controlled the union locals. ¹⁶

In 2004, NYC BCTC member Local 8 of the United Union of Roofers, Waterproofers, and Allied Workers in New York City was indicted by the New York County District Attorney as operating as a criminal enterprise under New York State’s Organized Crime Control Act. ¹⁷ Self-confessed Mafia member John “Johnny Sausage” Barbato testified under oath that as a high-ranking member of the Genovese Family, “I influenced and controlled the Local 8 labor officials, and Local 8, and benefited financially from the criminal activities of the Local 8 group.” ¹⁸ The union, through its lawyer, pled guilty to the racketeering charges. It was required to pay $200,000 in fines and agreed to be supervised by a court-appointed monitor for five years. ¹⁹

Racial Disparities in Union Construction Jobs

A 2017 paper published by the labor union-aligned and union-funded Economic Policy Institute credited NYC BCTC’s pre-apprenticeship and direct-entry programs with increasing the ethnic diversity of New York City’s construction trades, to the point where a majority of the unionized construction workers in the city are of ethnic minority backgrounds. ²⁰ However, a 2015 analysis by the right-of-center Center for Union Facts noted that the leadership of the NYC BCTC’s member unions was overwhelmingly white men, and that the average hourly wage for white unionized construction workers at the time was $5.74 more per hour than for Black workers. ²¹

1. The Building & Construction Trades Council of Greater New York. Accessed July 14, 2025. https://www.nycbuildingtrades.org/.
2. “Member Unions.” The Building & Construction Trades Council of Greater New York. Accessed July 14, 2025. https://www.nycbuildingtrades.org/affiliated-unions.aspx.
3. “Gary LaBarbera.” New York City Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO. Accessed July 14, 2025. https://nycclc.org/about-us/executive-board/gary-labarbera.
4. “Gary LaBarbera.” The Building & Construction Trades Council of Greater New York. Accessed July 14, 2025. https://nycbuildingtrades.org/president.aspx.
5. “Former President of the New York Building and Construction Trades Council and 10 Other Union Officials Plead Guilty to Accepting Bribes and Illegal Payments.” U.S. Department of Justice, December 12, 2022. https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/former-president-new-york-building-and-construction-trades-council-and-10-other-union
6. Brenzel, Kathryn. “The Daily Dirt: Construction Workers Push to Expand Prevailing Wage Mandates.” The Real Deal, March 13, 2025. https://therealdeal.com/new-york/2025/03/13/bctcs-gary-labarbera-pushes-prevailing-wage-changes/.
7. LaBarbera, Gary. “Advocates Push for Stronger NYC Wage Laws for Workers.” amNewYork, March 7, 2025. https://www.amny.com/news/expand-prevailing-wage-in-new-york-amend-224-a/.
8. “FORM LM-2 LABOR ORGANIZATION ANNUAL REPORT.” United States Department of Labor, March 19, 2025. https://olmsapps.dol.gov/query/orgReport.do?rptId=908383&rptForm=LM2Form.
9. “Greg Mathis – Previously Held Position: Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) (April 2018-2021), Health Policy Adviser – Biography.” Legistorm. Accessed July 14, 2025. https://www.legistorm.com/person/bio/184996/Gregory_M_Mathis_Jr_.html.
10. “Registered Political Committees.” Registered Political Committees | New York City Campaign Finance Board. Accessed July 14, 2025. https://www.nyccfb.info/follow-the-money/registered-political-committees/.
11. Mackell, Sean. “Thousands of Union Construction Workers Rally against Anti-Development Campaigns in NYC.” New York City Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO, October 25, 2024. https://nycclc.org/news/thousands-union-construction-workers-rally-against-anti.
12. LaBarbera, Gary, and Mario Cilento. “New Nuke Plant Will Unleash NY’s Energy Potential .” Syracuse Post-Standard, June 24, 2025. https://www.syracuse.com/opinion/2025/06/new-nuke-plant-will-unleash-nys-energy-potential-guest-opinion-by-gary-labarbera-mario-cilento.html
13. “GREEN NEW DEAL FOR PUBLIC SCHOOL.” The Building & Construction Trades Council of Greater New York. , July 15, 2021. https://www.nycbuildingtrades.org/news?zone=Homepage&nID=17151.
14. William Rashbaum. “Former Prosecutor Appointed To Investigate Corruption In Crane Operators’ Union”; New York Times. Nov. 30, 2009. Accessed July 26, 2023. https://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/01/nyregion/01union.html
15. “The United States and Local 14 of the International Union of Operating Engineers Agree to Appointment of Union Corruption Officers.” USDOJ: US Attorney’s Office – Eastern District of New York. Accessed July 14, 2025. https://www.justice.gov/archive/usao/nye/pr/2008/2008jul28.html.
16. Tom Robbins. “The Mob’s Engineers”; Village Voice. Dec. 7, 2004. https://www.villagevoice.com/2004/12/07/the-mobs-engineers/
17. Thompson, Barbara. “News Release.” New York County District Attorney’s Office, July 27, 2004. https://archive.ph/OTE52.
18. Capeci, Jerry. “A Strong Case against Tony Muscles.” The New York Sun, January 18, 2007. https://www.nysun.com/article/new-york-strong-case-against-tony-muscles.
19. Hartocollis, Anemona. “Manhattan: Union Local Admits Racketeering.” The New York Times, September 20, 2006. https://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/20/nyregion/manhattan-union-local-admits-racketeering.html.
20. Mishel, Lawrence. “Diversity in the New York City Union and Nonunion Construction Sectors.” Economic Policy Institute, March 2, 2017. https://www.epi.org/publication/diversity-in-the-nyc-construction-union-and-nonunion-sectors/.
21. “NYC Construction Union Leadership: Male, Pale, and Stale.” LaborPains.org, September 28, 2015. https://laborpains.org/2015/09/28/nyc-construction-union-leadership-male-pale-and-stale/.