Prince George’s County business leaders say two job-creation bills working their way through the county’s legislative pipeline would negate each other and any positive effects either bill may have for county workers. Council Members Mel Franklin, D-Accokeek, and Andrea Harrison, D-Bladensburg, pitched the “Jobs First” act to a Prince George’s Chamber of Commerce committee on Monday, a bill that sets ambitious goals for county agencies to spend their contract and procurement dollars on county-based business.
The legislation would require contractors to make their “best efforts” to employ at least 51 percent of their work force from within the county, a measure supported by the chamber.
But another bill, sponsored by Councilwoman Karen Toles, D-Suitland, would require collective bargaining agreements for contracts exceeding $1 million.
That bill may cancel out the good intentions of Franklin and Harrison’s legislation, according to chamber members.
Since the bill would require Project Labor Agreements for some of the county’s largest contracts, fewer county employees would get a chance to find work, according to Octavia Caldwell, chairwoman of the chamber’s legislative committee.
Historically, contracts in Prince George’s executed with Project Labor Agreements haven’t benefited the county’s minority residents, she said, as union contractors tend to have their own hiring practices that differ from the county’s goals.
Those goals leave Prince George’s County workers on the sidelines of some of the county’s largest developments, according to Shirley Thompson, executive director of the Maryland Minority Contractors Association, who has spoken before the council in opposition to the bill.
“Within those particular unions, minorities aren’t well represented beyond entry-level positions,” Caldwell said.
Twelve percent of the county’s $1.3 billion in procurement spending in the past three years has gone to county businesses, according to county officials.
Neither law would trump the other, Franklin said. Instead, any labor deals negotiated by unions would have to meet the requirements of county law, including measures for local hires.
“If the law says you’ve got to have 51 percent local workers, whatever Project Labor Agreement is negotiated will have to abide by that,” Franklin said.
The bill also includes waivers in cases where the county’s work force can’t provide enough labor for a job, Harrison said.
The county’s unemployment rate climbed to 7.5 percent in June, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the highest it has been since August 2010. The jobless rate in neighboring Montgomery County was 5.6 percent in June.
