This is shaping up to be not just a big year for Ohio’s union construction industry, but a mega-year.

Keyed by several mega projects, including the $20 billion Phase I of the Intel project in New Albany and the $3.5 billion Honda/LG joint venture battery plant in Jeffersonville, 2023 is forecast to be a record year for a number of Local Unions and regional building trades councils in terms of man-hours.

A mega project is defined as a privately funded construction project with a price tag of at least $1 billion.

From the shores of Lake Erie to the Ohio River, there will be plenty of work opportunities for union tradesmen and tradeswomen who want to work. Plentiful work hours for travelers is also expected.

In 2022, Ohio attracted the most corporate investment in new buildings and equipment in any year since JobsOhio was formed in 2011, according to Columbus Business First. The $30.3 billion in capital projects announced in 2022, tripled the previous record of $9.56 billion set in 2017.

While the entire $30.3 billion in construction work will not go union, Ohio building trades will likely construct a healthy portion of the proposed projects.

Dorsey Hager, Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the Columbus/Central Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council, has three mega projects in his territory – Intel, Honda/LG EV battery plant and the Wexner Medical Tower.

This is in addition to ongoing construction of data center campuses for Facebook, Amazon and Google; an additional new data center campus for Amazon, plus other data center campuses throughout Central Ohio; Amgen biomanufacturing plant; multiple hotels; governmental and institutional work; projects at The Ohio State University and other new construction work.

Affiliated members of the C/COBCTC logged about 6.75 million man-hours in 2021 and just over 9 million man-hours in 2022. Hager expects total man-hours to increase by about 30 percent in 2023.

“Work should stay like this for at least the next seven years and probably longer,” Hager added.

Dave Wondolowski, Executive Secretary/Business Manager for the Cleveland Building and Construction Trades Council expects his affiliated members to log more hours in 2023 than in 2022.

Leading the way are multiple marquee projects such as the Sherwin-Williams headquarters in downtown Cleveland; the Sherwin-Williams Research and Development Center in Brecksville; a new Neurological Institute; expansion of the Cole Eye Center; and the Innovation Center on the Cleveland Clinic’s main campus.

Other projects include construction of the Cleveland Clinic’s Mentor hospital and multiple parking garages; new construction and remodeling at Cleveland State University; and building several new Cleveland Metropolitan School District schools. There are also many other smaller and medium-sized projects either underway or set to break ground in 2023.

Wondolowski also expects additional projects when federal funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) is awarded.

Economic factors such as inflation, a possible recession, higher material costs and supply chain issues will not negatively affect the 2023 work outlook any more than it did in 2022, he added.

Affiliated members of the Western Reserve Building and Construction Trades Council, which entails Trumbull, Mahoning and Columbiana counties, are also gearing up for a busy year.

WRBCTC President Marty Loney said quite a few affiliated members will be working at the Ultium Cells Battery Plant through the end of the year, with more work expected from IIJA funding.

The state also has awarded more than $55 million in historic tax credits to renovate downtown Youngstown buildings, and Loney believes his affiliated members will get most of this work.

Many affiliated contractors in Loney’s jurisdiction have a great deal of light industrial and maintenance work on the books in 2023.

“The mega projects are not sustainable,” he said. “We need contractors to be engaged and not give away light industry and maintenance work. We have to grow to increase our membership and we need a combination of this work.”

In Northwest Ohio, Shaun Enright, Executive Secretary/Business Manager of the Northwest Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council, said his affiliated members will stay busy due to the large number of Project Labor Agreements the council has secured.

PLAs for construction and maintenance work exist with nearly a dozen city and county entities, as well as multiple private developers building residential, hotels and assisted living facilities.

“PLA work alone will keep all our local contractors busy,” said Enright. “We will continue the work at both refineries and the powerhouses, GM Powertrain, Jeep and all other industrial facilities in our area. We will be building a new baby formula factory as well. Man-hours will stay high, but I’m not sure if they will increase.”

Enright added that his affiliated Locals will likely need travelers once the weather improves, but it is hard to predict how many at this point.

South of Enright’s jurisdiction, the outlook also is promising in Lima.

Rick Perdue, President of the Lima Building and Construction Trades Council, was a guest on the America’s Work Force Union Podcast and predicted the first quarter will be a bit slow, but affiliated members will be busy from the second quarter through the end of the year.

Work at Procter and Gamble and Cargill, plus hospital work at Lima Memorial and St. Rita’s will be some of the bigger projects driving man-hours, Perdue said.

He also explained a $916 million electric vehicle battery separator film plant will be constructed in Sidney. There is no PLA for the 850,000-square-foot plant, but the winning bids appear to be going to union contractors.

For Hager, whose jurisdiction is considered one of the hottest construction markets in the U.S., the biggest problem his affiliated unions will face this year is lack of manpower.

Travelers will certainly help build Intel, Honda/LG and other projects, but both Enright and Wondolowski do not think many of their affiliated members will head south to work on the mega projects.

Perdue expects some of his affiliated members will travel to Jeffersonville to work on the Honda EV plant.

Hager does expect to draw tradesmen and tradeswomen from the Greater Dayton Building Trades Council, Greater Cincinnati Building Trades Council and Tri-State Building Trades Council territories.

Based on the location of the Intel plant, there is also a possibility that some affiliated members of the North Central Ohio, Parkersburg-Marietta, East Central and Upper Ohio Valley building trades councils make the commute to Licking County and work on this project.