Legislative
Council
Sponsored by: Stephen
Fenberg 2nd
Vice President
Eugene Pearson President
Joe Neguse Tri-exec
Authored
by:
Stephen Fenberg 2nd
Vice President
A
BILL
The Capital Construction Building Fee, 60LCB15, was
passed in May of 2004. The fee was
imposed in order to pay for critical campus infrastructure, including a new Law
building, the Atlas Building, an addition to the Business School, IT
Infrastructure, and a new Visual Arts Complex.
UCSU supported the implementation of this fee to pay off the bonds for
the buildings, but only under the mandates included within 60LCB15. These mandates included environmental standards,
family restroom facilities, and collaboration between UCSU and administrators
to draft a pre-qualification process in obtaining a contractor to construct the
building. This last mandate is the
primary concern of this bill. The
mandate is stated as follows:
SECTION 12: There shall be no contract or procurement for any
construction on capital projects paid for by this fee until a UCSU designated
committee or staff person has, in coordination with the appropriate
administration, created a pre qualification process for bidding contractors to
the extent allowable by law. This
includes, but is not limited to standards such as safe and adequate
apprenticeship programs graduating at least 30% of the company’s “pre-journeyman”
workers, a safe staffing plan, adequate health care benefits, a prevailing
wage, union status, and worker’s ability to organize a union. Preference will be given to union
contractors if bids from a union and a non-union contractor come in at the same
price. This section will be subject to
state statutory requirement and subject to the approval of the office of state
buildings
In
recent conversations with administrators, UCSU has learned that we have been
overlooked and left out of the process to find a contractor for these projects.
According to Paul Tabolt, there are conflicts with state statutes that already
address labor, wages and procurement.
After extensive research, it is UCSU’s finding that no such legal
barriers exist. The administration has
excluded UCSU in the ongoing conversations with construction companies, and has
proceeded without any pre-qualification process.
Based on UCSU’s research,
outsourcing entities, like CU, are legally able to pre-qualify bidders with a
formula that guarantees the best value for the cost of a project, and includes
other standards that are not the deciding factors, but are included in the
formula for what will bring the highest quality job for the least amount of
money.
UCSU
believes that the current process for awarding contracts is based on a backward
system that other institutions have reformed in ways similar to that of the
resolution’s attempts. The
administration’s rationale is that the lowest bid is the best, and that it is
the only legal method for bidding a contract as a public outsourcer. This rationale neglects the reality of
overwhelming costs put to students and the public in previous contracts because
“bad actors” failed to meet basic standards, such as adequate training for
employees, health and safety measures, stable structures, required rest and
break periods for workers, double and triple the average rate of injury and
death on-site, and other “set-backs” resulting from poorly prepared contractors
waving the lowest bid in front of the administration without any consideration
of the best value, or typical formulas for determining standards that save both
money and lives. Hence, the
administration’s rationale essentially dictates that those applicants with the
worst credit, are the most attractive; those who have cheated previous clients,
broken the law, or even increased previous costs to students and taxpayers here
at CU once or twice before, are still the most desirable. Moreover, because responsible contractors
refrain from offering ridiculously low bids and increasing costs later, they
have learned to not bother bidding, since less responsible contractors always
get the public sector jobs.
Nonetheless, using a best value formula shows that responsible
contractors can provide far better value without increasing their rates long
after the project has begun. The
current rationale has excluded the most responsible, most cost-effective
contractors simply because public officials, like administrators at CU, do not
consider the enormous value of quality and stable, safe, and dependable work
that costs students and the public what they thought they would be paying.
