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East Bank master developer The Fallon Company and the Local 386 chapter of the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LiUNA) have inked a memorandum of understanding related to worker safety, pay and other benefits, a move labor advocates are calling “refreshing.”
The agreement, to which Metro is not a party, was signed last week. The Fallon Company’s deal with Metro goes before Metro Council for a second reading on Tuesday.
Ethan Link, vice president of LiUNA Local 386, says the agreement, which the Nashville Banner reviewed, “sets forth the fairest metrics of competition for construction contractors who do right by workers and who don’t cut corners.” The document primarily focuses on horizontal infrastructure work and does not guarantee work on the project for LiUNA-affiliated entities.
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According to Link, the MOU establishes a priority in the bidding process for contractors seeking to work for Fallon based on track record and future commitments to worker safety, on-time pay and health care benefits. Link says the agreement applies to worker conditions and not broader policy considerations such as affordable housing makeup or other community benefits. A company could also get a leg up in the bidding process if it agrees to work with registered apprenticeship programs, specifically Music City Construction Careers (MC3), a training program for Nashvillians seeking to enter the trades.
“It’s refreshing to us that the developer saw this as a priority,” Link says. “We had shared values around that, which for years has not been the norm here in Nashville. … It’s a totally different posture than what we’re used to.”
Some enforcement mechanisms will be developed as work unfolds on the East Bank, but Link says contractors can be pre-qualified by showing a commitment to safety and submitting a workforce development plan. LiUNA and Fallon will continue to meet and discuss compliance in the coming years, according to the MOU.
“That’s a new way of doing business in this city,” Link tells the Banner. “And I think once we see the finished product, and everybody sees that development can be different, there’s going to be a sea change in what the standard is.”
Among the guarantees are avenues for reporting wage theft in different languages, a living wage floor, monthly pay verification requirements for subcontractors and a public dashboard showing engagement of small and women- and minority-owned businesses. In the separate agreement with Metro, as proposed, Fallon is committing to, but is not bound to, some of the same priorities.
“We look forward to helping transform the East Bank into a vibrant, inclusive neighborhood,” says Brian Awe, president of The Fallon Company. “We’re committed to continuing our collaboration with the community and Metro to deliver a project that reflects our collective vision, prioritizes workforce safety and advancement, enhances the cityscape and uplifts residents.”
District 5 Metro Councilmember Sean Parker, who chairs the council’s Ad Hoc East Bank Committee, recalled the 2020 death of 16-year-old Gustavo Ramirez at a construction site on the East Bank in praising the collaboration of Fallon and LiUNA.
“We’ve had a fatality of a minor on the East Bank already,” Parker tells the Banner. “That’s a tragedy, and these things are preventable with robust safety guidelines. We see wage theft time and time again where the subcontractor of a subcontractor of a subcontractor is running some totally shady operation and there’s no accountability. And then you’ve got a bunch of workers just left out in the cold after busting their tails on a job site for weeks, months, sometimes longer than that. Seeing a commitment on the front end to mitigate those things is meaningful.”
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Parker says he was particularly excited about the possibility for Nashville students, like those in the MC3 pilot program at Maplewood High School, “to go straight into good-paying, high-demand careers in the trades.”
“Seeing and hearing the commitments up front is something that we don’t usually get from folks, and so that means a lot,” Parker added. “It’s refreshing.”
Legislation creating a new East Bank authority to oversee the project is still pending in the state legislature. Metro chief development officer Bob Mendes told Metro councilmembers last month that the city had backup plans ready in case the legislation fails.
Cydney Jenkins, a 2022 graduate of MC3 who lives in Nashville but mainly works on construction projects out of the county, tells the Banner she supported the effort.
“Having that East Bank job, if it was set up in those ways, it would make me feel secure,” she says. “It would make me feel appreciated on the job, but it would also give me the chance to not be so far away from my children.”
