Union Agent by Lumber: AI-Powered Clarity for Construction Union Agreements (CBAs)

Managing collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) across multiple contractors, jurisdictions, and classifications is one of the most demanding aspects of running a construction union. Every CBA contains hundreds of pages detailing wage scales, fringe benefits, overtime provisions, shift differentials, and reporting requirements. When your union has agreements with dozens or hundreds of contractors, keeping track of these details becomes a full-time job in itself.

Union Agent by Lumber transforms this challenge into a streamlined process. This AI-powered tool allows construction unions to upload all their CBAs with various companies and contractors and then use intelligent analysis to summarize agreements, extract insights, and quickly access specific details across their entire contract portfolio.

The Real Cost of CBA Complexity

Construction unions typically manage multiple agreements simultaneously. A mid-sized local might have 30 to 50 different CBAs, while larger organizations manage hundreds. Each agreement varies by:

• Base wage rates for different classifications
• Geographic wage adjustments
• Fringe benefit contribution rates (health, pension, apprenticeship)
• Overtime calculation methods (daily, weekly, or both)
• Shift differential percentages and qualifying hours
• Travel pay provisions
• Reporting and certified payroll requirements
• Work jurisdiction definitions

When a business agent receives a call about proper classification or a contractor asks about overtime rules for a Saturday project, they need accurate answers immediately. Searching through multiple 200-page PDFs isn’t practical. Relying on memory risks errors that can lead to grievances, disputes, or financial penalties.

The consequences of getting these details wrong extend beyond administrative headaches. Misapplied wage rates affect member paychecks. Incorrect fringe benefit calculations impact health coverage and retirement contributions. Compliance errors can trigger audits and damage relationships with signatory contractors.

How Union Agent Works

Union Agent centralizes your entire CBA library in one accessible location. The process is straightforward: upload your collective bargaining agreements with all your signatory contractors into the platform. The AI analyzes each document, extracting and organizing the critical information unions need daily.

Once uploaded, the AI generates comprehensive insights automatically organized into actionable categories:

• General Information: Agreement parties, effective dates, term length, and covered scope
• Wages Summary: Base rates, classifications, and progression schedules
• Fringe Benefits Detail: Health, pension, annuity, and training fund contributions
• Dues & Deductions Detail: Union dues structures and authorized deductions
• Overtime Rules: Daily and weekly overtime triggers, calculation methods
• Shift Differentials: Premium rates for evening, night, and weekend shifts
• Holidays & Holiday Pay: Recognized holidays and premium pay provisions
• Sick Days and Personal Time Off: Leave accrual and usage policies
• Union Remittance & Reporting: Required contribution submissions
• Reporting Info: What must be reported and to whom
• Reporting Deadlines: When reports and payments are due
• Audit Enforcement: Inspection rights and penalty provisions
• Special Rules: Unique provisions specific to each agreement
• Required Documentation: Certifications and paperwork that contractors must provide

Beyond these structured insights, you can interact with your agreements in natural language. Instead of manually searching documents, you ask questions:

• “What’s the journeyman electrician rate for Smith Construction’s agreement?”
• “Which contractors have shift differentials above 15%?”
• “Show me all agreements with travel pay provisions over 50 miles.”
• “What are the pension contribution rates across all my operating engineer agreements?”

The system provides immediate, accurate answers pulled directly from your uploaded agreements. More importantly, it cites the specific section and page where it found the information, allowing you to verify the source.

Upload your CBA, get AI insights in minutes—it's that simple.

Detailed Insights Across Every Critical Area

General Information and Source Document Management

Union Agent extracts fundamental agreement details automatically: which parties are covered, effective dates, term length, geographic scope, and covered work classifications. The Source Document Notes feature flags any special provisions or amendments, ensuring nothing gets overlooked when referencing an agreement.

This foundational layer gives your team immediate context before diving into specific provisions. A business agent can quickly confirm they’re looking at the current agreement version and understand its scope before answering member questions.

Comprehensive Wages Summary

The system extracts all wage rates and classifications from your agreements, organizing them into searchable, comparable formats. You can view wage progression schedules, identify which contractors pay above or below market rates, and track geographic variations.

For unions with multiple classifications, this visibility is critical. An agreement might include apprentice progression steps, multiple journeyman specialties, foreman rates, and general foreman rates. Union Agent organizes these hierarchies clearly, making it easy to ensure proper worker classification on any job.