Likewise,
UCSU’s concern comes from the irrefutable data nationwide pointing to the
construction industry as one of the deadliest, most dangerous occupations in
the country. The Building Trades of
Colorado’s figures show that men from Spanish-speaking countries make-up more
than 90% of the industry’s workforce, and the National Employment Law Projects
most recent study on occupational fatalities shows that Latino men working for
irresponsible contractors are 2.5 times more likely to die than their
counterparts. In addition, workers
without the standards associated with responsible contractors are more than 10
times more likely to die on the job than police officers, according to the US
Department of Labor. The Front Range
Economic Strategy Center has also compiled local data revealing similar trends
in Colorado, connecting the highest rates of turnover, worker abuse, federal law-breaking,
chronic pain, permanent injury, and death to contractors bidding low prices
without providing basic training, protections, or humane working conditions to
their vulnerable workforce. UCSU
believes that there is little room, or time, to prevent an irresponsible
contractor from once again taking advantage of students and workers on our
campus, and that the best value and the best values can be implemented with a
reliable consultant and some dedicated work in the coming months.
This bill establishes that UCSU Legislative Council
will go to Finance Board and request SOR funds to be provided to hire a
consultant in order to meet the mandates included in the Capital Construction
Building Fee bill.
_____________________________________________________________________________
THEREFORE,
BE IT ENACTED by the Legislative Council of the University of Colorado Student
Union, THAT:
SECTION 1: UCSU included the mandates
as stated in Section 12 of 60LCB15 to protect students and taxpayers from
excessive long-term costs, as well as workers from traditionally irresponsible
contractors
SECTION 2: In order to meet the mandates included in 60LCB15, UCSU
Legislative
Council
will go to Finance Board and request SOR funds to be provided to hire a
consultant
SECTION 3: The hired
consultant will fulfill the job description included in Appendix
A.
SECTION 4: This Bill takes effect upon special order and upon obtaining the
signatures
of
the UCSU Legislative Council President and the Tri-Executives.
______________________________________________________________________________
7/1/04 Passed
Special Order 9-2-0
__________________________________ _________________________________ Eugene Pearson, Legislative
Council President Joe
Neguse, UCSU Tri-executive
__________________________________ _________________________________
Veronica Crespin, UCSU Tri-executive Garrett
Stanton, UCSU Tri-executive
Appendix A
Position Title
Consultant for UCSU Capital Construction Fee
Bill Mandates
Job Description
The position will be used to rigorously
research and negotiate the legal, political, administrative, and economic
landscape of the State of Colorado and the University of Colorado in order to
implement formats for ensuring workers’ rights in UCSU-funded projects or areas
affecting students at CU-Boulder, and to recommend policies that meet the needs
of students, workers, and the CU community when affected by the health and
welfare of workers primarily or secondarily associated with CU, like
construction workers contracted for UCSU’s capital building projects.
Responsibilities
The position’s responsibilities include:
Consultation to USCU-appointed Environmental
and Labor commission fulfilling the Capital Building Fee Bill’s mandate to
ensure protections for workers hired with student fees;
Create a sound and legal pre-qualification process
that meets the mandate of UCSU’s capital fee resolution language, and satisfies
the interests of both the student body and the administration;
Investigation
into the past practice and record of any employer or contractor hired with
student fees, or any employer or contractor considered for any bid at CU that
is funded by or affects CU students;
Extensive research on the legal formats for
creating an atmosphere that respects workers’ rights at CU;
Establish recommendations for awarding contracts to bidders that will
create the best value for those
funding the projects, i.e., taxpayers, students, etc…
Negotiation with policymakers to secure
advances for student workers, student-funded workers, or conditions that
ultimately better students’ educational environment at CU;
Advocacy
for the protection of basic standards for workers’ rights, including
supervision of The Capital Building Fees Bill, Section 12 to guarantee access
for workers to a fair contract, to collectively bargain, and to organize
without interference from an employer;
Investigation into the working conditions,
compensation, employment, disciplining, treatment, and termination of workers
employed by student money;
Recommendation of policies that work to
safeguard livable wages, benefits, and working conditions for student workers
and workers hired with student money; and,
Publication of reports that illuminate the
true conditions of student-funded workers.
Qualifications
Familiarity with the CU system and state
statutes pertaining to public contracts and procurement.
Contact with important industry, research and
political support organizations
Experience in the investigation of fraud,
wasted funds, labor violations, and labor law.
Working knowledge of state and federal labor
law and history.