New Rules in N.J. County

The Burlington County freeholders strengthened existing requirements to make contractors more responsible for a better-trained work force with benefits as a way to encourage the hiring of more
local contractors.

Construction contractors will have to meet stricter eligibility standards to bid on new public building or renovation projects for the Burlington County government.

Contractors now will be required to have at least one worker per job site who has taken a safety training course and become certified by the Occupational Health and Safety Administration for projects. The higher the cost of the project, the more training hours are required.

In addition, a contractor must meet a 75 percent graduation rate for apprentices and have one enrollee graduate from a program in each of the past three years. However, if a small firm does not have an apprentice program and bids, it can use journeymen tradesmen but must pay the prevailing wages set by state law, whether that journeyman is a union or nonunion worker. Another provision is that contractors must offer health insurance and a retirement plan.

The new rules are an enhancement of contractor policies the board established in October 2008. They require contractors to pay prevailing wages set by state and federal laws. Since then, contractors also have been required by the county to show proof that their apprentice programs are registered with the U.S. Department of Labor for individual trades, such as bricklaying.

Some of the union officials said the stronger policies are intended partly to keep out independent, out-of-state or fly-by-night firms that hire unqualified workers, do not pay prevailing wages and sometimes do not finish a project.

Source: www.courierpostonline.com