This is why I am supporting Dayton City Commissioner Shenise Turner-Sloss for Mayor. She leads and fights for working families. Her leadership has made this Project Labor Agreement more impactful.

From Commissioner Turner Sloss -

Have you heard? This week I am celebrating another major legislative achievement that helps workers and organized labor. For the first time, Dayton will be establishing Project Labor Agreements for many large publicly funded construction projects!

A Project Labor Agreement (PLA) is a pre-hire collective bargaining agreement between construction unions and employers for a specific project. It establishes the conditions of employment for all trade workers on that project. The threshold means that most city projects valued above this number must be covered by an agreement, or the bidder will not be awarded the public contract. This encourages employers to work with unions, who are often higher skilled and more experienced. This ultimately results in better working conditions and more responsible use of public funds.

To tell the full story, I approached my commission colleagues about setting the city’s Project Labor Agreement threshold to $200,000 to be closer in line with Cleveland ($500k) and Cincinnati ($400k). This would have ensured that even more workers in Dayton are protected by labor agreements and helped to improve the standards for quality and professionalism in most construction projects. My Commission colleagues counter offered with a threshold of $5 million, which I never got a clear answer on how many projects this would have actually covered if it were in place. I found this unacceptable. They also did not accept the Responsible Bidder requirements or Minimum Contract Standards provisions that I proposed which would have barred any bidder who had violated the Ohio minimum wage laws or who did not certify that all construction workers had completed or were completing a certified apprenticeship program. It also established minimum working conditions requirements. After repeated pressure from myself and my partners in organized labor, we were able to get the majority of the Commission to agree to a compromise threshold of $2 million.

I appreciate my colleagues for making this compromise which allowed this legislation to move forward, and I am happy to celebrate the victory that will establish a threshold when none existed previous. It is true that it will be in a place where it will cover many major projects, but these events really quantify what difference a labor champion in office can have on legislation.

Believe that this is only the beginning, and as mayor I will work to lower that threshold even further, and put other worker protection provisions in place. This is all a part of my platform to support Dayton workers.

This builds on my proposals to establish a Department of Labor standards to monitor and enforce our wage standards, combat wage theft, and cultivate the city’s relationships with organized labor to help the movement for better working and living conditions grow. It’s undeniable that we have taken another major step forward today that should be celebrated, but we all know we have a lot more ground to cover towards building a better future for Dayton.