NCJC Position on First Source Amendment

A Law With Teeth - It is also of merit to note that when legislators intend for a law to be enforced, they include both the specific regulation, substantive penalties for infractions, and the funds to implement all elements of the law and the regulations.  Let  us hope that this will be the case here.

Here's What's Needed - One, there should be a First Source Officer who is a single point of contact for all questions and documentation.  That person should be personally liable for the accuracy and validity of all data supplied in reference to the law.  This is not without precedent.  The GMP’s (good manufacturing practices) regulations call for personal responsibility AND criminal penalties for failure to adhere.

Visual Display by Prime Contractor - We also feel strongly about visible displays.  I suggest that a graphic sign equal in size and visibility to the contractor and prime be co located in a prominent place visible to the public. 

The sign should display:  The name of the prime contractor and major sub contractors on the sight.  The sign also should contain t he following:  1) The name of the First Source Officer along with contact information.  2) The number of all trades and laborers working on the site.  3) The number of trades and laborers who live in DC.  3) The percentages of labor hours required by First Source and the average percentages of hours worked by category over the previous reporting perion (month, quarter, etc)  At the bottom.  These should be adjacent to each other for easy comparison.  Finally, there should be  a tally board and back up documentation should be maintained by the First Source Officer at his desk on the site.  This board should be kept updated (with penalties for failing to do so) and available on demand by any person or organization with standing.

Co Director Peloquin Addresses Green Statehood Party General Meeting

A Meaningful Intellectual Dialog and a Progressive Agenda

We spoke at UDC Law School to a group of around thirty or so party members including David Schwartzman, former party candidate for DC City Council noted activists Michelle and Richard Clemmons among others.  We put forth the NCJC Mission and objectives of a revitalized and effective First Source law along with the pressing, even desperate need for decent and just new green jobs for the district.   Jobs being the key to an economic rebirth for our city.

NCJC was asked to address the First Source law and the proposed amendment.  We noted the improvements in the law and made known our suggestions for further enhancing the potential for an effective implementation and enforcement plan.  Other speakers addressed the issue of:  Wage Theft, a disgusting and growing problem and eliminating the blanket discrimination against returning citizens without cause or purpose.

I was generally impressed by the serious nature of those present.  The progressive agenda and the overall quality of the intellectual discourse.  I think we should consider engaging here.  It will be an opportunity for us to extend our vision and to link with those who would become our allies.

The Illusion of NEW Jobs for DC

As Co-Director of The National Capital Jobs Coalition I am legitimately concerned about new jobs for residents of The District of Columbia.  Why then, am I opposed to the influx of new Walmart stores here in DC?  

There Will be NO NEW JOBS! 

After studying the company’s record, operating history and reviewing economic and demographic studies I oppose WalMart for a number of reasons.  The principal claim made by supporters is that these stores will mean decent jobs for the residents of our city.  The truth , according to local economist Michael Siegel, and supported by other independent studies in Chicago and elsewhere, is that although Walmart  claims to bring 1200 jobs to DC.  In fact it will cost our City 1,600, a net loss of 400 jobs.  Even a casual inquiry will reveal a history littered with broken promises of jobs and prosperity.  In fact what Walmart provides and what our politicos are buying is the illusion of jobs.  

 The WalMart Record is Appalling

Walmart, as a matter of policy under pays and overworks the majority of its employees.  The Walmart jobs available to city residents will be minimum wage and mostly part time.  The company maintains its extraordinary profit margins by a systematic policy of worker exploitation, a statement supported by the record. Walmart intentionally under staffs their stores forcing low paid employees to work harder and longer without overtime and even unpaid off-the-clock.

WalMart Has a History of Unethical Behavior

I also oppose Walmart on ethical and moral issues.  Walmart has been repeatedly sued for unethical and unlawful business practices.  Wal-Mart has paid millions to settle class-action lawsuits that asserted Wal-Mart employees have been forced to work off-the-clock.   The plain truth is that most jobs open to DC workers will not be jobs at all, but in fact will be little more than subsidized servitude. This is worker exploitation in its worst form and a most bitter pill to those who so badly need legitimate jobs to support and raise their families.

 Walmart Puts Workers on Food Stamps

As a matter of policy Walmart has employees apply for Food Stamps and Medicaid, thus forcing the municipalities in which it operates to support Walmart’s overhead.   To the politicians and others who tout the benefits of Walmart and to the citizens of our city who support them.  I repeat the old adage: “Be careful what you wish for … you may get it.”

WalMart: The Illusion of Jobs

WalMart Launches Full-Scale Assault on The District
By now we all know that WalMart is coming.  They are coming in force and with a vengeance.  They have targeted three locations.  They have opened an office here and are holing meetings and makeing the rounds of the ANC's and actively lobbying City Council.  Some people, Council Members among them, believe that WalMart will be good for DC.  Please let me assure you, nothing could be further from the truth.  In fact WalMart is a predator.  They are like commercial vampires sucking the life out of small businesses and wholesalers.  WalMart is business bomb that decimates the communities in which they locate.  For every job the company creates, it costs the community more than 2 existing jobs.  WalMart, the store that trumpets its patriotism is effectively a wholesaler for China.  It buys almost exclusively from China Inc.  WalMart, the champion of Religious values honors only one god ... Money.  It pays well under prevailing wages ... 30 percent of its employees are part time.  it artificially inflates salaries by locating highly paid regional staff at its stores, bumping up the payroll.    Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts.  WalMart is a corporate liar.  It is company policy.

