AvalonBay Seeks Order Against Unions

AvalonBay filed for a temporary restraining order Thursday against several construction unions, claiming that members threw rocks and bottles at a March 30 demonstration in Rockville Centre.

The company, which hopes to build a large housing development on East Fifth Street in Huntington Station, filed for the order against 14 construction unions that are part of the Nassau/Suffolk Building Trades Council. The request was filed in Nassau County Supreme Court.

The company said that “hundreds of union demonstrators threw rocks and bottles, attempted to storm the gated site, and accosted passers-by, neighbors and AvalonBay employees.  A combined force of Rockville Centre and Nassau County police were called to the site to disperse the unruly crowd which numbered between 250 to 300 demonstrators.”

Union leaders had opposed AvalonBay’s first attempt to build in Huntington Station, After the r, Roger Clayman, executive director of the Long Island Federation of Labor,  said,"Huntington does not welcome developers like AvalonBay that choose to undercut working families.” Clayman, who was representing more than a dozen union members, said, "AvalonBay has shown Huntington Station and communities around the country that it does not always put the concerns of neighborhoods and families first. We commend the Town Board in their vote to protect the community."

He listed several concerns the unions had with AvalonBay's projects in other parts of the country, including safety issues. "Huntington does not welcome developers like AvalonBay that choose to undercut working families," said Clayman, who was representing more than a dozen union members.

The requested order did not specify which projects the company was expressing concern about when it said it hoped to “prevent fourteen construction unions from threatening to and engaging in mass picketing, disorderly conduct, destruction of property and breach of the peace at AvalonBay locations in Long Island, where it builds and manages many multi-family housing developments.”

 The building trades council said that it had no comment Friday.

Commenting on the court filing, Matt Whalen, vice president for Long Island Development, said:  “We have no problem with peaceful expressions of opinion near our sites.  At the same time, we have the right to proceed with our work without interference or harassment.  It is clear that the March 30th incident at Rockville Centre went well beyond the bounds of legitimate freedom of expression.  We are requesting this TRO to ensure that our employees, contractors and sub-contractors, many of which are union shops, can do their jobs without facing threats of violence and intimidation.”

Scott Kinter, vice president for construction, added:  “We are very disturbed by the excessive reaction on the part of the March 30th demonstrators who simply ignore the reality of our Rockville Centre development.  The fact is that AvalonBay strongly encouraged union shops to bid for work on the Rockville Centre site, and union shops were awarded contracts worth millions of dollars for demolition, remediation, excavation, masonry and underground plumbing. We have also made an extraordinary effort to use local sub-contractors.  Many of the companies working on this development project are members of the Long Island Builders Institute.  Despite these facts, it appears as if the union demonstrators will not be happy unless they have 100% of the work, regardless of the competiveness of their bids.  This unreasonable sense of entitlement only hurts the local economy, impedes development and undermines employment.”

The company offered to provide a video of the Rockville Centre demonstration but it was not immediately available.

 At the request of three town officials, Supervisor Frank Petrone and Council members Mark Cuthbertson and Glenda Jackson, AvalonBay resubmitted a scaled-back version  in March with 379 apartments in a mix of rentals and for-sale units. It said the project would provide a significant amount of workforce housing (54 apartments), and 80% of the units would be rentals.

In its first plan last year for the development on 26 acres on the north side of East Fifth Street,  AvalonBay had proposed a 530-unit, 978 bedroom development, but after consultation with the Town of Huntington, Avalon Huntington Station's unit number was decreased to 944 bedrooms in a 490-unit scenario.

AvalonBay has other complexes in Long Beach, Glen Cove, Melville, Coram and Smithtown.