Construction Workforce Diversity

In the City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – there is an under-utilization of men of color in the construction labor force for both public and privately-owned development projects. This problem must be remedied to provide much needed employment opportunities for disadvantaged workers in the poorest big city in the United States of America.

The issue of economic disparity was a major focus of my policy and legislative work for the sixteen years that I served as an At-Large Member of Philadelphia City Council. Prior to my election in 1999, I spent seven years as an economic development administrator in local government within the executive branch. I ran for public office to shift the public policy discussion on economic development to one with an additional focus on economic equity. I believe in economic justice, so I became a legislator.

At the end of my first year in elected office, Philadelphia City Council gave approval to legislation supporting the construction of baseball and football stadiums. The stadium legislation was my first major opportunity to impact public policy related to the diverse utilization of construction workers. My long-term goal was to institutionalize that mandate for diversity in all City contracts.

The disparate treatment of men of color is often a major part of local public policy discussion when a major project like a convention center or the stadium is considered for public investment. The dominant issue is that the supply of construction labor in Philadelphia is largely controlled through both formal and informal agreements with the Building and Construction Trade Union (BCTU) organizations, a major political force in the City.  In short, there is a BCTU monopoly on the supply of construction workforce labor – and the supply is not diverse enough.

The availability of men of color to participate on construction work sites is measured in an annual workforce disparity analysis of public projects that require economic opportunity plans (EOPs). The disparity analysis is also used to set annual participation goals for the percentage of workforce hours to be performed by disadvantaged workers on projects with EOPs, as required by a 2015 ordinance. In short, the goal should be at least 45% of workforce hours being performed by disadvantaged workers, but the local government goal is only 40%.

Economic opportunity plans (EOPs) must be enforced to increase diverse workforce utilization. Therefore, those projects with no workforce diversity (100% white male and 0% diversity) must be singled-out to examine their best and good faith efforts (BGFE) to achieve the diversity goals that were agreed to in the contract. BGFE must include specific outreach and solicitation of a diverse workforce. Those developers or contractors that signed EOPs but did not achieve any diversity, and did use BGFE as required, should be debarred from doing business with the City for up to three years.

The City’s Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO), the overseer of EOPs, has not been directly responsible for monitoring workforce diversity since 2016 when an ordinance was enacted that shifted that responsibility to the Mayor’s Office of Labor (MOL), because MOL was already collecting certified payrolls from construction sites on public projects. Situated within the City’s Commerce Department, OEO now focuses mostly on business contracting diversity.

Most policy action on this issue has come from City Council (Council), the legislative branch of government. Council has enacted legislation that has amended both the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter and the Philadelphia Code to confirm Council’s authority to enact EOP ordinances and to designate agencies, including Council itself, to enforce EOPs through the debarment of City contractors that are in noncompliance. Council created the Economic Opportunity Review Committee (EORC) chaired by the Director of OEO, also consisting of representatives from municipal labor unions and chambers of commerce for disadvantaged communities. The EORC must meet at least quarterly in a public setting (televised from Council Chambers) and take public testimony that is officially transcribed and filed with the Chief Clerk of Council as a matter of public record.  The meetings are to consider the effectiveness of EOPs in expanding business and workforce diversity – and if necessary, to make recommendations for the debarment of City contractors that are in flagrant noncompliance with EOPs.

The EORC has not recommended that any contractor be debarred since its establishment in 2012 although disparity analyses have documented multiple public projects with no construction workforce diversity (100% white male) since 2016. Construction workforce diversity was codified into law – and now it must be enforced by the public sector, the private sector and civil society.

 #CancelRacistContractors