San Jose Votes to Bolster Workforce Standards on City-Subsidized Construction (CA)

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By Grace Hase
August 6, 2019

Two years after workers helping to build San Jose’s Silvery Towers were released from literal slavery amid a criminal probe into their boss, local labor leaders secured stronger protections for builders on city-subsidized projects.

The City Council voted 9-2 Tuesday to expand rules that prevent worker exploitation on publicly subsidized projects. Among the new rules are requirements to hire more apprentices as well as local and underrepresented workers.

Council members Johnny Khamis and Dev Davis cast the dissenting votes.

San Jose will now require that workers who live locally put in 30 percent of the total work hours on a project covered by the ordinance. Construction companies must also use “good faith efforts” to hire “underrepresented workers as entry-level apprentices to perform 25 percent of the total apprentice hours.” The city defines an underrepresented worker as someone who receives government assistance, is at risk of losing a home or has survived labor trafficking, to name some examples.

Tuesday’s newly approved rules build on efforts that began before the month-long summer recess, when councilors passed a law that requires private construction companies to pay workers a prevailing wage on projects that benefit from city subsidies.

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“This investment is in our workforce,” Arenas said. “We can’t have it both ways. I don’t want to stop development. I want to make sure we have housing, but I can’t have it on the backs of our laborers and our working poor.” She added: “We need to assure there are standards on pay and work for folks who need it. I feel that this is the way to get there while still honoring our goals around housing.”

Labor leaders, who had fought for the new protections for more than a year, were pleased with Tuesday’s decisions. Jean Cohen, a spokeswoman for UA Local 393, said that she was glad that all workers will now have equal protections.

“The building trades, the labor movement and the development community all have a shared goal, which is to build beautiful buildings for the city of San Jose,” Cohen told San Jose Inside. “There are many valuable components in the ecosystem of what it takes to develop a project, and these policies build a strong foundation for all interested parties, which is to have a vibrant and robust downtown.”

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San Jose to consider proposal to help employees receive pay they deserve (CA)

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Construction workers on the Silvery Towers project downtown were held in squalid conditions

By EMILY DERUY
PUBLISHED: January 31, 2019 at 6:00 am

Months after it surfaced that workers on a high rise in downtown San Jose were held in captivity and forced to work without pay, the City Council is expected to consider stronger wage protections to prevent companies from refusing to pay employees what they deserve.

In a memo to the city’s Rules and Open Government Committee, several members of the San Jose City Council – Raul Peralez, Chappie Jones, Magdalena Carrasco and Sergio Jimenez – suggested broadening the city’s current wage theft protections to cover construction workers on both public and private projects. They also said developers proposing construction projects involving more than 5,000 square feet of floor area should have to disclose wage theft violations by their contractors and subcontractors. If companies are found to have unpaid wage theft claims, the council members argued, they should be disqualified until the claims are paid.

In July, the U.S. Labor Department announced that more than a dozen immigrants working on the Silvery Towers project at the corner of N. San Pedro and W. St. James streets were held in squalid conditions in a Hayward house and forced to work on projects across the Bay Area.

The changes, the council members wrote, “will ensure that another Silvery Towers does not occur again and that the city is not blindsided by another atrocity.”

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Construction workers and labor groups urged the council to make broadening its wage theft policy a priority. However, business groups warned doing so could create demanding new regulations for developers and hamper the city’s aim of adding thousands of new affordable homes in the next few years.

“It is the ethical and quite honestly the honorable thing to do,” said Steve Flores, with the group Santa Clara County Residents for Responsible Development, adding that the update would close “gaping loopholes” that leave construction workers fending for themselves.

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San Jose, Calif., Weighs Boost for Construction Project Workers

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By Joyce E. Cutler
March 27, 2018

Private construction projects in San Jose, Calif., that receive $3 million or more in tax breaks or other public financial support would have to pay prevailing wages and hire local workers under a proposal the city council is expected to consider next week.

