Posted by Debbie L. Sklar
March 14, 2018
Builders who receive city money for affordable housing and public works projects would be required to hire skilled, local workers and pay them a prevailing wage under a proposal advanced by a City Council committee Wednesday.
Councilwoman Georgette Gomez’s “HireSD” program would aim to lift people out of poverty by requiring developers in certain projects to hire workers who have completed apprenticeships or other training because those workers are paid a higher wage. The resulting demand for skilled workers would create an incentive for economically disadvantaged people to complete that training as a “pipeline to middle-class jobs,” the councilwoman’s Chief of Staff Dominika Bukalova said.
The plan would also require developers of certain projects to hire local people and pay a prevailing wage, a minimum wage currently paid in certain public works projects.
The rules would apply to projects that receive money from the city’s affordable housing fund and a business subsidy program. Part of the proposal is an expansion of a 2013 prevailing wage ordinance that applies to public works projects.