Authority not following wage law, union says

A union says the Pittsburgh Housing Authority is not complying with the city’s prevailing wage law and is not properly compensating security guards.

Pittsburgh’s wage law says public employers must meet a certain minimum standard on the wages they pay, even for jobs that are contracted out to private companies.

The prevailing wage amount is set by several factors, including local union collective bargaining agreement rates and information from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Caster Binion, housing authority executive director, said the agency is in compliance with all federal requirements.

“We are paying a living wage,” he said, following a board meeting this week. Members of Service Employees International Union, Local 32BJ attended to raise the issue with the housing authority’s board of commissioners.

The dispute centers on a complaint about a fulltime, unarmed security guard paid $11.92 an hour, employed by Am-Gard, who did not receive any benefit supplement. Earlier this year, City of Pittsburgh Controller Michael Lamb issued findings that the housing authority and contractor were not compliant with the wage law, because under the law, if a contractor or subcontractor does not pay any fringe benefits, that must be made up for in their base wage.

Housing authority documents say that the agency “intends to mirror the intent of the City of Pittsburgh Prevailing Wage Law.”

The controller monitors prevailing wage requirements on contractors’ compliance but can’t penalize the housing authority in this case.

“We think they should [comply with the prevailing law]. But there is no legal mechanism to enforce ... it, without board adoption of the city’s prevailing wage law,” said deputy controller Douglas Anderson.

Since the controller’s March finding, the authority has issued two requests for proposals that are also not in compliance, stating that contractors only are required to pay benefits to full-time employees, and they don’t need to make up for unpaid benefits in the base wage, said Nikkilia Lu, Western Pennsylvania political director for the SEIU, Local 32BJ. The union represents property service workers, janitors, food service workers and security officers.

The point of the prevailing wage law is “to create good jobs with public dollars, instead of poverty jobs,” Ms. Lu said.

“All employees, parttime or full-time, are to receive prevailing wages,” under the law, Ms. Lu told the housing authority’s board. She said employees are eligible to receive the benefit subsidy in cash if they aren’t receiving benefits.

The union’s complaint is being evaluated, said Michelle Sandidge, a housing authority spokeswoman.

Contractor Am-Gard could not be reached for comment. It is one of several private companies the authority uses for security services.