CAGNY was formed in 1984 by Morse Diesel International, Inc., Turner Construction Company, Lehrer McGovern Bovis, Inc. and Crow Construction, Inc. (as they then were) because of their collective concern that none of the employer associations to which they belonged were adequately representing the unique interests of high-rise builders. As a result, they determined to form an association that represented primarily the interests of New York City high-rise construction managers.
In the beginning years of CAGNY's existence, its founding members focused on creating a professional approach to negotiations with the six trades with which it held collective bargaining agreements and on using the "high-rise" negotiations to advance several objectives deemed critical for the prosperity of the larger construction industry in New York City: these included the need to moderate the proliferation of expensive "work rules" and manning practices; the necessity of tying wage and benefit adjustments to productivity improvements; and the ideal of a labor/management partnership in which each side sought to further the interests of the industry as a whole.
