Thursday, October 9th, 1-3pm
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88 Broad St, 8th Floor Conference Room
Boston, MA 02110
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QUINCY —
The city will not require that the company selected to build a new Central Middle School hire Quincy residents.
U.S. District Court Judge Rya Zobel issued an injunction against the city, ordering it not to enforce any provisions of its Responsible Employer Ordinance until a lawsuit filed by the Merit Construction Alliance challenging the ordinance is resolved.
Merit Construction Alliance, which has butted heads with Quincy in the past over a contract for the new high school, represents and advocates for non-union construction companies.
In her decision, Zobel indicated that Merit’s request to have Quincy’s ordinance thrown out is likely to succeed based on the criteria under which a similar ordinance in Fall River was struck down in October. Zobel was the judge in that case as well.
Quincy’s ordinance requires that companies that win contracts for city jobs hire 33 percent Quincy residents per trade. It also requires apprenticeship programs.
In an affidavit filed in the case, Quincy Mayor Thomas Koch argued that the city has a substantial reason to set aside jobs for residents because Quincy’s blue-collar sector needs work. Zobel questioned that argument.
“Quincy provides no evidence that the city engaged in an extensive fact finding, conducted or commissioned any studies, or made any determination based on evidence that non-residents were a particular source of the unemployment of Quincy’s blue-collar workers,” Zobel wrote. “Quincy does not provide a constitutionally adequate justification for treating residents and non-residents differently in connection with the construction of its public works projects.”
City Solicitor James Timmins said the injunction timeframe prevented the city from gathering all of the evidence it needs to make its case.
He said the city will present a more full-bodied argument to retain the residency and apprenticeship provisions of the ordinance.
“We’ll continue to litigate to see if we can preserve those two provisions in our ordinance going forward for other projects,” he said.
Merit Construction Alliance President Ronald Cogliano said Quincy’s defense of the ordinance is a waste of taxpayers’ money and is being pursued by Koch “in the name of helping his cronies in organized labor.’’
“There is nothing responsible about Quincy’s city ordinances when they violate the constitutional rights of working men and women and block them from working on construction projects they are paying for with their tax dollars,” Cogliano said.