Store Renovation in New York Miami: Union Membership Required in America [the Unions]

The structure of unions in the United States is radically different from Italy

It is impossible to participate in store renovation work in cities like New York [from flooring installation to furniture or fixture assembly] without being registered with the Union [both the company and all the workers present on the renovation site need to be registered]. To perform store renovation work in New York or the United States, you need to be registered with the Union [the American equivalent of Italian unions]. ExportUSA has experience in Union registration and managing relationships with the Unions (from selecting the appropriate Union to contract signing, from contacting the various competent bodies in the United States to mediation and Union registration) to allow Italian workers to work on renewal or renovation projects for locations and stores.

The level of unionization in America is generally very low, but especially in cities like New York, Boston, or Chicago, there are industries with high rates of unionization, typically all sectors involving store renewal or construction activities. Here, the Unions are a very influential reality in the United States. An example is offered by participation in trade shows in the United States, where no one who is not a member of a Union can carry out any setup operation (whether it is assembling a display or simply hammering a nail into the wall).

The scope of Union competence: territorial competence and competence by work category

Every company performing renovation or construction work in the United States must comply with the contractual rules of the competent Union. The competence of the Unions is primarily geographical. Each state, and often each region within the same state, is subject to the rules imposed by the local Unions. It may also happen that the type of work performed by a company affects the type of contract to be signed with the Unions. However, this also applies outside of trade show contexts. Any company that deals with construction, renovation, installation, or setup, and intends to do so in New York or generally in the United States, will be obligated, in most cases, to interface and negotiate with the Unions.
 

The company performing renewal or renovation work must be registered with the Unions competent for territory and work specialty

The carpenters' Unions are separate from the electricians' Unions and so on. The company performing the work must register with all the competent Unions. The company that wins the contract for renovation or renewal work will literally not be able to lift a tool without having signed a contract with the relevant Union. Each work category has labor contracts established by the Unions: electricians, plumbers, assemblers, carpenters, etc. Considering that all the major chains of fashion stores in the United States, such as Prada, Gucci, Fendi, Louis Vuitton, or Hermes, plan the renovation of their stores according to an annual or multi-year rotation, the opportunities for the Unions to assert their power are very frequent.

Union membership is an opportunity to participate in renewal and renovation work in cities like New York

Italian companies are at the forefront of performing renovation work such as flooring installation or furniture assembly in stores due to the high quality level [and productivity] of specialized Italian workers, making it essential to learn how to interact with the Unions to be able to perform the work. To participate in store renovation work in New York, or other cities in the United States, all workers, including Italians, must be registered with the relevant Unions [like the carpenters' Unions if it involves installing furnishings in a high fashion chain in New York, for example].

Solutions for participating in store renovation work in cities like New York or Los Angeles

The typical solution adopted is to work through an American company, registered with the Unions, which acts as the executor of the work in the eyes of the client [the major American chain, for example]. It is clear that this way of working erodes the margins of Italian companies engaged in store renovation work in America because the American intermediary applies their markup.

The solution is to open a corporation in the United States and register your Italian workers with the Unions - the American unions.

The only way to work within these contexts in the United States is to establish an American legal entity that can then directly sign contracts with the Unions.
 

Employment contracts in the United States of America

In the United States, there are no national category contracts or company supplemental contracts

Employment contracts are "at will," meaning it is possible to terminate them with or without cause and are made on a personal basis. Generally, positions of a labor or clerical type do not have a true employment contract, and the employer provides just a summary page of the agreed work conditions. Similarly, in America, unions are not automatically present in every company. The presence of unions in a company is put to a vote by workers who express their consent to be represented by unions at the workplace. Complex regulations govern all matters of union representation in America.

In the case of stores and large chains, especially in cities like New York, Chicago, or Los Angeles, union presence is almost 100%.

If unions are present in a company in America, then the employment relationship is no longer "at will" as described above. Workers are registered with the union, and the union then negotiates a company employment contract that governs the employment relationship between the company and workers.
 

How to work with the Union [the unions] in the United States of America in major cities like New York, Boston, Chicago

Employment contracts and hourly rates of the Unions

If you find yourself working with foreign workers [Italians, for example] in a unionized reality, it is necessary to comply with the contracts established by the union. As mentioned above, you can either rely on a local company registered with the Unions or proceed to open a corporation in America. Your American corporation will associate with the Unions, and individual workers will register with the Unions. In these cases, registration with the Unions in the United States of America is mandatory to work in unionized workplaces ["Unionized"].
 

Consultation for registration with the Union in America and managing the relationship with the Union for performing work like store renewal or similar

ExportUSA's experience in dealing with American unions will certainly save you time, money, and costly procedural errors

Dealing with unions in America is very challenging: the procedures are arcane, different from the standards one is normally used to, there are many bottlenecks, computerization is minimal, the rules are strict, the penalties steep [and can even lead to criminal charges if one considers the past and history of the Unions in America]. Even just interpreting a contract becomes problematic considering that we are talking about contracts of 80/100 pages, and the possibilities for errors are around every corner. We can honestly say that it is almost an impossible task without being accompanied by a consultant with solid experience in the field.