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With a concrete worker strike in King County now having persisted for over 80 days, concerns have mounted as construction projects across a variety of industries have ground to a halt.

Pressure mounts in concrete strike as King County offers $35 million bargaining chip

Negotiations between the region’s concrete workers and employers in recent weeks. That’s seen thousands of construction workers laid off, along with the potential for significant delays to West Seattle Bridge repairs and Sound Transit’s planned Rapid Ride expansion. But the impacts of the standoff have had even wider-ranging effects, as King County Master Builders Association President Cameron McKinnon warns.

“We want to emphasize it’s not just the large high rises, it’s not just Sound Transit — it is truly a ripple effect,” he told ³ÉÈËXÕ¾ Newsradio’s Dave Ross.

As McKinnon points out, delays have extended to housing construction, which affects everyone involved with each individual project — from the 40 to 50 vendors on the production side, to the 150 workers who build the house itself.

“If you think about the immediate side of the impact, we have hundreds of homes that aren’t starting, which means there are hundreds of workers in the private sector that aren’t able to come to their job or are at risk of potentially being laid off,” he detailed. “Then, on the supply side on the housing front, we’re already in a housing crisis as it is. By delaying this further, it’s further exacerbating a problem that we already know that we have today.”

Concrete worker strike crippling major construction projects in King County

This also comes during a period where housing inventory for buyers has already been scarce, with “less than a month of supply on the market” for much of 2021. Delays brought on by the recent strike have seen inventory plummeting even further, bottoming out at “less than a week of supply” in January.

In a market where homes are already exorbitantly expensive, the impact has been felt across the region.

“It’s pretty substantial what’s going on out there,” McKinnon said. “I’m sure you’ve seen the home price increases that have happened over the last year — it’s pretty shocking.”

“This is definitely a significant hit to our industry, and ultimately the homebuyers at the end of the day are going to suffer,” he added.

Listen to Seattle’s Morning News with Dave Ross and Colleen O’Brien weekday mornings from 5 – 9 a.m. on ³ÉÈËXÕ¾ Newsradio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.