Manny Falcone, running for Town of Geddes Councilor - Incumbent
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: I do
support Labor Agreements. I am currently
a member of AFSCME local 815 in Solvay NY. I work for the the Village
of Solvay as a lineman.
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 extremely opposed to private schools. My entire family attended the Solvay School system and we are proud of this. My parents both retired proud union members of the Solvay School System, with over 35 years each.
What would you do to improve the state of disrepair many of our public schools are currently experiencing?
ANSWER: Here locally we have a very nicely run school system, I feel they are on the right track and have a good control on their issues.
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
If yes, what actions should be taken against companies that violate workers’ rights to organize?
ANSWER: We, in
my union, cannot organize. I work for a Municipal
Government a Village.
How could labor laws be improved to guarantee workers’ right to organize?
ANSWER: The unions need to be strong and stand up against the dictator style management; and fight for what is right and in their contracts and agreements.
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
How would you correct this apparent inequity?
ANSWER: Companies
that have a contract to do work need to be
over looked and monitored. If they are not doing the correct thing
they should be fined.
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 support living wage for my area, in Geddes.
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 believe in universal health care. All families should be able to have the correct health care.
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: No. I believe to privatize, lessens the way we live and would only hurt our local governments.
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: Meetings and labor concerns should be addressed, the board should have a variety of labor and non labor members on the board.
Greater Syracuse Labor Council Questionnaire