Jim King makes a Commitment to Louisville’s Working Families
1.20.2010
(LOUISVILLE , Ky.) –Jim King announced today his commitment to Louisville’s working families with a specific 10 point plan to ensure a fair and open environment for Louisville’s working families. He was surrounded by hard working men and women of organized labor, who want to see a change as well at the Carpenters Union Hall on Durrett Lane. The Carpenters and Millwrights of Kentucky and Indiana have endorsed King in his Mayoral campaign.
“I want to be a strong voice for Louisville’s hard working men and women. When I’m Mayor of Louisville every worker will know they have a Mayor who respects their hard work and will stand up for them at City Hall. Whether you are represented by a union or are a self-employed entrepreneur, you’ll always know what to expect from a King Administration – Fair, Open and Honest Communication.”
Throughout his campaign for Mayor, Councilman King has met with many labor unions, both leadership and members, along with small business people. They have expressed the need for change within Metro Government to bring a more balanced approach to how Metro Government interacts with this community’s work force. “
This plan adds an extra layer of principles for our workers in Louisville and I wanted to be specific in my approach. I understand that we can no longer expect our working men and women to be on the outside looking in with no seat at the table. We need a more enlightened approach that allows for all people to have a say in where this community is headed.”
1. LOUISVILLE JOBS FOR LOUISVILLE WORKERS:
As a Louisvillian all of my life, I understand the importance of ensuring employment for members of our community. It is important to the lifeblood of our community to work towards increasing employment on all economic development projects for our local skilled tradesmen and tradeswomen. I believe that Louisville has a workforce second to none with opportunities for learning trades through apprenticeship programs for our work force through our labor unions. As Councilman, I authored the Fair Labor Standards Ordinance requiring that all new large scale economic development projects in Louisville require at least 75% of employment is given to residents in the Louisville region. As our next Mayor, I will work to provide new jobs for our community residents and continue to advocate for Louisville jobs for Louisville workers.
2. GOVERNMENT WORK SHOULD BE DONE BY GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES:
I believe in a lean, capable Louisville workforce that is trained to perform services efficiently. I also believe that our public sector employees are a group of proud and hard working professionals determined to provide top notch quality services to our tax payers. Metro Government should reward our employees with opportunities for advancement, a positive work environment and a fair wage, and not second guess their work by contracting with private sector businesses to cut costs. As Councilman, I have worked to deny legislation proposed by other Council members requesting studies of costs for services performed by Metro Government. While I understand that not every government function can be performed by a Metro employee, I stand with our current dedicated workforce and will ensure they are always provided for by Metro Government.
3. INCREASED MINORITY AND WOMEN PARTICIPATION:
Louisville is a melting pot of diversity. I understand that quality work is performed by members of our community that are men and women, black and white, young and old, rich and poor, and educated both through our universities and apprenticeship programs. Opportunities should abound for all of us, and as Mayor, I will work to ensure all workers have a seat at the table to bid on government work. As part of the Fair Labor Standards Ordinance that I authored, a goal of 20% minority participation was included as well as a 5% participation by women. While these are important goals to be included in future economic development, I believe we should work toward breaking the glass ceiling and gender gap in pay and benefits now by encouraging minority and women participation in all Metro Government contracts.
4. SUPPORT OF COMMUNITY BENEFIT AGREEMENTS:
I know that supporting Community Benefit Agreements (CBA’s) is the right thing to do for our community. Not only do they ensure our working men and women have a seat at the table to negotiate contracts with developers, but they also hold developers accountable to provide a quality work environment. As part of the recent negotiations for the new downtown Arena, I led the effort for a Project Labor Agreement (now known as a CBA) and when vetoed by our current Mayor, I worked to ensure our local labor unions were represented and participated in the negotiations for building the Arena. As our next Mayor, I will always support CBA’s for large scale economic development projects in our region.
5. AMENABLE DISPUTE RESOLUTION:
Metro Government contracts with several labor unions to provide services to our taxpayers. I believe in collective bargaining as the way to negotiate with our labor unions, and while I understand that not every dispute can be resolved amicably at the bargaining table, I believe that it is important to have fair, open and honest discussions on ways we can work together. If and when these discussions break down and we have to agree to disagree, I agree with our labor unions that an independent third party negotiator should be brought in to help find a solution. Not only will this help save time and money by not going through the court process, but it will also ensure that a decision that fairly represents the facts of each case is made. I want to change the culture of labor relations within Metro Government and want to work more closely with our labor unions to find solutions to tough problems together.
6. EQUAL PAY FOR EQUAL WORK:
For too long in Metro Government there has been inequity in pay and benefits for our working men and women. We have employees that work side by side doing the same type of work in various departments yet are not paid the same, take breaks and lunches for different lengths of time and are provided with different benefits packages. I believe that a more common sense approach needs to be taken with our labor unions to ensure there is equal pay and benefits for work done for Metro Government. Not only will this help level the playing field for all employees of Metro Government, but it will also provide all employees with the opportunity to have a sense of equity within their departments.
7. BETTER OPPORTUNITIES FOR HEALTH CARE:
I am proud of the fact that all Metro Government employees are provided with an opportunity for health care coverage. And while our health care options and benefits packages are less costly to our employees than most in the private sector, I believe we should still work to find better options for our employees. Health care is a right, not a privilege and to ensure our work force stays healthy and working toward providing quality services to our taxpayers we must continue to keep open the options of finding better quality health care for our employees.
8. AGGRESIVELY PURSUE ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES FOR OUR COMMUNITY:
Louisville has a wonderful quality of life with minimal costs of living and reasonable costs for businesses and industrial opportunities. I understand that our community will only thrive with strong economic development that provides good paying jobs for our local workers. As a local businessman myself, I know what it takes to operate productively and efficiently, all while providing a good place to work for my employees. I will work to find new economic development opportunities for our community by opening up additional lines of communication with businesses and CEO’s all around the world while keeping our labor leaders actively involved in discussions from day one.
9. ENSURE OUR PREVAILING WAGE ORDINANCE IS SUSTAINED:
Our current Metro Government ordinances state that prevailing wages must be paid for all contracts with Metro Government that exceed $250,000. In addition to those requirements, I worked to put that same standard into the Fair Labor Standards Ordinance, but it was vetoed by our current Mayor. In a King Administration, you’ll never have to wonder if our current prevailing wage laws will be changed - they simply will not. Further, I will work to strengthen the Fair Labor Standards Ordinance and decrease the threshold for the ordinance to take effect. I understand that prevailing wages provide a level playing field for all quality workers while ensuring oversight and accountability within our system. I’ll always stand up for the working men and women of this community by supporting our prevailing wage laws.
10. FAIR, OPEN AND HONEST COMMUNICATION:
A prominent theme of my Mayoral campaign has been that all working men and women will have a seat at the table in a King Administration. This is to ensure a proactive discussion on how Metro Government does business takes place. We truly need a change in our labor culture within Metro Government and how we communicate with our working families. That’s why I have committed to holding regular meetings with all labor union members in Louisville – whether you do business with Metro Government on a daily basis or only on rare occasion, I believe that you have the right to communicate with your local elected officials on a regular basis. Only if we start a dialogue on what needs to happen for the betterment of our community can we truly make it a reality.