Monday, July 20, 2009
Where Are The Responsible Employers?
Greg Beeman, President of the Massachusetts Chapter of the Associated Builders and Contractors recently wrote into the Weymouth News to criticize the town’s Responsible Employer Ordinance. It appears that the Fogg Library Project will be delayed because contractors have difficulty complying with Weymouth’s Responsible Employer Ordinance just as the Water Treatment Plant Project is now behind schedule for the same reasons. Reflecting some of his comments, the ordinances that have been passed by several communities under heavy union pressure in fact verge on being illegal and without question, exclusionary. Any politically correct union official will undoubtedly deny that the regulations exempt anyone from participation even though the ordinances are always lobbied for and backed by all the affiliated Locals. The truth remains that small non-union companies cannot comply with the REO even though they may be DCAM certified for specific projects. In the case of the Fogg Library, there are several roofing contractors located within 20 miles of this project that are more than qualified to complete the work but will never bid because of the REO.
Advocates of the REO’s argue that these rules weed out unprofessional contractors and shoddy work practices. That argument makes us assume that union contractors are above being unprofessional and that all non-union contractors are the problem. In truth, there are good and bad contractors everywhere and their union affiliations have nothing to do with it. In order to prevent shabby, unsafe work conditions cities and towns need to be more vigilant in making sure projects are completed on time, safely and professionally and that really has nothing to do with being union, non-union or whether they comply with an REO.
Looking back a few years ago when Weymouth ran into some trouble with shoddy workmanship on their new fire stations and they were about to begin construction on a new high school, the timing was favorable for the union’s mascot “Rat” to show up to sell their professionalism and craftsmanship to the Mayor and Town Council. Now that the ordinance has been in place for a few years, we have an opportunity to see how it has helped the town, or not.
Certainly an argument can be made that larger projects, such as the new high school and the new Cancer Center at South Shore Hospital, although not considered a public project; benefit, due to their magnitude, from union labor. The drawback to the REO and large union contractors however, is that smaller, specialized projects, such as the historical renovation of Fogg Library and the new Water Treatment Plant at Great Pond will suffer. Both of these projects did not receive qualified bids. If the REO is backed by the unions, then why haven’t union companies bid on these projects and qualified? The reason is that most union contractors won’t bid on small public projects because they can’t compete against non-union contractors. The scenario, as we can follow it with the Fogg Library, is that the initial round of bids are rejected because non-union companies cannot comply with the REO. The next advertisement for bids will undoubtedly bring out the union contractors, now that they know the REO is being enforced and the resulting bids will be higher, possibly over budget.
The other scenario is that a non union general contractor that qualifies as an REO will bid the project and meet the paper work requirements during bidding and then, once the project starts, will hire unqualified people anyway. Once a project starts, generally no one follows up to make sure the prime contractor is still in compliance and not filing false reports. This is probably the case with the Water Treatment Project. If anyone was to go to the site, there would unquestionably be sub-contractors that do not have pension plans, apprentice programs and proper health insurance. In effect, the town is paying for these things but the money goes into the pockets of the prime contractor.
The final conclusion is that any projects that are completed under the REO will be delayed, over budget and either completed by union contractors that were initially unwilling to bid and therefore “throwing in a number”, or non-union contractors that are filing false reports.
POSTED BY STAN on July 20, 2009
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