The Ohio State Building Trades is very concerned about a growing trend across the country for industries to contract with non-signatory out-of-town contractors for turnarounds and other large projects. We have seen this alarming trend most recently in both Toledo and Lima as well as other parts of the country.
In many cases, multiple generations of tradespeople have built and maintained these plants and work every day to operate and maintain the facilities. They know every bolt, every valve, every pipe and every control in the plants. These plants are complex and can even be volatile. Safety concerns mandate that these plants be operated and maintained by people who know them intimately and have plied their trades at them for years.
Building Trades workers are the best trained and safest in the industry. All our workers have years, even decades of training, on the plants’ specific equipment and hold the certificates to prove it, as well as being OSHA certified and drug tested.
The welfare of the local economies is also at stake. Many people are out of work right now due to the pandemic. Adding local workers to the unemployment list has a ripple effect that will hurt stores, restaurants and small businesses across Ohio.
We have seen other industries across the country implement these so-called “cost-saving” measures only to pay the high price of safety problems, inefficient work, community backlash and negative media coverage that has reached a national audience. We don’t want that to happen here in Ohio. Please ask your local industries to hire local, for the good of our communities.
