The Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce is leading the charge against a proposed ordinance that would require companies that win janitorial, security and building maintenance contracts in Providence to offer jobs to the workers of the firm they outbid.
The goal of the “Displaced Workers Ordinance,” to be considered by the City Council’s ordinance committee on Wednesday at 6 p.m., is to send a message that Providence “cares about all residents… and all workers,” not “just about wealthy developers and the business class, co-sponsor Councilman Miguel Luna said in a news release last month.
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“Doing business and owning real estate downtown are increasingly profitable endeavors,” said Councilman David Segal, another co-sponsor. This measure and unionization, he said, “will provide these hard workers with increased job security and higher wages, and help to ensure that the downtown renaissance benefits the neighborhoods, too.”
Under the ordinance, which applies to all businesses with three or more employees, if a company terminates a contract for janitorial, security or maintenance and hires someone else, the new contractor must offer the jobs to the employees of the old contractor (as long as they’d worked for them for at least eight months) during a 90-day transitional period.
Any layoffs during this period must be by seniority, and any laid-off employees must be given preference if there are new hires during the 90-day period.
New contractors would have to notify the old contractors’ workers individually of their rights under the ordinance, including a clause that says if they believe they’ve been fired or hired in violation of the measure, “you have the right to sue us and be awarded back pay, attorneys’ fees and court costs.”
The Chamber is coordinating business opposition to the measure. The group has sent out a notice urging companies who want to join the effort to contact Paul DeRoche at the Chamber, at (401) 521-5000.
