Don't Delay Rail Yard Remodel
The New Mexican
Mayor David Coss is consistent in his support for labor and working people, whether in his push for the “living wage” or in the suddenly controversial Community Workforce Agreement.
The ordinance, passed unanimously by the City Council in February but delayed in June, has become another point of contention for the often equivocating council. The workforce agreement, which finally took effect Oct. 1, requires workers on city projects that cost more than $500,000 belong to a union. Contractors say they don’t have enough union workers to fill jobs, and that the ordinance will increase costs and send jobs to Albuquerque companies and workers. Alarmed councilors — many of whom voted for the ordinance in the first place — are talking about delaying the measure or repealing it altogether.
Frankly, we are fed up with leaders who can’t hold a consistent position for more than a few months. Councilor Patti Bushee, who is leading the effort to delay or repeal the workforce agreement, voted yes back in February. Also on the council at the time were councilors Carmichael Dominguez, Chris Calvert, Rebecca Wurzburger and Ron Trujillo. If this ordinance is so problematic, we don’t understand why its current opponents didn’t vote against it. New councilors, such as Bill Dimas, Chris Rivera and Peter Ives, can’t be accused of changing horses midstream — they weren’t there to oppose the measure at the outset.
Now, Bushee wants an economic study before moving ahead with the agreement, or even outright repeal. She is proposing a delay to pay $25,000 to The University of New Mexico’s Bureau of Business and Economic Research to study the impact of the ordinance. She even says she has enough councilors on her side to stall the agreement, and perhaps repeal it if necessary. We like Calvert and Ives’ idea, instead. Keep the workforce agreement in place for the time being. A $1.4 million renovation of office space at the Santa Fe Rail yard is going out for bid as soon as December, with a contractor expected to be selected in February and work finished by spring. If it is correct that city contractors will not bid because they don’t hire union labor, we’ll find out. The bidding process should make it clear whether hiring union workers will increase costs — we are not sure why it would, since contractors pay prevailing wages anyway, but let’s find out.
Why do have an agreement in the first place? Union workers bring to the table solid skills and training, with a record of completing work that endures. Local Peter Brill, president of Sarcon Construction Co., has said he hires through construction unions because he likes the workers’ training. He’s not alone, either. In September, Los Alamos National Security LLC and the New Mexico Building and Construction Trades
Council signed a series of labor agreements to cover construction and maintenance work at the Department of Energy and National Security Administration, affecting 750 construction and maintenance workers.
It seems to us, given that this ordinance passed unanimously, that the city should give it a chance — the remodeling job at the Rail yard is a good test project. Put it out to bid, so that the council gets hard data on how the agreement affects construction jobs. If the project fails to attract competitive bids, at that point the city could rethink the agreement. Going forward, perhaps our city councilors can ask harder questions before voting so that they don’t have to revisit issues that passed unanimously. Right now, as Councilor Ives points out; a delay in remodeling office space at the Rail yard could cost the city up to $200,000 in rent (workers will be moving from space in the federal building to the new offices.) By moving ahead with the remodel, the city can see whether the agreement is good for Santa Fe.
