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Urbana Human Rights Commission to draft procedure for reviewing labor organizations tied to city contractors
Summary
Commissioners agreed to begin drafting a procedure to review labor organizations identified by city contractors, aiming to assess unions' affirmative-action practices and limit administrative burden; Peter Resnick volunteered to help draft a proposal for next month.
A commission member asked the City of Urbana Human Rights Commission on Jan. 13 to begin drafting a procedure to review labor organizations that work with city contractors, citing a provision in the city ordinances requiring contractor submissions for affirmative-action review.
The request, introduced during new business, pointed to Chapter 2, section 2-119 of the city ordinances as the legal basis for requiring contractors to submit workforce statistics and for the commission to review compliance. The speaker said the commission has not previously conducted a systematic review of the labor organizations contractors use and urged members to develop a process to do so.
Commissioners discussed how to scope the review. One estimated the universe of potentially relevant unions at roughly eight to 10, and members suggested focusing at first on the unions that have actually worked on Urbana projects rather than every union a contractor might use in other states. Commissioners also debated whether the commission should work with local union chapters, national organizations, or both, and whether to exempt very small unions or set an employee-count threshold to reduce administrative burden.
To gather information, commissioners proposed amending contractor intake forms to require a contractor to disclose whether it employs union labor or contracts with unions and to provide a list of the unions involved. The commission discussed phased or periodic approvals — for example, a one- or two-year recognition for unions — instead of making contractor certification contingent on prior union approval.
Peter Resnick volunteered to lead drafting the procedure, with at least one other commissioner assisting and staff member Carla offering research support. The commission asked for a draft to be presented at the Feb. 17 meeting for further discussion.
The commission did not take a formal vote on the proposal on Jan. 13; members directed staff and the volunteer group to produce a draft procedure for the next regular meeting.
