Collins Suspends Erie County’s Apprenticeship Law
by Matt at Sep 19th, 2008
It is nice to know that some people are fighting for the taxpayers and not kowtowing to the unions.
Honoring a campaign pledge, Erie County Executive Chris Collins suspended the controversial, union-friendly apprenticeship law that business leaders felt unnecessarily drove up the cost of county-financed public works construction projects.
The Erie County Legislature enacted the apprenticeship law two years ago, despite concerns raised by the business community that the law favored unions, limited those who could bid on projects and, effectively, increased construction costs for the cash-starved county.
The law mandated any firm that bid on a county construction project had to have an approved apprenticeship and training program.
“It was the most anti-business, anti-taxpayer law in the county,” Collins said.
To suspend the law, Collins on July 21 submitted a new set of rules and regulations that withdrew the apprenticeship requirement to the Erie County Legislature. The Legislature’s majority had 60 days to block the new set of rules, but failed to do so.
“We did this in the open,” Collins said. “This has been in the light of the day for the past 60 days. We did not try to sneak it past anyone.”
Last summer, then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer also suspended apprenticeship requirements for all state projects.
Erie County Legislator Michael Ranzenhofer, R-Clarence, said the apprenticeship law drove up construction costs between 20 percent and 30 percent.
“It was so un-American and so unfair,” he said. “There will be no more special treatments.”