Jen Bloom asked me to send this to TC Greens. It challenges Ithaca's City Council to protect workers and the environment:
Hello Friends (apologies for cross-posting),
Some of you have heard about the Common Good Coalition, for others this may be your first introduction to an exciting new community-labor initiative working to shape area development with the following core principles: Collective Bargaining Agreements (PLAs), Living Wages, hiring goals for women and persons of color, and environmentally sound development. We are targeting the Cornell Office complex, which does make good environmental sense by bringing jobs closer to the Ithaca residential community, but other issues have been left unresolved--like the quality of jobs created.
Currently, we are asking the Common Council to adopt these principles at an action on April 4th (see below). We need your support at the rally to make this happen! The goal is to get the Common Council looking at these principles for all area development.
The next general meeting of the CGC will be this Monday at 12pm (Plumbers and Steamfitters Hall, corner of W. State St.) As a new organization that shares the values of many current groups, I extend an invitation to all who are interested in attending. Our group began with some sputters, but is beginning to take shape as we move forward. You all can make the difference! --jen
Rebuilding Bridges:
A Rally for Community-Friendly Development on the Commons
sponsored by,
The Common Good Coalition
Wednesday, April 4
6:00-7:30
Outside the Common Council Meeting
City Hall, 108 E. Green Street
Who we are: The Common Good Coalition is comprised of Student, Labor, and Community Groups who each share the common belief that we have the power to shape the social fabric of our community by working collectively to establish pro-community development standards.
Our Mission: One common principle that guides the Coalition membership is the belief that large publicly financed tax giveaways should be granted only to those developers/ beneficiaries who agree to build in accordance with pro-community standards. These standards are captured by three development ideals that serve the unique character of the community of Ithaca, NY:
1. Project Labor Agreements (PLA's) -- We believe working conditions for all building project staff, both union and non, must be collectively bargained to ensure the effective ability to demand safety and health protection and training, negotiate fair wages and hours, receive adequate professional skills training, and bargain for benefit security provisions such as health care and retirement planning.
2. Diversity -- Recognizing that new construction projects will translate into job opportunities, the Common Good Coalition advocates for greater participation of local women and minority trades people to fulfill project hours. If tax incentives are to be used to encourage development, the Coalition believes these building projects must also be a means of forwarding the skill-set and diversity of the local labor supply. By utilizing a PLA, we can mandate underrepresented minority hiring goals on local projects.
3. Living Wages -- Long-term job creation subsidized by tax dollars must pay a wage that allows local workers the opportunity to sustain themselves and their families in a dignified manner with the resources to contribute effectively to the vitality of the local economy. Questions: Jen Bloom, Workers' Rights Advocate The Labor Coalition, 277-5670
---------Join The Common Good Coalition------
Rally For Change!!
JOIN OUR EFFORTS TO ENCOURAGE THE COMMON COUNCIL (108 E. GREEN ST.) TO ADOPT THESE DEVELOPMENT STANDARDS ON WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4th, 6:00-7:30!
Who we are: The Common Good Coalition is comprised of Student, Labor, and Community Groups who each share the common belief that we have the power to shape the social fabric of our community by working collectively to establish pro-community development standards. As a new organization we are growing daily and need your support.
Questions? 277-7056 (Jen Bloom, The Labor Coalition)
Statement of Development Principles
We support community-friendly development principles. We, the
undersigned public officials, resolve:
1. That collectively bargained workplace agreements, setting standards for all project staff on local development projects, benefits workers by providing an effective opportunity for workers to democratically determine the terms and conditions of employment;
2. That local construction workers should enjoy hiring preferences over out of town construction workers when local tax dollars or tax abatements are used to support community development;
3. That standards, including hiring goals, must be included in all collectively bargained agreements to encourage the recruitment, training, and utilization of underrepresented women and minorities. Moreover, a strong sanction that will not tolerate or excuse workplace discrimination against women or minority construction workers should be included in this standard;
4. That local development initiatives intended to encourage long-term employment growth should create jobs that pay a living wage, the amount needed to sustain an individual in Tompkins County without the influx of public subsidies such as food stamps, energy assistance, or housing vouchers. In particular, any publicly funded development project must provide those workers who maintain these buildings with a Living Wage;
5. That development which harms the environment, harms our community. AND, THEREFORE, we resolve not supporting the granting of tax subsidies and/or tax abatements to any developer whose history or present intentions contravene these principles. We will use our capacity as elected officials to encourage development practices that benefit our community.
(Letter to Common Council Members)
Last September, the City of Ithaca and Cornell University announced a $17 million multi-story office complex that will be located downtown, funded in part by a 20-year tax abatement and private development funds.
We applaud this proposal as means to improve the vitality of downtown Ithaca, recognizing that approximately 200 trades people will be employed as project staff, long-term employment positions will be created to maintain the facility, and local downtown merchants will see an increase in commerce from building tenants. It is also an environmentally sound development strategy to bring employment closer to the heart of the Ithaca residential community.
