Trouble appears to be over between Navillus, one of New York City’s biggest contractors, and five building trades unions.
14个月前，纳维洛斯（Navillus）寻求破产保护，此前联邦法官下令向工会养老金支付7600万美元并受益于资金。承包商达成协议的工会在2014年成功起诉该公司。他们声称纳维洛斯违反了联邦养老金法，集体谈判协议和对通过两家独立的非工会公司工作联盟的承诺，其中一项是高级合同解决方案（ACS），ACS，ACS）had ties to Navillus’ owner and president, Donal O’Sullivan.
After the judge’s payment order, the unions attempted to freeze all the contractor’s bank accounts through restraining notices, and Navillus and ACS sought bankruptcy protection.
Navillus, which performs much concrete construction as both prime contractor and subcontractor, steadfastly claims in a statement that it “never operated a nonunion company and consistently disputes any allegations that they did.”
The parties to both the civil lawsuit by the unions and the contractor’s bankruptcy used mediation to reach a settlement and vacate the judgment and decision against Navillus.
到目前为止，工会官员尚未公开发表评论。工会可能只同意仅收取2600万美元的原因之一（大约是联邦法院最初命令Navillus在2017年支付的三分之一的原因 - 可能是由美国联邦上诉法院法官的话来解释Navillus’ appeal. “This will keep one of New York City’s largest construction contractors in business,” wrote Judge Colleen McMahon. “It will protect dozens of ongoing projects from disruption, preserve numerous union jobs and provide continuing benefit to the plaintiff funds, and all of Navillus’ stakeholders.”
Navillus表示，它一直在开展其项目，其中包括两座曼哈顿著名的塔楼，在新利18备用网址去年10月（《联邦破产法》第11章）中出现之前，它正在建造混凝土框架。该公司表示，不间断的努力“证明了客户对Navillus的信念和信任”。自从解决方案以来，Navillus一直在增加其积压。
该公司成立于1987年，当时是Navillus Tile，从瓷砖和砌体分支到混凝土中。它一直是该市建筑市场的力量。
At the time of the bankruptcy, the company had 640 union employees and 65 management-level staff. According to Navillus’ attorney’s statements to the bankruptcy judge, the company had an average annual gross income of $180 million, but 2016 gross income of $240 million. Its current cash and marketable securities at the time equaled $20.8 million, $12.2 million of which was cash. Its receivables were $55.3 million and it owed $13 million.
O’Sullivan’s main concern through the turmoil was the company’s employees and hundreds of union workers, the company’s statement said. Navillus also indicated it was proud to continue in business as one of New York City’s biggest union employers—no small thing at a time when building trades unions are fighting to maintain their stature in the city.
The regional building trades council is battling one of the city’s biggest developers, The Related Cos., over the next phase of its Hudson Yards project. Related wants to bargain with the unions on a one-on-one basis. And several unions in recent years have adopted what is essentially is a tiered wage system—another concession to their eroding bargaining power and market share.
Financing Operations
Navillussaid it was almost able to finance all of its own operations while in bankruptcy. Although the contractor’s surety, Liberty Mutual, provided a $20-million debtor-in-possession financial facility at a 3% interest rate, with no default rate and no fees, none of the DIP loan was used. After the DIP loan ended and Navillus emerged from bankruptcy, Liberty Mutual partially financed the settlement.Only a small number of Navillus creditors were forced to take reduced payments, the company also stated.
But the litigation isn’t over. Navillus is back in federal court, this time as a plaintiff seeking in new lawsuits several million dollars from several of the city’s biggest general contractors and New York City’s Dept. of Environmental Protection. The contractor claims in some of the lawsuits that the prime contractors and DEP are improperly withholding retained funds held back when it filed for bankruptcy protection. Other lawsuits, the company stated, began before its bankruptcy filing.