Walmart Employees on Food Stamps
In fact, WalMart recognizes the poverty in which it places employees.  It has a manager whose job is to help the employees apply for food stamps.  Finally, WalMart has demonstrated that it engages in active decption of the communities in which it locates.  They will make many promises, but they do NOT live up to them.  They will never sign a community benefits agreement because they have no intention of ever honoring it.  They will not submit themselves to a contactual agreement because it has the force of law behind it.  WalMart's intention is to deceive, to get in the door so they can put their avaricious hands into our pockets and take our money and as brother Ray said, "...take it back to Arkansas."  How can you tell when a WalMart executive is lying?  His lips are moving.

First Source: Key Issues

Active and Engaged Implementation, Enforcement, and Monitoring

The following are critical elements, we believe necessary to assure effective implementation and compliance with both the letter and spirit of the NEW First Source Legislative effort. The new law (amended) goes a log ways toward redressing the old grievances, but ... and the word is BUT ... without the provisions and regulations we outline here, it will become too easy for those who would do so (70% of DC foreign companies do not now comply even with the palid provisions of the esiting legislation) ot circumvent and nullify this well intentioned legislative effort.

a.     We expect contractors and construction firms and all those covered by First Source to engage in a pro-active regimen of compliance with both the letter and spirit of the law.  This means …

                                               i.     Establish a First Source Compliance Officer position within the organization.

                                              ii.     Draft and submit for approval a First Source compliance plan (FSCP)

1.     This plan must include both business processes and procedures along with an audit and reporting schedule.

2.     In addition, a file containing copies of W4’s and Drivers Licenses for all workers on the site.  File is to be immediately available to auditors on demand

                                            iii.     Develop and maintain as part of the FSCP, a First Source Remediation Plan that explains in some detail how the organization will remediate non-compliance issues.

2.    Engaged Enforcement

a   The Deputy Mayor for Ecomomic Development now has jurisdiction over the First Source Agreement.  Will he have sufficient budget and resources to accomplish these provisions, given the current fiscal crisis?  We shall see ...Active enforcement needs to be a priority here.

                                               i.     Posting adjacent to the organizations logo and sign a placard of similar size to be easily visible from passing traffic.  This sign shall display the fact that a First Source requirement exists for this company. 

                                              ii.     A separate but equally visible sign shall also display the number of workers on the site, as of last audit, with confirmed DC residential status  and of equal size and position, the number of out of city workers presently employed on the site.

b.    Prohibitive Penalties

                                               i.     In addition to claw back provisions and invoice payment suspension suggested elsewhere , it is essential that penalties are meaningful and have sufficient economic consequences to be taken seriously.

1.     For each percentage point under compliance the company shall be prohibited from biding on city contracts for “n” months.

2.     For every pay period a Payroll report shall automatically be generated using original source documents. The reports shall be directly generated by the organizations payroll system

3.     Any failure to comply such as a workers whose city documentation proves invalid, will generate a $10,000 fine for the first infraction and it doubles for all subsequent violations on each project.

4.     Penalties for failure to respond promptly also need to be substantive.

5.     Finally, three penalties for a single contractor on any one project will result in a one-year suspension from qualified bidding on city projects.

NCJC Looks at First Source, Second Chance

The NEW First Source Law

District of Columbia Workforce Intermediary Establishment and Reform of First Source and Living Wage Amendment Act of 2011

NCJC has reviewed the new First Source Law as amended by Council members H. Thomas, M. Brown and Chairman Kwame Brown.  This law looks like a good strategic approach to establishing DC worker primacy at all DC supported businesses in the District.  Here’s what we like and what we don’t like.

• The law eliminates the “percent of new hires strategy” and substitutes it with percentage of hours worked.  This is good because it will be much harder to fudge those numbers based upon reported payroll.

• Workforce Intermediary Task Force – Mayor Gray is directed to form a task force to investigate “best practices” in other cities who have such laws and to report back for inclusion in the enforcement and implementation of the law..
• We want to see more citizens on the task force and fewer city officials.
• Workforce Intermediary Program – 2 months from the end of the task force work, a program called the Workforce Intermediary Program will be set in place.  It will meet with and structure the individual relationships with prospective businesses covered under the First Source legislation.   If First Source will have the force of law behind it then, this will be excellent. 
•  Establishment of a District of Columbia Jobs Trust Fund – This will be funded by donations etc., but will also receive funds levied as fines and penalties on those who disobey the new First Source Law.    
• fund will be used to pay for enforcement and implementation of the law.Important – The Fund will be protected from scavenging by the general fund, or appropriation for any other purpose.

5.     We do not like the present practice of DCES being the source for companies looking for qualified workers here in DC.  A central data base needs to be built that registers workers and qualifications in a standard format, so that employers can find DC residents with the job skills they want.

As with all such legislation implementation and enforcement will be key.   If the fund is used for that purpose and employers are on notice that this will happen, then it will level the playing field and compliance will be much easier to assure.  Note: This is a brief summary of the plan a more detailed assessment will be forthcoming.

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The March for Jobs and Justice

NCJC has been asked to participate in the First Annual March for Jobs and Justice organized by Dr. Paul Zeitz, Physician and Global Activist.  Jerry Peloquin and Linwood (Gato) Martinez-Bentley, Co Directors of NCJC have been asked to serve on the organizing and platform committee as well.  The March will start at the Martin Luther King Memorial Site at 10:00 AM on Monday, January, 17, 2011 and proceed to the site of his famous, "... I have a dream," speech on the National Mall at 11:00.

Mark this event on your datebook ... it will be an historic bookmark in the annals of human rights and jusitice.

The movement has three fundamental points of focus:  Economic Justice, Electoral Justice, and Health  Justice.  We plan to meet with the team later today and will post here as soon as we have more information Here is the website: http://justicemovementnow.net