On the eve of a Burlington City Council vote on the fate of the newly brokered CityPlace settlement and development agreement, Mayor Miro Weinberger announced that a deal has been reached to settle labor concerns.
On Monday night, Weinberger’s office issued a statement that the CityPlace developers have agreed to pay Vermont’s “prevailing wage rate” to all construction workers hired for the project. That’s a fair wage set by the state for various labor positions.
For example, in the Burlington region, the fair wage for construction contractors is $31.50 an hour and for construction laborers is $18.45 an hour.
The deal comes after the Vermont AFl-CIO labor council drummed up opposition to the development agreement reached last week. The city government and the CityPlace developers worked out the agreement after the city sued for breach of contract last fall, aiming to compel construction on the long-stalled project that has left a giant hole in downtown Burlington.
Vermont AFL-CIO President David Van Deusen called on city councilors to reject the agreement last week because it didn’t require union labor on the project. Van Deusen argued that CityPlace should be built by workers who are offered living wages in safe working conditions.
City councilors postponed action on the CityPlace agreement so they could work through these issues. A special council meeting has been scheduled Tuesday evening to discuss and either approve or reject the deal.
On Monday night, Van Deusen told VTDigger he’s calling on councilors to approve the development agreement, now that wage protections for workers have been incorporated. Tim LaBombard, president of the Vermont Building and Construction Trades Council, also expressed support for the project.
“I have personally been in contact with the Progressive caucus within the last five hours,” Van Deusen said. “I told them we are good with the agreement in place. We’d like to lock in the improvements that we got in this agreement, and we support a yes vote.”
In the mayor’s press release, CityPlace developer Don Sinex said he’s ready to move forward, too.
“We are delighted to further commit to pay the prevailing wage rates to all construction workers at our project and our team looks forward to working with all trades in Burlington to produce an outstanding project that will provide so many wonderful benefits to the city and all its citizens,” Sinex wrote.
City Council President Max Tracy told VTDigger Monday evening he’s ready to vote for the development agreement with these new protections included. He said he expects the agreement to pass.
“I’m glad that we took the time to get this right and to work with the building trades and to get language that they could feel comfortable with,” Tracy said.
In his statement, Weinberger urged city councilors to approve the CityPlace agreement and end the litigation.
“A vote against the settlement agreement is a vote to risk years of additional delay on a project that the voters want built immediately,” Weinberger wrote, “and a vote for the settlement agreement is to bring resolution and historic improvement to this part of downtown Burlington.”
The agreement would also require developers to prioritize hiring people who are unemployed, and are a minority, a New American, a veteran or a woman. Developers are also required to establish an “open, transparent and fair hiring and bidding process” throughout construction.
