|
|
|
IBEW beef over SEPTA contract aired on Council floor
The Web site for the award-winning alternative weekly, the Philadelphia City Paper.
IBEW beef over SEPTA contract aired on Council floor
Yesterday's City Council budget hearings on SEPTA did not, at the outset, promise much in the way of fireworks.
This reporter tweeted suggested questions of a sort that never materialized: (One example: why is it that El operators often fail to mention trolleys aren't running (requiring passengers to remain on the train until 40th street) *before* passengers leave the train to discover SEPTA's only reliable indication of trolley diversions — a blinking blue light?).
But most of the questions asked by Council members were not of the boat-rocking variety; until, that is, it came time for 6th District Councilman Bobby Henon to ask his questions.
After a few routine inquiries, the Councilman, with a round of somewhat awkward throat-clearings, asked: "You would not endorse a company doing business with your organization who had broken the Davis-Bacon law?" referring to a federal act requiring that certain federally-subsidized contractors pay prevailing local minimum wage laws.
"Any contractor that we hire is obligated to comply," with that law, answered SEPTA General Manager Joseph Casey, saying the company could be "disbarred" from working with SEPTA.
"I'm going to reference a subcontractor who, it's been brought to my attention, has some issues," said Henon."I'm going to ask you a list of questions."
The questions, though somewhat hard to understand, revolved around accusations by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 98 that a subcontractor working for SEPTA, the Fairfield Company, has systemically misclassified work assignments in order to underbid other competitors for several major SEPTA contracts.
IBEW Local 98 is the powerful electricians' labor union run by political boss and local kingmaker John "Johnny Doc" Dougherty. Councilman Henon previously served as that union's political director, and his campaign for City Council was heavily supported by Local 98 and a political action committee controlled by Dougherty.
In February, as reported (only) by PlanPhilly, Local 98 asked a SEPTA board to disqualify Fairfield, citing "serious allegations" against the company.
"What I'm trying to do here is establish a record of how people circumvent and how people [undercut] bids systematically by misclassifications on their bids," Henon told Casey yesterday, though he did not go on to elaborate the details of these allegations.
According to a document reviewed by City Paper, IBEW Local 98 has apparently conducted its own investigation of the Fairfield Company and appears prepared to make the case that it was able to underbid other companies for SEPTA contracts by paying for labor at lower rates than required under the Davis Bacon Act.
Reached by phone after the hearing, Henon told CP he's looking out for Philly workers, citing high invovlement rates of local, minority and women-owned businesses in IBEW Local 98's work on the convention center.
- ActiVman
- adventures
- Arts
- Ask A Man-About-Town
- Award Tour
- Awards
- Bad Idea Factory
- Beer
- Below the Curve
- Bikes
- Booze
- Brian Hickey
- BRT
- Budget
- Budget Fuss
- Business
- Casinos
- City Council
- City Hall
- CouncilMANIC
- CP Abroad
- CP in the Community
- Criminal Justice System
- Day Tripper
- Death and Taxes
- Delaware River
- Design
- DROP
- Drugs
- Dubious Distinction
- Elections
- End of Days
- Environment
- Fashion
- Film Fest
- Financial Meltdown
- FrackTrack
- Free Library
- Gambling
- Gay Stuff
- Get Lit
- Greenstorming
- guns
- Hall Monitor
- Health
- Health Care
- Hello, Kitty
- Holidays
- Ice Cubes
- Iggles
- Immigration
- In Memoriam
- Labor
- Lawsuits
- Letters
- LGBTQ
- Maps
- Marcellus Shale
- Media
- MMA
- Mummers
- Music
- MUST READ
- Mysterious Mysteries
- Nation
- News
- Non Sequitur
- Opinion
- PA politics 2010
- Parking Wars
- Parks and Recreation
- People Send Us This Stuff
- Philadelphia Police
- Philadelphia Union
- Philaphemera
- Philly From Scratch
- philly madness
- Photos
- Poverty
- PPA
- President Obama
- Print Edition
- Prisons
- Protest
- Readers Write
- Real Estate
- Rock Bottom
- Schools
- Science
- Screwing Philly
- SEPTA
- snow
- So Lush
- Soccer
- Sporting Life
- Sports Complex
- State Politicians
- State Politics
- Street Art
- Strike
- Stuff We Like
- Taxes
- Taxi Drivers
- Tech Fetish
- television
- The Budget Crisis
- The City Paper
- The CLOG
- The Human Condition
- The Mayor
- The Phightin Phils
- The World
- Things that make you go hm
- Tinfoil Hats Off
- Under the Table
- Under the Tables
- Urban Development
- Urban Planning
- urban wildlife
- Video Poker
- We Call Shenanigans
- Weather
- Web Junk
- Weekend Omnibus
- White House
- What We've Found
- Women's Issues
- Flyered Up!
- How 'Bout That Weather?
- it's always sunny in philadelphia
- Stu!
- Shopping
- get out
- 10-track mind
- ArtsFlash
- Bloggity
- Bruce Being Bruce
- Colleges
- Comedy
- Gigantic Surprises
- Hello Canary
- Hello Puppy
- errata
- get lost
- Inside The Fishbowl
- Library Closings
- Local Support
- Movies
- Murder
- Night Moves
- Recycling
- radio
- Scientology
- Sex
- Sixers
- Skeeze Police
- State Politicians Screwing Philly
- That's a cool stencil!
- Theater
- Things We See
- This Week
- This Week in Oates
- University City
- WIN
- What we don't heart
- trailer!
- what we heart
- Feeling Guilty
- Askadelphia.
- Broke in Philly
- Contest
- Dance
- Dear Paper Doll
- Do A Good Thing
- Education
- Film Fest Schism
- G20-20 Vision
- Goodbye
- Gossip
- Great American Heroes
- PATCO
- Pearl Jam Week
- Puppy
- Stars of the Photostream
- sustainability
- Lower Merion Webcam-Gate
- The Cycle
- Equality Forum
- Bureaucrat of the Week
- Animals
- ElectionEar
- Photostream
