by Rand Wilson in Civil and Human Rights, Development and Zoning, Economy & Poverty, Magoun Square, Ward 5, Workers' Rights
Posted on July 25, 2011 at 12:33 pm
Last Modified on July 29, 2011 at 10:09 pm
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MaxPac’s developers — KSS Realty Partners and Gate Residential — are relying on state funding for the construction of an essential ramp connecting the new rental housing site to the bridge on Lowell Street.
The Massachusetts Department of Transportation awarded Somerville $490,000 in order to build the ramp and construct a large retaining wall. The city chose Argus Construction of Woburn, MA to perform the work, as it was the low bidder.
Contractors on state-funded projects are required by law to provide the City of Somerville (the awarding authority for this project) “certified payroll records.” With help from the Bricklayers Union, we were able to obtain those records.
As of June 11, the payroll records show that not one of the eight workers who have been employed by Argus is a resident of Somerville.
After all of the rallies, hearings, news articles and broad public concern, you would think that the developers and contractors would make an effort to hire at least one person from Somerville!
While some may disagree, I’m confident that the majority of people in Somerville feel as I do. Not hiring any local people (or making a good faith effort to do so) is an insult to our community. It should be unacceptable to the planning board, the Board of Alderman and all of our elected officials.
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Of course the next question is whether any of the contractors, or the principal owners of those contractors, made any contributions to any of the politicians in the city? Or, if so, when or how much. That IS public information, and shouldn’t be too hard to find out.
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Rand, I wonder if Somerville construction workers would really be better off if the City of Somerville hired them only and if each other city hired only from its own workforce? Can such a system work in our market-based economy? Or might it only work if our construction workers became full-time municipal employees?
Furthermore, what would you consider a good-faith effort (to hire local workers)? And is it certain that such an effort was not made? How many Somerville companies bid on the job?
And what about unions? Was the winning contractor a union shop? What about the other bidders? Would a Somerville non-union shop be better than a non-Somerville union shop?
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