Here’s a business and labor issue of which you may not be
aware: Members of the State Legislature will be advancing a bill
to require any contractor or subcontractor bidding on any public work to
participate in a registered Apprenticeship Program for each separate trade
involved on the job, mandating the use of a union-only workforce. Many feel that A-4305/S-3094 is highly discriminatory,
threatening to put non-union contractors out of business and threatening to put
non-union workers out of work. Furthermore, this measure also seems to hurt union
contractors by severely curtailing the control they currently possess over
their work, bringing new trades onto the job, and limiting a contractor’s
bargaining power during labor negotiations.
