PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A Philadelphia City Council committee advanced a bill that would require buildings or businesses to keep workers even if it was sold and used for a different purpose.
The controversial bill mandates who an employer can hire. Mayor Jim Kenney vetoed it before he left office by not signing it. But sponsor Jim Harrity is undeterred, saying he just wants to help the most vulnerable workers, including custodians, doormen and concierges, who get laid off when a business converts from one use to another.
“We're just trying to give them a little bit of added protection to keep people working,” Harrity said.
At a hearing Thursday, Tiffany Cherry, who's been a cleaner at the Bellevue for 13 years, testified that staff has decreased from 23 to five after converting most commercial spaces to residential.
“These changes are not being made due to the work performance. They are being made based on circumstances outside our control,” Cherry said.
Don Haas of the Building Owners Association (BOMA) tells a different story.
He says last fall, BOMA negotiated a contract with SEIU, which represents building workers, and the union agreed to give up worker protections in exchange for higher wages. Three days later, Harrity introduced the worker protection bill.
“Seeking to gain legislatively the displaced worker protections that SEIU opted to forego at the bargaining table. BOMA objects to this level of government interference in a long-established labor practice,” Haas said.
Harrity says he's willing to keep working on the bill to make it more palatable but he intends to move ahead.
The bill passed the committee unanimously and could be voted on within two weeks.