Help Sustain Veto of Apprenticeship Law

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Help Sustain Veto of Apprenticeship Law

On Thursday, the Erie County Legislature is expected to attempt to override County Executive Giambra’s veto of Local Law 1-1 (2006), which would require all contractors doing business with Erie County to have a New York State Department of Labor-approved worker training program in place.

The Partnership supported the County Executive’s veto and urges you to contact legislators who have been identified as potentially voting to sustain it.  Please contact them with your support of the veto prior to Thursday’s 2 p.m. session of the Legislature. Their contact information is listed at the bottom of this e-mail.

The reasons for shutting down Local Law 1-1 are two-fold:

First, the law immediately eliminates nearly 70% of the business community from bidding on Erie County projects. A result of excluding many potential bidders is that costs to taxpayers would likely rise. The City of Schenectady, as one example, was forced to pay an additional $69,000 for a water project due to the elimination of competition through a similar apprenticeship requirement. A study compiled in September 2000 by engineering and management consultant Paul G. Carr concluded that for every lost bid on a project, the increase in cost is 3.228%.  To put that into perspective, for a $10 million project, every bidder lost raises the cost by $322,800. The onerous stipulations in Local Law 1-1 almost guarantee that multiple bidders will be lost on projects.

Second, the ability to implement a NYSDOL-approved worker training program can be extremely difficult for small businesses – both union and non-union. The extreme language of the proposed law requires that all workers engaged in a county project be able to provide proof that they’ve completed NYSDOL-approved training. That means contractors educated at institutions of higher learning – many of whom have worked on public projects for many years – would be ineligible going forward. There are also many trades, including roofing, glazing (windows) and others that have no DOL-approved program in Erie County on record, union or open shop. Under the language of the law, it would be impossible for Erie County to have this, and other types of work, done.

If the Legislature successfully overrides the County Executive’s veto of Local Law 1-1, many potential bidders will be excluded from future Erie County contracts, resulting in higher costs to taxpayers. While the Partnership supports worker training to ensure a skilled workforce for the future, the burdensome requirements in this proposal are unacceptable.

The legislators being targeted by the Partnership and other business groups to sustain the veto are:

Legislator Barry Weinstein, P: 633-0617, F: 633-0618, E: DrBarry15@erie.gov  
Legislator Tom Loughran, P: 836-0198, F: 836-0199, E: loughran@erie.gov
Legislator Michelle Iannello, P: 858-6757, F: 858-8895, E: iannello@erie.gov

Partnership members are urged to contact these legislators before Thursday’s 2 p.m. session and ask them to sustain the County Executive’s veto of Local Law 1-1.

Thank you for your assistance and interest in this important business issue. 

Sincerely,

Andrew J. Rudnick