I finally got it!
A jubilant Matthew Cox displays a coveted application to become an apprentice at Ironworkers Local 46 — hoping for a job that may not exist because of “living wage” legislation passed yesterday by the City Council.
Cox was among hundreds who camped out for a week at the union’s Queens headquarters to snare one of 500 applications. The odds of landing the $18-an-hour jobs are still long since there are only 50 openings.
The prospect of a big payoff down the road sent would-be ironworkers running for folding chairs and sleeping bags when Local 46 and the state Labor Department announced that applications would be handed out starting yesterday.
But a Council bill raising the costs of wages for new developments could make it harder to lure new construction jobs.
About 1,000 construction jobs were lost at the Kingsbridge Armory a couple of years ago when a dispute over “living wages” killed a $300 million retail complex.