Hudson Yards Developer Sues New NYC Building Trades

Unions deny that they violated a 2013 project labor agreement

A view of the construction work at the massive Hudson Yards development on Manhattan's west side. Photo by Richard Korman for ENR

The developers of the massive Hudson Yards project on Manhattan's West Side filed a lawsuit in state court in Manhattan claiming that the building trades routinely violated the project labor agreement covering work on the project.

The allegations include no-show jobs and padded hours that cost the developer "in excess of $100 million" in additional wages, benefits and insurance costs.

The building trades say they have been trying to prevent the developer, the Related Cos., from building the project's next phase using nonunion employers. "This lawsuit is clearly in retaliation," the Building and Construction trades Council of Greater New York said in a statement.

Deputy Editor Richard Korman helps run ENR's business and legal news and investigations, selects ENR's commentary and oversees editorial content on ENR.com. In 2023 the American Society of Business Publication Editors awarded Richard the Stephen Barr Award, the highest honor for a single feature story or investigation, for his story on the aftermath of a terrible auto crash in Kentucky in 2019, and in 2015 the American Business Media awarded him the Timothy White Award for investigations of surety fraud and workplace bullying. A member of Investigative Reporters and Editors, Richard has been a fellow on drone safety with the McGraw Center for Business Journalism at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY. Richard's freelance writing has appeared in the Seattle Times, the New York Times, Business Week and the websites of The Atlantic and Salon.com. He admires construction projects that finish on time and budget, compensate all team members fairly and record zero fatalities or serious injuries.

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