While a commendable new City ordinance was passed last week by the Board of Aldermen, its passage points to the complexity of promoting minority inclusion in the local workforce through legislation.
Board Bill 75, spearheaded by Alderman Terry Kennedy, establishes new goals for including minorities, women and city residents in the workforce for public works where the contract is valued at $1 million or more.
The new workforce goals mirror those set forth in the Mayor’s Executive Order for minority subcontractors. Under the new law, the St. Louis Agency for Training and Employment (SLATE) will set goals for 25 percent of all labor hours in City projects of this scale to be worked by minorities and 5 percent to be worked by women.
Though “minority” is defined so as to also include Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans and Native Americans, in St. Louis these new minority goals would mostly impact African Americans.
In a provision that should be hailed throughout the city, SLATE also will set a goal that 20 percent of all labor hours on public projects of scale be worked by city residents.
The need and justification for inclusion goals are well stated in the ordinance, which also was sponsored by Aldermen Dionne Flowers, Craig Schmid, Greg Carter, Shane Cohn, Marlene Davis and Jennifer Florida. We laud them for their leadership.
“Statistical data and other evidence show that minorities and women are under-represented in the skilled workforce of the construction industry and that such under-representation is due to past discriminatory barriers,” the bill notes, arguing that “a diversity program is needed to rectify such under-representation.”
This is undeniably true, and Kennedy and his fellow sponsors should be commended for crafting and passing legislation that aims to put in place a program designed “to rectify such under-representation.”
Furthermore, as Kennedy points out, “With stimulus dollars now available and the possibility of jobs being generated by these dollars, the passage of this bill is timely.” The North St. Louis Recreational Center is just one project in the pipeline to which the goals will be applied.
However, a closer inspection of the legislation, in light of our political realities, shows that this legislation is only a first step.
First, the legislation sets “goals,” not mandates (which would be subject to constitutional challenges). Goals have proven notoriously difficult to enforce because the consequences for not meeting them are not very forbidding.
Also, the legislation authorizes SLATE to waive or reduce the workforce inclusion goals if the agency determines that they render the project economically unfeasible – “or if the agency otherwise determines that a waiver or reduction is appropriate.” Since the director of SLATE is a mayoral appointee, and this administration enforces loyalty from its department heads, this disclaimer gives the Mayor’s Office de facto veto power over the ordinance on a project-by-project basis. No wonder Mayor Francis G. Slay supported it.
The legislation does provide for the creation of a new Community Jobs Board to act as a workforce inclusion watchdog. Its nine members will be appointed by the mayor and the president of the Board of Aldermen, with aldermanic confirmation. Again, the mayor’s role in making appointments to the watchdog board raises serious questions about the independence of this proposed new public body.
Given the law’s inherent weaknesses and this administration’s track record of pressuring its appointees into compliance, it will still take good faith on the part of contractors and a concerted fight on the part of the community to enforce compliance with these new official workforce inclusion goals.
It is, however, good to see the goals stated in a municipal ordinance – and it is a welcome reminder that this region badly needs workforce inclusion, good faith on the part of the business sector, and an enlightened fight for what is right from the community.