Earlier this week, on my way to the office I drove by a group of union workers picketing the construction of the Hanover Township Wegmans with the giant inflatable rat you may have seen around before.
As I always have my eyes and ears out for issues all throughout our State, I went over and introduced myself to them and asked what was going on. I was informed that AFL-CIO Local No. 25 Sheet Metal Workers were protesting the hiring of out-of-State workers on the project. They were joined that day by some representatives of UTCA Iron Workers Local 11 in a show of solidarity.
The kicker? I was informed that all other workers on this project except the HVAC and glass contractors were understood to be from New Jersey.
In my view, if you’re going to build a major business location in New Jersey (and we can never bring enough of those in), why wouldn’t you hire New Jersey workers to build it? What could possibly discourage Wegmans from engaging the services of a 100% New Jersey workforce to build their first Morris County location- and what could our Legislature do better to bring business enterprise and labor together?
Well, I made some calls to Sheet Metal Workers Local 25, to the Wegmans corporate office, and to the general contractor retained by Wegmans on the job to hear everyone’s perspective, and found out the nature of the disconnect.
What I discovered from these conversations should come as no surprise: our Democrat-controlled State Legislature simply does not do enough to promote private business enterprise to come and build in the Garden State, and give incentive to hire local workers to do it. I was informed that New York State has numerous programs in place to give tax incentives to private contractors to hire workers who reside in counties within a certain radius of the job site, and nobody seemed to be aware of anything of the kind in New Jersey.
The general contractor’s ultimate goal was to submit the lowest responsible bid to Wegmans for the job, by getting the lowest responsible bids from the various subcontractors, and while I will not disclose the price differences between the local vs. out of state subcontractors who submitted bids to protect all parties involved, I will say that they were close enough that responsible legislation to encourage the hiring of in-state workers would level the playing field.
If I’m elected to the State Senate this November? I will draft and introduce such legislation with a view towards bringing both sides together once elected to the Senate. Until then, at this time I was more than happy to share feedback from the parties involved with one another with the hopes they can work something out to hire more local workers for another Wegmans under construction in New Jersey.
Conspicuously absent from this scene and from these conversations? Any prominent members of the New Jersey Democratic Party whom one would assume would be tripping over themselves to demonstrate visible showings of support for the workers whose leaders traditionally support their campaigns. Evidently, they are apparently too busy grandstanding about Le Cause Celebre Du Jour to focus their attention where it belongs- right here on our working class New Jerseyans, and on bringing business here to employ them.
And THAT is the common ground that the GOP can forge with union workers all throughout the State. Union leaders traditionally back those Democratic incumbents who promise an endless stream of public projects, purportedly funded by an intoxicating cocktail of crushing taxation and irresponsible borrowing – but word is finally getting out that this is a fantasy we can no longer afford.
It’s time for a reality check in Trenton. It’s time we demanded the election of leaders who live in the same reality as the fine New Jerseyans I met that morning, leaders who stand ready to eliminate any and all obstacles preventing businesses from putting down roots here and putting our people to work. It’s time we put New Jersey First.
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