RSS Feed |
|
|
|
||||||
|
Unions Push To Keep
PlaNYC Jobs In-House;
Farm-Out Drawbacks A jobs committee set up by the Mayor and guided by some of the city's largest public- and private-sector unions and community groups had been working well with city officials, but some union leaders say the collaboration has hit a roadblock. "We need an ongoing commitment from the Mayor if he wants an ongoing commitment from us to support the plan," said Civil Service Technical Guild Vice President Jon Forster, who sits on the jobs working group. Mr. Forster, like many union leaders, continues to support the aims of PlaNYC, calling it "inspirational." But public-sector union officials argue that their members can do a portion of the work less expensively than private contractors, while also guaranteeing quality city jobs for residents. As the private sector also jockeys for the multi-million-dollar contracts up for grabs, union officials say that they will have to make their voices heard if their priorities are to be included in the implementation of the plan. They believe Mr. Bloomberg is open to their suggestions, but also say they are cognizant of the power and influence exerted on the administration by the private sector. Ventilation Upgrades
PlaNYC also calls for major upgrades to eight city parks. While the Parks Department has done some hiring recently, only one of the eight parks will be designed by in-house staff while the others are going out to biders. There is also no plan to have city designers, planters or pruners care for the one million trees that will be planted throughout the streets of the five boroughs. And unions have long complained about the practices of the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, both in its use of non-union labor and its safety and health rules. That agency will have a part in managing $7.5 billion to preserve 165,000 units of housing over the next decade. Union officials assert that contracting out the work takes away valuable experience in the growing "green" industry from city employees, which will only further disadvantage them in the future. "Unless we are out there doing the design, we're not involved in the cutting edge," said Tech Guild President Claude Fort. "If they keep us out for a long time, we lose the skills, and then they have a justification to privatize." Mayor Tapped Ott Earlier this year, the Mayor asked AFL-CIO New York City Central Labor Council Executive Director Ed Ott to chair a working group to analyze the potential for jobs in PlaNYC. With the help of the labor-environmental group the Apollo Alliance, Mr. Ott convened unions, policy groups, and community and environmental organizations to discuss where there was the most potential to create solid, sustainable jobs. In addition to the building trades, the group included high-level representatives from District Council 37, the United Federation of Teachers, Transport Workers Union Local 100 and District Council 1707. The committee initially worked well with the Office of Long Term Planning and Sustainability, but recently ran into some problems as the building trades bumped up against obstacles in other projects being pushed by the city. The stubborn threat of non-union labor at city-backed developments such as Atlantic Yards, along the Gowanus Canal and in Jamaica and Bushwick was ominous to some unions, as they continued to meet to advise the city on PlaNYC projects. Group's Fate Uncertain The Bloomberg administration has now hired a consultant from the Louis Berger Group who met with the jobs committee to estimate how many jobs could be created from the plan. The efficacy and mission of the labor-run working group is now somewhat unclear. While most unions remain overall supportive of PlaNYC, they say that the Mayor's track record on using union labor and keeping work in-house is mixed. He has frequently lauded the value of city employees while bringing the private sector into almost every aspect of governance. "He's not so much saying to hell with the public sector," said Myles Lennon, a policy associate at the labor-environmental group Urban Agenda. "It's more that he looks for the public-private partnership. And hey, if a kid will plant a tree, how can you fight that?" In fact, Parks Department officials claim that all of the 10,000 trees that have so far been planted were done by volunteers. But with 990,000 left to go, union officials doubt the entire project can be completed on a volunteer basis. "We could do it for less, and the city would benefit in the long run," said Mark Rosenthal, the president of Local 983 of DC 37, which represents Parks employees. 'Can't Hire Fast Enough' Parks officials point to the fact that they are in the midst of the largest expansion program since the 1930s and that outside designers are managed by city employees. "We've always used a mix of in-house and outside designers," said spokesman Warner Johnston, "but we can't hire designers and architects fast enough." Union officials say that they understand that short-term and specialty projects may need outside contractors, but argue that long-term projects should remain inhouse. They are requesting, for example, that three of the eight parks be designed by city workers. Labor leaders say that campaign contributions from private companies traditionally were one factor that motivated city officials to look outside of its existing staff. Mr. Bloomberg has not relied on such help, but these officials also say that a realpolitik has nonetheless dominated the halls of many city agencies. Some have been told that part of the reason for the mix of private and public workers is to enlist private companies to help lobby Albany for projects that require state funding. But for proof of cost savings, Local 375 officials point to undertakings such as the Second Avenue Subway, on which they long ago performed studies to show that the city could save $308 million on design costs alone if it stayed in-house. High Salaries National studies assert that consultants' salaries are often higher than city employees', plus the costs for the company's overhead and an approximately 10 to 15 percent profit margin built into the bid. They also argue that outside contractors who are unfamiliar with city regulations often have to make changes in the middle of the project, driving up costs even more. The Guild was able to stop the city three years ago from privatizing some of the monitoring being performed on the Manhattan section of Water Tunnel #3 after showing the potential for $12 million in savings. And this summer it pushed back an attempt to privatize the Kensico portion of the Tunnel after producing analyses that showed $57 million in savings if private contractors were excluded. 'Private' Preserves The union's officials lament the fact that much of the design work in the Department of Transportation and the structures section of the Department of Design and Construction is performed by private contractors. And they argue that headcount in an agency should generally track its budget, with sufficient room for error. DOT officials countered that they utilize hundreds of city workers, using private contractors for jobs with a shorter timespan. "DOT employs nearly 800 members of Local 375, and they do a terrific job," said DOT spokesman Seth Solomonow. "Some projects create additional short-term design needs, and for some of those we contract with outside vendors whose work is then reviewed by in-house staff." Officials also noted that city workers had already designed several PlaNYC projects, including thousands of feet of pedestrian plazas and several dedicated bike lanes. Some of labor's suggestions for PlaNYC do not have such specific price tags on them, but are an attempt to map out a long-term approach to sustainable urban planning that keeps the public sector at the center of city life. United Federation of Teachers officials, for example, are hoping to link some of the Career and Technology high schools directly into the plan. Through cooperation with the city, they could revamp some of their programs, retrain the Teachers and offer city high school graduates a chance to move into the emerging field of green technology. 'Give Kids a Chance' "This is all new, and it's not like anyone has a specific way to ensure we have a workforce to do it," said Michael Mulgrew, the UFT vice president of career and technical education. "The idea would be to try to see where the needs are and start re-tooling some of our programs that would be applicable to some of this work so that kids have a chance of going into that work." DC 1707 officials are urging that as new housing developments are put in place, day-care centers, senior centers and pre-kindergarten classes are included in the design plans. At its most developed level, labor and community representatives see PlaNYC as a way to both protect the environment and provide sustainable jobs. "This plan could be a blueprint to give access to New Yorkers who are marginalized from the work force," said Mr. Lennon. Advocates suggest emphasizing local hiring for projects that are being developed in low-income, minority neighborhoods where the unemployment rate is high.
"There is a flowering of a new green industry," said Mr.
Forster. "The 2030 Plan allows for long-term building, and a lot of us think
that it can provide a lot of new entry-level jobs. The question is, will those
jobs be contracted out to firms from New Jersey, or will they stay in-house?"
| ||||||
)
)