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Cuomo Will Halt All Non-Essential Construction Work
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Christopher Robbins
Published Mar 27, 2020
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Chris Jones / Gothamist
By
Christopher Robbins
Published Mar 27, 2020
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Governor Andrew Cuomo will halt all "non-essential" forms of construction work in New York on Friday in an effort to stop the spread of COVID-19. Emergency construction, hospital construction, infrastructure and transportation projects, and affordable housing will be allowed to continue, but all other work must stop immediately, according to Secretary to the Governor Melissa DeRosa. [UPDATE: See full state guidelines below.]
The news was first reported by The CITY's Rosa Goldensohn.
Earlier this week, the governor ordered all of the state's non-essential workforce to remain indoors as much as they could, but the city's construction workforce of around 150,000 people were still expected to show up to their job sites, and many workers said that they didn't feel safe being there. Construction work is already the most dangerous job in the city.
"Social distancing [and] proper sanitation are next to impossible while working construction," one electrician told Gothamist. "Especially doing indoor work, which a lot of high rise projects are."
A spokesperson for the the Building and Construction Trades Council has not yet returned a request for comment.
While workers who are unable to do their jobs because of the coronavirus pandemic are eligible for state unemployment and the federal unemployment benefits outlined in the relief package that is expected to pass on Friday, federal lawmakers blocked any relief from getting to undocumented workers and mixed-status families.
A bill was recently introduced in the State Senate to institute a temporary statewide rent cancellation, though Governor Cuomo has so far resisted calls to weigh in on the issue.
Governor Cuomo is scheduled to make an announcement at 11:30 a.m. on Friday at the Javits Center, and we'll update this story afterwards.
[UPDATE / 12:32 p.m.] The governor gave a curt response when asked about construction.
"We're closing now non-essential construction sites," Cuomo said. "Some construction is essential right? To keep the place running, but non-essential construction is going to be stopped."
Here are the new state guidelines on all construction:
- All non-essential construction must shut down except emergency construction, (e.g. a project necessary to protect health and safety of the occupants, or to continue a project if it would be unsafe to allow to remain undone until it is safe to shut the site).
- Essential construction may continue and includes roads, bridges, transit facilities, utilities, hospitals or health care facilities, affordable housing, and homeless shelters. At every site, if essential or emergency non-essential construction, this includes maintaining social distance, including for purposes of elevators/meals/entry and exit. Sites that cannot maintain distance and safety best practices must close and enforcement will be provided by the state in coordination with the city/local governments. This will include fines of up to $10,000 per violation.
- For purposes of this section construction work does not include a single worker, who is the sole employee/worker on a job site.
"I don’t entirely agree with the decision to keep affordable housing going because that seems like a lot of grey area," said the electrician working in the Financial District, when asked to react to the governor's new order. "But the provisions in place about social distancing and the fines that go along with it is a huge step for the jobs that will still be going."
"We will devote our full attention to maintaining and building essential infrastructure projects critical to first-responders and healthcare professionals," Gary LaBarbera, president of the Building & Construction Trades Council of Greater New York said in a statement. "It will be our priority to ensure that these construction sites operate with heightened safety protocols in place in order to protect the members of the Building Trades working on these projects. We thank Governor Cuomo for his extraordinary leadership throughout this crisis and stand ready to serve our fellow New Yorkers in whatever way deemed necessary."
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COVID-19
construction
Christopher Robbins
Christopher Robbins is a New York City reporter covering transportation, affordable housing, local politics, and criminal justice. His work has also appeared in New York Magazine, The Village Voice and The New York Times. Chris is a graduate of Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, Virginia, and enjoys biking to Fort Tilden in the summertime.
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