Joseph F. Shanley, running for Camillus 5th Ward Town Board

1. A Project labor agreement is a comprehensive pre-hire collective bargaining agreement that establishes standardized conditions and wages for all contractors and subcontractors on a PLA covered project. PLAs offer:

Stable labor costs so you can bid without guessing.
Reliable supply of local skilled workers for the project duration.
Apprenticeship trained and certified workers.
A no-strike, no lockout commitment.
Binding procedures to settle disputes, so no work stoppages.
Management flexibility to meet special project needs.

Do you support Project Labor Agreements? If not, explain why.

ANSWER: Yes

2. Private school vouchers and other schemes like education tax credits for K-12 private school expenses undermine public education by taking scarce public funds away from public schools that are open to the public and shifting them to private schools.
The AFL-CIO strongly supports legislation that would strengthen public education by helping states and local school districts reduce their class sizes and finance school repair, construction, and modernization projects with protection for prevailing community wages. A growing number of public schools all across the country are being forced to set up classrooms in trailers, hallways, and closets in order to accommodate their rapidly rising enrollments. One-third of all public schools also need extensive repair or replacement.

What is your view of proposals to provide for private school vouchers and/or charter schools?

ANSWER: I am a firm believer in education for our children that is why I oppose vouchers for private schools and/or charter schools. I strongly support the AFL-CIO's position on strengthening legislation for public education "by helping states and local school districts reduce their class sizes and finance school repair, construction, and modernization projects with protection for prevailing community wages". Schools that are set up in trailers, gyms, hallways or any other area are not condusive to learning and should be done away with. Stonger support for education needs to begin with politicians that support our public schools and work hard to bring in the money for our childrens future.

What would you do to improve the state of disrepair many of our public schools are currently experiencing?

ANSWER: I would work with fellow politicians to make education legislation a top priority to get the current system out of the funk it is in. A school system should never have to beg or borrow from lottery proceeds to get what they need to survive. This is not putting the children of our community on the path that we want them to follow. More money is needed in the State budget for education but it needs to be divided up fairly so Syracuse schools are not left behind.

3. Ninety-four percent of workers say firing an employee for supporting union representation is an “unacceptable action” and 80 percent say they are aware that such actions are against the law. Nevertheless, employers illegally fire union supports in 31 percent of organizing campaigns and many use other tactics to thwart workers’ efforts to form unions.
A recent report by Human Rights Watch shows that existing laws are too lax and unenforced to prevent employer attacks on workers’ rights. For instance, while employers can prevent unions from contacting workers at their work places to discuss the advantages of union membership, they are free to deluge workers with anti-union messages.

Do you believe employers should be held accountable for their anti-union activities?

ANSWER: Yes, As a former union divisional president (VA Medical Center, Syracuse), and former business representative for the Service Employees International Union, Local 200United, I strongly support labors right to exist. I believe that any employer that interferes with a union that is trying to organize should be held accountable for their actions/activities.

If yes, what actions should be taken against companies that violate workers’ rights to organize?

ANSWER: I believe that if a company violates workers' rights to organize, then they should be denied public contracts, subsidies, or other funds that they need to operate. I feel that the public would need to be contacted about the unfair practices of the company by either mailings or demonstrations targeting their store.

How could labor laws be improved to guarantee workers’ right to organize?

ANSWER: Labor laws need new legistation that requires businesses to grant union organizers access to parking lots and other areas of their property, such as an employee break room and not be penalized in any way.

4. While the economy has been growing, this growth has been accompanied by a sluggish job market that seems to provide too few with a rising standard of living or greater economic security. Economists have attributed this unique predicament to several factors, including corporate downsizing, global competition, the introduction of labor saving technologies, and a pattern of increasingly large rewards to more highly skilled employees. Indeed, a recent study found that most Americans today are worse off than they were before the 1989-1991 recession.
Many northeast communities have lured businesses or encouraged them to stay through tax incentives. However, these incentives have not prevented those companies from downsizing the jobs of those very same taxpayers who offered the tax breaks in the first place.

Should companies be able to accept such tax breaks only to downsize thereafter?

ANSWER:No, if a company accepts a tax incentive then I feel they must abide by that promise.

How would you correct this apparent inequity?

ANSWER:If a company accepts this incentive and then goes back on its word, then they need to be penalized. The reason for the tax incentives is to keep people employed, if they cannot keep that promise, the tax incentives need to be reviewed and taken away if necessary.