Fringe Benefits Detail

Health insurance, pensions, annuities, apprenticeship funds, and other fringe benefits represent a significant portion of total compensation. The Fringe Benefits Detail breaks down exactly what each contractor contributes to each fund, calculates total hourly benefit value, and allows comparison across your agreement portfolio.

This data helps in several ways. During organizing drives, you can quickly demonstrate the full value of union compensation packages. When negotiating, you can identify which benefit areas lag behind industry standards. For member communications, you can provide clear explanations of how their total package compares across different employers.

Dues & Deductions Clarity

Union Agent extracts the specific dues structure for each agreement—whether it’s a flat rate, percentage of wages, or tiered system. It also identifies what other authorized deductions exist and how they’re calculated. This prevents confusion when members review their paychecks or when processing grievances about incorrect deductions.

Overtime Rules and Shift Differentials

Overtime rules vary considerably between agreements. Some calculate overtime after 8 hours daily and 40 hours weekly. Others use different thresholds. Weekend and holiday provisions add another layer of complexity.

Union Agent’s Overtime Rules insights identify these provisions for each agreement, making it simple to advise contractors and members on proper premium pay. The system flags special provisions such as double-time triggers, consecutive-day premiums, and pyramiding restrictions.

The Shift Differentials section tracks premium rates for evening, night, and weekend work—specifying qualifying hours and percentage increases. When a member asks about their shift premium entitlement, your representative has the answer immediately.

Holidays, Sick Days, and Personal Time Off

The Holidays & Holiday Pay insights list every recognized holiday in each agreement, plus the applicable premium rates for working those days. Union Agent also tracks sick leave accrual rates, usage policies, and personal time off provisions—benefits that vary significantly between agreements but matter greatly to members.

Union Remittance & Reporting Requirements

Every agreement includes reporting and remittance obligations, but the specific requirements vary. The system extracts:

• Union Remittance & Reporting: Which contributions must be submitted and when
• Reporting Info: Exactly what information contractors must provide
• Reporting Deadlines: Due dates for reports and payments (monthly, weekly, or other schedules)
• Audit Enforcement: Union inspection rights, required record retention, and penalty provisions for non-compliance

This creates a compliance checklist for each contractor. Your representatives can ensure contractors meet their obligations and have documentation ready when addressing violations. Late or incomplete reporting gets caught faster, protecting member benefits and fund integrity.

Special Rules and Required Documentation

The Special Rules category captures unique provisions that don’t fit standard categories—things like autonomous vehicle language, COVID protocols, travel pay formulas, or industry-specific safety requirements. These often-overlooked clauses are surfaced clearly rather than buried in lengthy documents.

Required Documentation insights list what certifications, licenses, and paperwork contractors must maintain and provide. This helps when verifying contractor compliance or investigating grievances related to documentation failures.

Your members deserve immediate answers—give Union Agent your CBAs and deliver them. | Upload your CBA

Practical Applications for Union Operations

Multi-Jurisdiction Projects

Large construction projects often involve multiple contractors with different agreements. A commercial development might have separate electrical, plumbing, HVAC, and structural contractors, each operating under distinct CBAs.

When issues arise on multi-contractor jobsites, Union Agent allows your business agents to quickly reference the specific terms governing each trade. This speeds up dispute resolution and ensures consistent application of contract terms.

New Member Onboarding

When a new contractor signs an agreement or when members transfer between employers, questions about specific contract provisions are common. Union Agent gives your staff instant access to answer these questions accurately.

Rather than telling a new member “I’ll look that up and get back to you,” your representative can provide immediate, accurate information about their wage rate, benefit contributions, overtime rules, and other provisions that affect their employment.

Payroll Verification

Fringe benefit audits and payroll verification become more efficient with centralized CBA access. When reviewing certified payroll reports, your auditors can quickly cross-reference submitted rates against the applicable agreement terms.

This accelerates the audit process and makes it easier to identify discrepancies before they become larger problems. Early detection of underpayment protects your members and maintains the integrity of your benefit funds.

Negotiations and Renewals

When preparing for contract negotiations, Union Agent provides valuable market intelligence from your own portfolio. You can analyze:

• Average wage increases across recent settlements
• Trends in fringe benefit contribution growth
• Emerging provisions other contractors have accepted
• Geographic wage variations for similar work

This internal benchmarking complements external market research, helping your negotiating committee make informed decisions grounded in real data from your own agreements.

Grievance Processing

Contract interpretation disputes require quick access to precise language. Union Agent allows representatives to immediately retrieve relevant sections across all agreements, compare language between contracts, and identify precedents from similar provisions.

