By Jill Colvin
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — A construction worker strike that would have ground major projects across Manhattan to a halt has been averted after a last-minute deal late Thursday night.
The Building Contractors Association and Local 14 and 15 of the International Union of Operating Engineers agreed to a new contract after tense negotiations, said Louis Coletti, president of the Building Trades Employers' Association.
Coletti said the unions, which represent workers including cranes operators and heavy construction workers like backhoe operators, oilers and welders, agreed to "major modifications in the agreement."
Representatives for the unions did not respond to requests for comment during negotiations Thursday or following the deal, the details of which were not immediately clear.
The contractors had been pushing for new work rules they hoped would bring construction costs down, including eliminating certain high-paid positions they argued were redundant.
The strike would have impacted major projects across the city, from the Diamond District's International Gem Tower to construction at the World Trade Center, and threatening $10 billion in other construction work, the New York Building Congress had warned.
The last operating engineers strike was in 2006, when workers staged a week-long walkout just before the 4th of July, Crain’s New York Business reported.