5. An honest day’s work should be rewarded with an honest day’s pay. That’s what a “Living Wage” is all about. Living wage ordinances have been enacted in 80 localities across the nation and have been passed in Rochester, Buffalo and New York City.
A living wage ordinance requires employers to pay wages that are above federal or state minimum wage levels. Only a specific set of workers are covered by living wage ordinances, usually those employed by businesses that have a contract with a city or county government or those who receive economic development subsidies from the locality. The rationale behind the ordinances is that city and county governments should not contract with or subsidize employers who pay poverty-level wages.
The living wage level is usually the wage a full-time worker would need to earn to support a family above the federal poverty line, ranging from 100% to 130% of the poverty measurement. The wage rates specified by living wage ordinances range from a low of $6.25 in Milwaukee to a high of $10.75 in San Jose ( A wage of $8.96 an hour with health benefits is recommended for Syracuse, NY.).
Living wage ordinances provide much needed raises for low-income workers. Wages for the bottom 10% of wage earners fell by 9.3% between 1979 and 1999. The number of jobs where wages were below what a worker would need to support a family of four above the poverty line also grew between 1979 and 1999. In 1999, 26.8% of the workforce earned poverty-level wages, an increase from 23.7% in 1979.

Can you provide a good reason why you would not support legislation that requires a living wage for workers? Please include your position on a living wage for Syracuse-area workers.

ANSWER:I cannot provide any reason why I would not support this legislation. I STRONGLY believe that everyone deserves a living wage and I will publicly support any legislation that speaks to this issue. It is a
necessity for any business to understand that an employee working for them is not just a piece of meat but a living, breathing endorsement of their company. Pay and dignity and respect of the employee ensures a quality company. Paying a living wage must be a priority for employers in the Syracuse area.

6. “Down-waging” has become a standard practice by highly profitable companies who replace full-time workers with part-timers, temps or sub-contract out for lower wages and poorer benefits. Between 1980 and 1995, 42-million jobs were lost in the United States. Each year, there are 50 percent more people laid off than are victims of crime, which raises the question of which is the greater social ill.
Reduced wages and benefits negatively impacts on families’ ability to afford adequate health care. Forty-three million Americans do not have health insurance and another million lose it each month.

And, while many parents believe college costs will be the biggest expense they face for their children, in fact many will spend more in a year on quality child care than on public college tuition, according to a new Children's Defense Fund (CDF) report.

The AFL-CIO supports guaranteed high-quality child-care, health care, job education and training.

What steps can elected officials take to ensure that these benefits are available to all Americans?

ANSWER:I support the creation of a local prescription drug discount card for people without drug coverage. I also support a single-payer system of universal, public health insurance which, if run properly through education and training, can be a great system. I will work on any committee that speaks to quality health care and the publics right to it. In our society, 43 million working people without health insurance is unbelievable. I will strongly support any legislation that ensures that quality health care remains a staple of the community.

7. Those who advocate the privatization of government services seek a significant reduction in the government’s role in society. But, market-oriented policies cannot be relied on, by themselves, to meet our citizens needs.
Studies conducted by Cornell University found that the claims by privatization ideologues, are “quite groundless” and the empirical research supporting such claims are “so flawed as to be useless as a policy guide.”
Instead, privatization of government services has been shown to
•diminish the access to public services
•reduce employee morale, productivity and turnover
•exploit part-time workers through low wages and benefits
•increase discrimination against minorities
•cause the loss of government sovereignty
•weakens constitutional rights (e.g., whistle blowing, ethical conduct)
•reduce quality of services
•increase corruption, bribery and kick-backs
•lose accountability for public values and services.

Do you support privatizing public services? Please explain your answer.

ANSWER: I do not support privatization of public services. Too many times in our community a company comes along and takes over services with the promise that they can get the job done better. Most of the time this is not the case. For example, the contracted company comes in and pays a lower wage with reduced benefits. This causes employee morale to go down which in turn reduces the quality of work. These contract companies think that they can treat employees any way they like which causes discrimination and ethical issues.

8. As an elected official, how would you ensure that the voice of labor and community-based agencies are recognized on decision-making bodies such as the Industrial Development Authority?

ANSWER: I believe that union labor should always be given first choice when it comes to proposals for new public projects. This will ensure that the job will be done in an efficient, safe and cost effective manner. As an elected official, I will make it known to the Industrial Development Authority that labor and community-based agencies will be heard on their issues. If they don't agree, then action must be taken such as letters to the editor, picketing or speaking out at Authority meetings.

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Greater Syracuse Labor Council Questionnaire