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A confrontation involving the installation of green roofs on public and commercial buildings in the Chicago area broke out. Unionized roofers claim that they are entitled to some of the work currently being done by landscapers, represented by the Teamsters and operating engineers. Two recent jurisdictional conflicts have gone to the National Labor Relations Board, and in both cases, landscape workers have come out on top. Their latest victory came Friday, when employees of Pedersen Co., a St. Charles landscaper, retained the work at two Chicago Public Schools. The decision is not wholly unexpected given the NLRB's Sept. 30 ruling in favor of Moore Landscapes Inc. of Northbrook involving a South Loop development with more than 80,000 square feet of green roofs. In both cases, the NLRB said one factor favoring landscapers was efficiency. Roofers can only perform limited portions of green-roof planting, resulting in idle time for landscapers and perhaps higher costs for the building owner. The rulings "hopefully will put an end to the roofers' efforts to claim the installation of vegetative green roof systems for its members," said Ken Jenero, an employment lawyer at Holland & Knight who represents the Moore and Pedersen landscape companies. But the controversy is far from settled, said Joe McDevitt, chairman of the Chicagoland Roofing Council, a group of union-affiliated contractor firms. He said there are several issues, including liability, that are important to building owners but are not addressed by the NLRB's rulings. "If a leak in the roof develops after the landscaping is installed and it's not installed by a roofer, who does the owner turn to?" McDevitt said. "It's one of many complicated issues involving green roofs." Still, landscape companies have been planting their share of green roofs, more than 100 since 2002, according to the Illinois Landscape Contractors Association. The NLRB found that evidence more compelling in both cases than the several roofs the roofers' union has completed, including a 500,000-square-foot project at McCormick Place. In the Pedersen decision, the NLRB rejected the roofers' claims that a roofing license was needed to plant green roofs. The labor body found that "all the green roof work, including the disputed work, occurs above the roof membrane" and involves no altering of the roof surface itself. |