Cornell University has agreed to sign a 20 year lease on 70,000 square feet of the proposed 130,000 office complex. Additionally, Cornell University will be selecting the private developer, and in so doing, will be establishing the criteria for which this developer must adhere.
As community members representing a diverse constituency (student, labor, and community advocates) we founded the Common Good Coalition to encourage Cornell University to apply community-friendly development standards on this project. We have asked that an agreement be applied to require that all workforce standards for building project staff, both union and non, be collectively bargained to provide a benchmark for workplace standards that are applied evenly and fairly. Additionally we have asked that special attention be placed on recruiting local women and minorities as a percentage of the project staff. Finally, we have asked that "Living Wages" be paid to those workers who will be maintaining the office complex. Too often these services are contracted out to the lowest bidder, providing the workers with neither the ability to sustain their families or contribute effectively to the local economy. Sadly, in response to our last meeting, Henrik Dullea, Vice President for University Relations, unequivocally stated Cornell University's position: (T)he developer chosen for this project will undoubtedly face a significant challenge defining the project in such a fashion that a reasonable rate of return will be secured from charging competitive market rates for the commercial and university occupants of the building. The application of externally-imposed criteria related to the composition of the work force would simply be inappropriate under these circumstances (letter, 3/9/01).
Advocating for quality local jobs, labor protections, and new opportunities for underrepresented minority workers is not a bad tradeoff for assisting with the tax burden of the soon to be decided developer. As community members who will be shouldering part of this tax burden, it is more than appropriate that such workforce standards be applied.
It has been unfortunate that we have been perceived as narrowly-interested in protecting trade-union jobs and alleged to have threatened Cornell University with "shutting the project down." As a coalition, we ask that ALL workers rights be considered in development initiatives. After a hard internal examination of what we truly stand for, some exciting transformations are underway:
v On March 22 we will be co-sponsoring with the Ithaca Building Trades Council, the first of several community forums to address underrepresented minority recruitment in the area building trade unions. The first, "Rebuilding Bridges: A Community-Labor Discourse on Women and Minorities in the Ithaca Area Building Trade Unions," will be an opportunity for apprenticeship coordinators to meet with community service agencies that primarily work with women and minorities to discuss the nuts-and-bolts of apprenticeship programs and develop effective strategies for recruitment.
v At our last meeting on March 13 we revised our mission to include not only the Cornell University office complex, but all area development as a target in our campaign. We realized that differences aside (for several of the coalition partners it is the first time that groups with divergent agendas have meaningfully sat at the same table), our common community objectives make us allies in social change. Together, we gain the strength and credibility to realize our shared development objectives.
v We have agreed to continue our talks with Cornell University, but we will also be making our campaign more positive so that our mission is not lost amid the rhetoric, making our mission more public to increase awareness about what community-friendly development means for our city, and we will actively work to build our Coalition for the future by continuing to build alliances in the community.
We turn our efforts now to the Ithaca Common Council for assistance in our mission. On Wednesday, April 4, 2001 the Common Good Coalition will be holding a solidarity rally to encourage the Common Council members to pass a resolution that supports community-friendly development standards on the Cornell University project. We are asking that the Common Council play a larger role in defining the criteria in which publicly supported development initiatives are realized in our community.
I have attached a copy of the "Statement of Principles," and more information about the Common Good Coalition for your review. My hope is that we can meet and discuss these issues before April 4th. As I mentioned, we are continuing to talk with Cornell University in our attempts to encourage our development goals, but we also need to build alliances with our represented officials that share our vision.
In Solidarity,
Jen Bloom
H&S Trainer, Workers' Rights Advocate
Midstate CLC, The Labor Coalition
jjs33@cornell.edu
277-7053 (H)
277-5670 (W)
The Common Good Coalition is currently targeting our efforts at the
proposed $17 million office complex on the Commons. See below for project
description:
I. Project Description:
A. Office/Retail Building
$17 Million multi-story, 130,000 sq. ft. office building to be
built at the current site of the Tompkins County Trust Company
"Joint venture between the City, the University and a private
developer." (Source: Cornell University Press Release dated September 20, 2000).
10,000 sq. ft. of retail space on first floor, 70,000 sq. ft. of
Cornell office space, leased on a 20 year term, 50,000 sq. ft. of remaining
office space to be leased to tenants yet to be identified.
B. Parking Garage
600 cars (office building and additional downtown parking).
Location: northern half of the Green Street surface parking area.
Financed and constructed by the City.
C. Housing To be constructed and financed by developer, if possible.
D. Tax Relief For Developer 50% real estate tax abatement (all real estate taxes, not just City taxes) for 20 year term.
For more information:
Ed Richie, President Tompkins County Building Trades Council 607-687-8860
Jen Bloom, Midstate Central Labor Council 607-277-5670
