The unionization movement was built on solving the safety issues of the day for workers exposed to employers who found employees to be expendable. The topic here is about how those safety expectations once established by unions slow down construction. Labor laws now cover those concerns, so the decline in unionization is largely irrelevant. The entire workforce has become a member of the de facto union.
That's a rather limited view of the role of unions. One of their biggest accomplishments was the establishment of a standard 40 hour work week as the norm. That was mostly about work/life balance, not safety. And that certainly isn't codified in labor laws, given the remarkably loose overtime rules for most salaried employees today.
How does that pertain to the discussion? We’re not focused on talking about unions here, we’re talking about why construction projects take a long time, so what does that mean for project duration?
