City Councilman Chris Nevitt’s push for a law that would require firms that win city service contracts to keep the employees of the previous contract holder is generating stiff business opposition.
Business leaders say Nevitt’s proposal will inflate the cost of doing business for contractors and negate the benefits of competitive bidding.
Tami Door, president of Downtown Denver Partnership, and Joseph Blake, president of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, wrote a joint letter to Nevitt last week detailing their opposition.
“First, we fundamentally disagree that it is a proper role for government to attempt this type of guaranteed employment,” their letter states. “It is the government’s responsibility to deliver high-value services in the most efficient manner possible.”
Requiring a new contractor to keep a previous employer’s workers will make it harder to achieve those efficiencies, Blake and Door said.
Nevitt said a solid majority of the City Council has told him they support his plan. The council will take up the issue Tuesday. “The mayor told me to my face he didn’t have a problem with this,” Nevitt said.
But Mayor John Hickenlooper said Friday that he was withholding final judgment.
“I understand Councilman Nevitt is reaching out to interested stakeholders — labor folks and the business community — for feedback on his ordinance,” Hickenlooper said in a prepared statement. “I’d like to review that input before taking a position on the ordinance.”
About a dozen cities, including Los Angeles, Seattle and Washington, have enacted similar, union-backed ordinances. The proposal in Denver would cover service contracts for janitors and window washers, not professional contracts, such as architectural services. Nevitt said passing the law in Denver will protect working class people, and he disputes that costs will increase.
Christopher N. Osher: 303-954-1747 or cosher@denverpost.com