The citation feature ensures you can provide exact contract references in grievance documentation, strengthening your position and expediting resolution.

Turn hundreds of pages into instant answers — upload your agreements to Union Agent now.

Why Construction Unions Need This Now

The construction industry continues to grow more complex. Projects span multiple jurisdictions. Contractors operate across wider geographic areas. Specialization increases the number of distinct classifications.

Meanwhile, union staff face growing demands. Business agents cover larger territories. Administrative teams handle more agreements with smaller staffs. The expectation for immediate, accurate information from members and contractors hasn’t decreased—it’s intensified.

Traditional contract management methods—three-ring binders, shared drives full of PDFs, institutional knowledge in senior staff members’ memories—no longer scale effectively. When a business agent retires, they take decades of CBA knowledge with them. When a new organizer joins, they face months of learning curve before they can confidently answer contract questions.

Union Agent addresses these challenges by making institutional knowledge instantly accessible to everyone in your organization. New staff get up to speed faster. Experienced representatives work more efficiently. Your entire team provides consistent, accurate information based on actual contract language rather than memory or interpretation.

The technology also creates organizational resilience. Your CBA knowledge base doesn’t walk out the door when staff transitions occur. New representatives can access the same detailed information that took their predecessors years to internalize.

End the confusion—let Union Agent's AI analyze your CBAs and extract what matters. | Upload now

Security and Confidentiality

Construction union CBAs often contain sensitive information about contractor costs, competitive positioning, and proprietary work processes. Union Agent maintains strict confidentiality of all uploaded agreements.

Your documents remain accessible only to your organization’s authorized users. The AI analysis happens within secure systems, and no agreement details are shared with other users or organizations. This ensures that your competitive intelligence and proprietary information stay protected.

Beyond Document Storage

Union Agent is not simply a digital filing cabinet for your CBAs. The AI analysis layer transforms static documents into dynamic intelligence that answers questions, identifies patterns, and provides insights that would take hours or days to extract manually.

When you need to know which agreements include specific language about autonomous vehicles, the AI searches all your documents simultaneously and provides results in seconds. When comparing pension contribution rates across all your agreements to prepare for bargaining, the system generates analyses that require manual review of dozens of contracts.

This analytical capability extends your capacity to use your collective bargaining agreements strategically rather than just administratively. You can spot trends, identify outliers, benchmark provisions, and leverage your full portfolio of agreements to support organizing, bargaining, and representation activities.

Implementation and Integration

Getting started with Union Agent requires minimal technical expertise. Your staff uploads PDF versions of your CBAs through a standard web interface. The AI processes each document automatically, typically within minutes.

Once processed, all authorized users in your organization can access the system through web browsers on desktop computers, tablets, or smartphones. This means business agents in the field have the same instant access to agreement details as office staff at headquarters.

The system works alongside your existing processes. You don’t need to replace your current contract management systems or change established workflows. Union Agent supplements what you’re already doing, making it faster and more effective.

The Bottom Line for Construction Unions

Construction unions manage complex portfolios of collective bargaining agreements that govern millions of dollars in wages and benefits annually. Getting the details right matters—for your members’ paychecks, for their benefit security, for your relationships with contractors, and for your organization’s credibility and effectiveness.

Union Agent by Lumber provides the clarity and accessibility that modern union operations demand. It transforms your CBA portfolio from a collection of documents into an organized, searchable, and analyzable knowledge base, making your entire organization more effective.

Your business agents spend less time searching for answers and more time serving members. Your administrative staff handles inquiries more efficiently. Your organizing and negotiating committees work with better market intelligence. Your entire organization provides more consistent, accurate information about the agreements that protect your members’ livelihoods.

The construction industry won’t get simpler. Agreement portfolios won’t get smaller. Member and contractor expectations won’t decrease. Union Agent equips your organization with the tools to confidently and efficiently manage this complexity.

Upload Your CBA to the Lumber Union Agent and Gain Clarity

Stop searching through hundreds of pages when members or contractors need answers. Stop relying on institutional memory that walks out the door when experienced staff retire. Stop managing critical contract information with tools designed for the last century.

Upload your collective bargaining agreements to the Lumber Union Agent and discover how AI-powered analysis transforms your contract management from an administrative burden into a strategic advantage. Give your entire team instant access to accurate, verified information from your complete agreement portfolio.

Your members deserve representatives who can answer their questions accurately and immediately. Your organization deserves the clarity and efficiency that modern technology provides. Union Agent delivers both.

Get started today and experience the difference that AI-powered CBA management makes for construction unions.