Published Wednesday, November 18, 1998, in the San Jose Mercury News
Council passes living-wage,
labor-organizing package
BY BARRY WITT
Mercury News Staff Writer
San Jose Mayor Susan Hammer and local labor leaders scored a
historic victory late Tuesday as the city council adopted the highest
new minimum wage rates in the country for employees of city
contractors and an apparently unprecedented requirement to help
unions organize those companies' employees.
Before a joyous, overflow crowd of union, church and community
activists, the council voted 7-3 to require various city contractors to
pay a ``living wage'' of at least $9.50 an hour if the company provides
health benefits or $10.75 an hour if benefits aren't provided.
There was a narrow 6-5 council majority favoring the living wage, but
a vote had not been expected until next week when supporter Margie
Fernandes returned from a conference in Portugal. Passage became
possible Tuesday night when Councilmen David Pandori and John
Diquisto reversed their positions and said they would support it.
The labor peace proposal seemed threatened with defeat, but
Councilwoman Alice Woody reversed her position of a day earlier
and said she would support it. In the end, the only council members to
oppose the package were Pat Dando, Frank Fiscalini and George
Shirakawa.
``Tonight is our opportunity to feature the other side of Silicon
Valley,'' Amy Dean, chief executive of the South Bay AFL-CIO
Labor Council told a rally outside City Hall before the meeting.
``Tonight is to talk about the faces and complexions that are not
published in the business pages.''
Hammer described the living wage as ``a step toward addressing the
plight of those struggling to provide for their families in a high-cost
region such as Silicon Valley.'' She called it a ``first step'' and urged
her successors to expand it. Hammer leaves office next month.
The living wage rates are $3 an hour less than what supporters had
been seeking but are still the highest among any of 17 other cities
nationwide -- including Los Angeles and Oakland -- that have
adopted similar requirements.
The related ``labor peace'' measure will require companies seeking
city service contracts to provide ``assurances of protection against
labor discord'' over the life of the contract. The assurances have not
been spelled out, but the options officials have outlined would make it
easier for unions to organize workers.
City Attorney Joan Gallo has said such assurances could include not
only a signed union contract but also allowing unions to attempt to
organize under a ``card check'' procedure -- which unions prefer over
the traditional secret ballots. Under a card check, the union would be
recognized if a majority of workers sign cards approving union
representation.
City officials could point to no other city in the nation that has a
similar
requirement for bidders on city contracts, and its inclusion in the
living-wage proposal was fought bitterly by city business interests.
Radio station owner Bob Kieve, a board member with the San Jose
Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce, said the labor peace provision
would send a message to contractors that ``you can be assured you're
going to hold on to your (city) business only if you give labor anything
that it demands.'' He suggested the council had become ``an auxiliary
of the Central Labor Council.''
More than 500 living-wage supporters turned out at the council
meeting. Only two business leaders spoke against it.
The wage requirements would apply to contractors providing services
ranging from auto repair to security. Contracts valued at less than
$20,000 and contracts issued by the city's Redevelopment Agency
would be exempt.
The policy also leaves out low-wage workers at San Jose
International Airport.
In total, City Manager Regina V.K. Williams estimated that 500
employees of city contractors would get raises over the next 18
months at a cost to those companies of about $2 million, with an
unknown portion of that amount being passed back to the city.
Another 200 or so part-time city employees, mostly summer
recreation workers, also would get raises because their pay now falls
below the new living-wage standard.
City officials have said the largest group of workers who will be
affected are those employed by Volume Services America under its
food service contract at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center.
Volume's contract expires at the end of this year -- although it may be
extended through 1999. Companies proposing to take on the contract
after that time will have to comply with the living-wage policy. The
policy also includes a requirement that any company awarded a new
contract by the city would have to offer jobs to the employees of the
city's former contractor.
The services covered under the policy are automotive repair and
maintenance; food service; janitorial; landscaping; laundry;
office/clerical; parking-lot management; pest control; property
maintenance; recreation; security' shuttle services; street sweeping;
and towing.
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