Denver Councilman Chris Nevitt’s push to pass a new law that would require winning bidders of 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 this 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 worker will make it harder to achieve those efficiencies, Blake and Door said.
They said that while Nevitt’s proposal protects employees working for a previous contractor, it harms those employed by a new, incoming contractor.
Nevitt said a solid majority of the Denver City Council has told him they support his plan. The council will take the issue up in committee on Tuesday.
“The mayor told me to my face he didn’t have a problem with this,” Nevitt said.
But Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper on Friday said 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.”
Nevitt watered down an earlier proposal, removing provisions that required “worker retention” for city licensees, such as rental car firms, and concessionaires, like coffee shops at the airport. He also reduced the amount of time that employees must be retained from 180 days down to 90 days.
About a dozen cities, including Los Angeles, Seattle and Washington, have enacted similar, union-backed ordinances. The one 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 vulnerable working class people and disputes that costs will increase.
The salaries of front line workers already are set under prevailing wage laws, he said.
Nevitt added that his proposal would allow contractors to fire employees for poor work performance. Contractors also can reduce the size of the workforce if they determine they need fewer workers, but seniority would determine who gets to keep their jobs in such cases.
Christopher N. Osher: 303-954-1747 or cosher@denverpost.com
