Construction rally held at City Hall.

For the second time in two years, thousands of construction workers rallied in City Hall Park to protest both the lack of jobs in the building trades and the inertia on the part of all levels of government in providing job-creating programs that could reduce the unacceptably high unemployment rate, which in some trades is as much as 50 percent.

The Building Trades Council and the Building Congress co-sponsored the rally and drew some 3,000 construction community workers - craftsmen, laborers and professionals - who responded with chants of "jobs now" to the comments of speakers drawn from the industry and civic groups, all of whom appealed for the start of construction programs.

The Building Trades Council's Edward Malloy reminded those at the rally that they had convened nearly two years ago on a bitter cold December day for purposes similar to the ones that brought them to the park in the fall of '93: "We are gathered here today to revisit the issues that brought us together two years ago, and those issues are jobs -jobs and affordable housing."

He pointed out that the Housing Authority has 300,000 applications for affordable housing, and observed that despite this need "our skilled craftsmen line up week after week for unemployment benefits and welfare supplements." Malloy, who is vice chairman of the Building Congress, also was sharply critical of those "who espouse the virtues of unionism," but use non-union labor to renovate their buildings. "Those are our jobs; we want them," he told the crowd.

Malloy said the city needs to move ahead with Project Pathway, a program that links city vocational schools and the Building Trades Council. But progress in this program can only happen if more jobs are created, he pointed out. "Remove the gridlock between city, state and federal legislative offices so construction programs such as the courts program can get started," Malloy said.

Building Congress Chairman John F. Hennessy III, addressing the rally, said "The industry is united in the belief that construction is the only way to make this city strong and vibrant again. That's why we're here today.

Hennessy, who is also chairman of Syska and Hennessy, Inc., thanked the mayor and City Council for clearing the way for such projects as Trump's Riverside South, the Waste-to-Energy Plant and the expansion of the National Tennis Center, but said "We must do more and do it now, not years from now," urging the city to "untangle the red tape hindering the construction approval process."

In a similar vein, the Building Congress' Heather Hatfield, during an interview with a reporter covering the rally, emphasized that the "construction industry can jump start the city's economy."

Highlighting the industry's substantial financial ripple effect she added "Every dollar spent on construction generates $2.15 in additional spending throughout the economy."

Thomas P. Maguire, president of the International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 15ABCD, said it was his job to get the rally participants "mad and angry about the thousands of construction workers out of work unnecessarily and about the city's infrastructure and environment."

He asked them to write to their elected officials on the City Council and the State Legislature in Albany and tell them that the building trades want funds already allocated for construction to be spent as quickly as possible.

"Sixty percent of all bridges in the city are in bad shape," Maguire said, "and the money is there to fix them." He pointed out that the industry "worked hard to get the state to approve a $10 billion capital program for the MTA to rebuild the subway system." Government inability to set priorities, he noted, is holding up this program.

Continuing, Maguire cited other work that should be implemented, including a $1 billion roadway and $500 million park program for Manhattan's West Side; a new bridge from Staten Island to New Jersey; a sewer overflow project to clean up Flushing Creek in Queens; reconstruction of the Gowanus Expressway in Brooklyn; and more work on the Bruckner Expressway in The Bronx.

Edward E. Cruz, spokesman for the General Contractors Association, said the "GCA represents some 150 New York companies whose employees are among those experiencing 50 percent unemployment - which is not tolerable. Remember, for every job that the building trades has there are three more in the back offices of construction companies. When the building trades doesn't work, neither do those office employees."

Cruz judged that there is at least $100 million of work "on the shelves that the politicians should get out" and he asked "federal and state governments to put construction programs back on track so we all can have better lives."

Tom Fox, an environmentalist from the Hudson River Park Conservancy, said that the "construction and environmental communities have a common agenda today, because the industry wants jobs and the Conservancy has called for development of sewage treatment facilities, subways and parks - all of which will create jobs." To the applause of those at the rally, Fox noted that appeals for construction programs are being heeded and he said that a $38 million West Side park will be started next spring. But he also called for implementation of $500 million in park and highway improvements on the West Side.

Dennis Prude, representing the "Project Pathways Kids" program, said that there is a depression in the construction industry and that it is restricting a main avenue by which many working people today enter the middle class. He warned that thousands of construction workers are leaving New York to find work elsewhere. The industry, he said, is losing expertise.

Charles Hughes, President of Local 372, said that his union fully supports the demands of the construction industry - "whatever you need to get jobs." Among the city's infrastructure work that could provide these jobs, Hughes said, is the rehabilitation of port facilities, and he told the rally that the industry shouldn't count on outsiders, but should press on its own for job-creating programs.