“There are three basic challenges we’re trying to grapple with. One is a severe shortage of affordable housing and of housing supply generally; substantial shortage of construction labor, which are driving up construction costs; and third, a growing gap between those who are benefiting from the great prosperity here in the Bay Area and those who are gasping for air with the rising tide,” Liccardo said.

Local Standards

The proposal would require that employers on the projects pay a wage-and-benefits package that’s at least equivalent to the state-determined levels for the work and geographic area. At least 30 percent of the workers on a qualifying project within the city would have to live within 50 miles of the job site. A quarter of apprentice hours would have to go to disadvantaged workers. Projects would have monitoring and compliance provisions.

The requirements would cover projects that receive at least $3 million in public subsidies, including money, land, or other direct financial assistance or a substantial reduction in fees or taxes.

“The end goal is to provide good quality jobs to local workers. And whether we do that by way of initiative or reaching a compromise by the more conventional channels is not so important to us,” Ben Field, South Bay Labor Council executive officer, told Bloomberg Law.

Union-Backed Initiative

The agreement was reached after negotiations with the South Bay Labor Council, Working Partnerships USA, the Santa Clara-San Benito Counties Building Trades, and the Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing, and Sprinkler Fitters (MEPS) unions, Liccardo said in a memo to the council.

“One of the best ways to ensure that good quality jobs go to local workers is to provide a prevailing wage,” Field said March 23. “One of the basic problems that we’re seeing here is middle class jobs are disappearing. A large part of the reason is the construction workforce is not being paid adequately.” Would-be construction workers aren’t going into trades or crafts where the wages are depressed.

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San Jose: Public projects valued at $6 million will require project labor agreements

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By RAMONA GIWARGIS
PUBLISHED: October 24, 2017 at 1:09 pm | UPDATED: October 25, 2017 at 4:54 am
SAN JOSE — City lawmakers on Tuesday adopted a policy that requires contractors to hire at least some union workers on public projects valued at $6 million or more, including new libraries, fire stations and airport improvements.

The City Council adopted “project labor agreements” requirement on a 6-5 vote. The agreements require a contractor to hire some workers from a local union hall and pay state-mandated prevailing wages — what a majority of workers in a county’s largest city earn. Contractors also must provide fringe benefits and hire a number of apprentices from disadvantaged groups. Contractors will be allowed to hire 35 “core” workers from their own workforce with the rest hired through a union hall.

Private construction projects, those funded by federal dollars and city-funded affordable housing projects will be excluded. Santa Clara County, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, Cleveland and New York have all passed similar labor agreements.

Backers said the agreements will help ensure every worker has a fair chance of getting work and support families struggling to survive in Silicon Valley’s technology-driven economy. Critics said the move will stifle competition and inflate construction costs, meaning taxpayers get fewer public improvements for their tax dollars.

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To Combat Wage Theft, San Jose Weighs Local Ordinance

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By Jennifer Wadsworth / April 15, 2015

 

Taking a cue from Santa Clara County, San Jose is considering adopting a wage theft ordinance. The city rule would deny permits, licenses and government contracts to businesses with pending wage theft violations.

In a proposal submitted to the Rules and Open Government Committee, City Council members Don Rocha, Margie Matthews, Ash Kalra and Magdalena Carrasco say local enforcement would will regulatory gaps that leave thousands of low-wage workers under-paid with little recourse.

They share the story of a live-in caregiver, Priscilla Soriano, who worked 12-hour days six days a week, but never got paid overtime. In 2011, she filed a complaint with the state Labor Commission, which ruled that the employer owed her $64,904 in unpaid wages.

Between 2011 and 2014, nearly 1,100 San Jose-based businesses were slapped with wage theft judgments, according to Santa Clara County Superior Court records cited in the Rules memo. Women, immigrants and anyone working a low-wage job are the most at-risk.

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