act now > gulf coast commission on reconstruction equity

January 11, 2006

Labor Standards and Oversight Lacking in Gulf Coast Rebuilding

Billions of dollars continue to be spent in a piece-meal approach to Gulf Coast clean up and reconstruction without any plan for comprehensive rebuilding and oversight. Nearly 250 hurricane-related bills were introduced in Congress while a patchwork of committees and subcommittees of the U.S. House and Senate continue to convene public hearings on various aspects of recovery.

But the unprecedented Gulf Coast crisis has yet to elicit a commensurate federal response. Instead, Congress recently passed budget reconciliation bills cutting programs for fragile populations, in the name of funding Gulf Coast reconstruction, while extending tax breaks to a tiny percentage of the wealthiest Americans.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO), the nonpartisan investigative arm of Congress, recently announced plans to systemically review Gulf Coast rebuilding issues, including contracting by various federal agencies. In its November, 2005 testimony before a bipartisan House investigative committee, GAO staff disclosed concerns with the Army Corps of Engineers’ inflated negotiated contract prices. GAO's preliminary Gulf Coast fieldwork suggests that federal agency contracting practices are in serious need of review and revision according to a statement by David E. Cooper, Director of Acquisition and Sourcing Management.

Some members of Congress have charged that, unlike its predecessors, this Administration consistently challenges and fails to provide the GAO and members of Congress with the information necessary for meaningful investigation and review of its activities. The GAO’s historic record of successfully negotiating with agencies for essential information took a turn when it sued and lost a quest for census data from the Office of Management and Budget (Walker v. Cheney, March, 2004).

The right of the American people and their representatives to know how public funds are expended has also been recently eroded. The gutting of the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) has limited the opportunity for timely challenges to contract efficacy in Gulf Coast rebuilding. Under what was commonly known as the contractor responsibility rule, bidders were required to meet standards for “integrity and business ethics” until the 2001 Bush Administration challenge. Without such a rule companies that violate labor, employment, environmental, or consumer protection laws remain eligible prime contractors.

The Bush Administration’s approach to Gulf Coast restoration to date involves gifts of non-competitively bid contracts to well-connected companies, prevailing wage suspension (recently restored after massive public outcry), and affirmative action hiring waivers (recently expired). Its enforcement response to the toxic working conditions, lack of safety training, and inadequate protective equipment for the region’s workers has devolved to disbursing public service announcements about worker safety.

In September 2005, Interfaith Worker Justice convened religious leaders at the National Press Club to call for an ethical reconstruction of the Gulf Coast Region and a set of standards for rebuilding. IWJ will next assemble a Gulf Coast reconstruction watchdog group to monitor rebuilding contracts. The group will set contract standards for hiring local contractors and workers, protecting worker health and safety, establishing fast-track job training and apprenticeship opportunities, and more.

The commission – comprised of national and local religious leaders, representatives from the labor movement, and professionals from the contract watchdog community – will generate support for a public works program (similar to the New Deal WPA program) to put former unemployed residents to work on mid- to long-term infrastructure projects. Corporate recipients of Gulf Coast rebuilding subsidies will be called to implement strong labor provisions and job quality standards. Companies benefiting from Gulf Coast rebuilding will be asked to ensure career ladder advancement programs in key industries and occupational clusters and on-the-job training opportunities for residents displaced by the disaster.

Congress has appropriated more than $62 billion in Gulf Coast clean up and recovery funds. As Faith Works goes to print, Congress is still in debate about reallocating for new purposes some of the funds earlier appropriated for Gulf Coast clean up. In the coming weeks, Interfaith Worker Justice staff, in conjunction with religious and community allies around the country, will publicize ethical rebuilding standards and seek the support of religious activists to lift up the voices of the region ’s people.

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