AARON AUPPERLEE
Tuesday, May 29, 2018, 2:06 p.m.
Pittsburgh will require contractors working on the city’s biggest projects to ensure at least 12 percent of on-site employees are minorities.
An executive order Mayor Bill Peduto signed Tuesday set the 12-percent goal.
Peduto said the city expects to spend $1.1 billion on construction projects in the next 10 years.
“We realize that we are at the cusp of a boom that is going to happen in the city,” Peduto said at a news conference. “We want to open up that opportunity to everyone because here’s the secret: We’re going to need a heck of a lot more workers.”
The executive order creates what’s known as a project labor agreement for city construction projects totaling more than $500,000.
Contractors must guarantee against strikes, lockouts or other job disruptions. The city’s minority- and women-owned business requirements still apply in addition to the new 12 percent on-site minority employment stipulation. The executive order allows the city to select the lowest responsible bidder on a project, regardless of whether it is union or non-union.
Project labor agreements used to be negotiated on a project-by-project basis, said Grant Gittlen, community and public affairs officer for the mayor. The goals for on-site minority employment varied for each project. Gittlen said the goals have been low in the past.
Peduto’s office worked on the agreement with labor leaders for a year and a half.
Peduto said city Councilmen Corey O’Connor of Squirrel Hill and Dan Lavelle of the Hill District will work to push legislation that will make his executive order part of the city code.