Another Voice / Apprenticeship Law
‘With creativity,’ leaders can mislead public
Updated: 10/06/08 6:31 AM
At a time when Western New Yorkers are in need of good paying jobs that offer an alternative career, the building trades is that option. The Erie County Apprenticeship Law protects not only local workers but also the taxpayer. County Executive Chris Collins is the person catering to special interest.
Without the Apprenticeship Law attached to city, county, state and municipal projects, out-of-state and out-of-country workers will continue taking Western New Yorkers’ jobs, along with our taxpayer dollars.
One example of how the Apprenticeship Law is working as designed is the asbestos abatement project at Memorial Auditorium, where a contractor from Pittsburgh, Pa., was low bidder. The Apprenticeship Law protected the taxpayers and local workers by mandating that the employer have a state-certified apprenticeship program or partner up with an appropriate local trade organization that does.
Fifty-plus members of our community, including eight apprentices, have worked on this project since March, circulating millions of dollars back into our county. The employer saved more than $60,000 in wages and eight apprentices have jump-started careers that may let them remain in this area.
The Apprenticeship Law as applied at the Auditorium project has allowed 50 Erie County residents to earn a living wage, contribute to their pensions, pay for their health coverage and qualify for unemployment insurance, if and when they become unemployed. These residents now have the invaluable experience in a trade that ultimately makes them more marketable for future employment, and in the end there is not a drag on our local economy.
That the law was a success at the Auditorium project rattled some people in the business community, and this law had to be put to death before John Q. Public found out. After the Building Trades rallied in Niagara Square announcing “A New Day for Labor Management Cooperation here in Western New York,” our county executive couldn’t wait to appear on television declaring the law suspended in order to take a public, provocative swipe at the building trades. There are many in this community who do not want to see such cooperation and want division.
Our county executive claims that “the law is anti-business, anti-taxpayer, strangling development, sabotaging job creation and keeping special interest firmly entrenched.” What type of jobs is he looking to create and whose interest is he representing?
The construction industry is one of the last frontiers for the American worker that cannot be shipped overseas. This is smoke and mirrors. This ideology of “corporate America first” has proven to harm our local economy and our working families. When the county executive says the taxpayers have had enough and deserve real change, which taxpayers is he really talking about?
Sam Capitano is business manager for Laborers Local 210.
