Turf war shakes up moving industry
Escalating a turf war in the city's commercial moving industry, a collection of the area's largest unionized commercial movers joined Friday with labor organizations to form the trade group Moving Forward.
The group launched a website, movingforwardny.com, and promised an aggressive outreach campaign to educate building managers and owners about a cadre of moving companies tied to unions not affiliated with the AFL-CIO and the state Building and Construction Trades Council. Those movers have begun to make inroads in the industry, cutting into work for companies whose employees belong to more traditional unions.
"Everyone's tired of unions posing as an AFL-CIO or building trades union when they are not," said Jason Ide, president of Teamsters Local 814. "Everybody's tired of contracts that look nothing like building trades contracts. The pay and benefit is nothing like those under our contracts."
Moving Forward is a response to the Metropolitan Movers Association, an industry group formed by companies tied to the International Union of Journeymen an Allied Trades and its affiliated unions, which include the National Organization of Industrial Trade Unions and the United Service Workers Union.
On its website, the 18-company Metropolitan Movers Association says it was formed five years ago "to protect free market values and to provide quality assurance" in the commercial moving industry. Among other moves, the Metropolitan Movers Association filed suit against Comptroller John Liu challenging the way his office sets the prevailing wage for movers. Metropolitan Movers Association President Robert Koncelik did not respond to a request for comment.
The organization launched Friday to counter the Metropolitan Movers Association includes Local 814, the Building and Construction Trades Council and commercial moving companies Capital Moving and Storage, Central Moving and Storage, Certified Moving and Storage, Globe Storage and Moving, and Clancy Cullen.
"We are … intent on protecting clients from unscrupulous behavior in our industry, and ensuring the movers who handle and transport your cargo are well-compensated and care about your move," said Dennis Farrell, president of Central Moving and Storage.
The moving spat is likely to spill over into other industries where IUJAT-affiliated unions are seeking to gain ground, including other sectors of the buildings trades and hotels.
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