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In an update report presented to the Legislature’s Government Operations Committee today, County Administrator Joe Mareane reported that the County is very close to attaining its living wage goals for County contracts—reporting that more than 90% of all covered contract employees are paid at or above the AFCU Living Wage, with nearly 80% of the contracts paying all covered employees at least the AFCU wage level.

But Administrator Mareane also cautioned that the County is reaching the point at which future progress will be limited by structural constraints faced by those few agencies that do not pay all covered employees the living wage—nearly all of which are mental health or elder care providers.  “Our contractors have estimated that the cost to bring the last 10% of contract employees to the living wage would exceed $2 million, and could cause complications so severe that some smaller agencies may simply choose not to participate in County work,” he said.

Actions taken in 2014 to improve attainment by specific agencies include adjusting County funding for FoodNet to enable the agency to pay the living wage to all covered employees; over-target funding included in the 2015 tentative budget for the Mental Health Department to permit all employees at Suicide Prevention to achieve the living wage standard; additional funds in the 2015 tentative budget to increase staff compensation at Southside Community Center; and the Human Services Coalition applying a portion of its City sales tax allocation to Tompkins Learning Partners to allow that agency to bring all covered employees to the living wage.  Administrator Mareane said a few more agencies will be worked with through the 2015 contracting process.

He said the County is moving toward a mode focusing on maintaining what has been achieved, and preserving attention to living wage issues through the institutional process—including contracting procedures, discussions with contractors, and an annual living wage report.  “While improvement is always possible and will continue to guide our actions, the County’s future focus should include measures to preserve what has been achieved by keeping the living wage policy and integral part of the contracting process and by regularly measuring, monitoring, and reporting attainment levels,” he said.

Chair Nathan Shinagawa observed that it is significant to note that activism regarding the Living Wage issue has produced institutional improvements.  Speaking to the committee, Theresa Alt of the Tompkins County Workers Center said it is clear that there has been great progress this year, but added there is still a long way to go, with the goal being a living wage for all contracted employees of the County, and ultimately, a living wage for all.

The committee also began examination of the County’s decade-old County Apprenticeship Policy, as directed by Legislature Chair Mike Lane, which requires Certified Apprenticeship Programs as a condition for award of construction contracts of $1 million or more.  The committee invited comment on the issue, and heard from six representatives of local labor and contractors regarding the policy.  Labor representatives spoke of the benefits of apprenticeship programs—in terms of training and putting local people to work, but noted limited impact so far—only the Health Department Building project a few years ago and next year’s Human Services Building renovation meet the $1 million threshold.  Reducing that threshold to $500,000—the level of the City of Ithaca’s discontinued apprenticeship policy—was also advocated in written comments submitted by the Tompkins-Cortland Building & Construction Trades Council and the local Carpenters Union.  McPherson Builders’ Jerry Stevenson, however, said maintaining an apprenticeship program is not feasible for his small local company and that the requirement excludes his company from working on such County projects.  He urged that it be ended.

As next steps, Chair Shinagawa said the committee  needs to know more about the City’s perspective on the issue and why its policy was ended; to understand financial impact of the policy, including any changes; and to receive more input on how the Apprenticeship Policy affects competition.   Administrator Mareane said he would work to provide additional information for the committee, as it continues its review of the issue.

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