Protest at Dover Over Amendments to Senate Bill 35

Over thirty Hispanics protested outside Legislative Hall against requirement changes in Section 189 of Senate Bill 35.

DOVER, Del. - Earlier today protesters gathered on the green before going into Legislative Hall to fill the halls in anticipation of hearing proposed amendments on Senate Bill 35. Ultimately before voting, bill sponsor State Senator John Walsh asked to remove language permitting a Community Workforce Agreement(CWA) to include a bona fide legal citizen of the state workforce requirement. The bill passed over all with a vote of 15 to six and now moves to the house. 

The amendments to this bill would've been devastating to Hispanic construction workers.

Section 189 of this bill refers to a pilot program to contract work for the state through private construction companies, but would require project labor agreements, the use of employees who are in a union, for the given project.

Javier Torrijos owns the construction company TORREngineering and says the amendment to this bill will hurt Hispanics who are not unionized, "Either they become part of the union or you're going to have to get rid of them and bring in union labor and that's a problem. I don't think anybody should be able to dictate to business owners and workers as well that they have to be union members. I mean we live in a free country and we decide our future and who our workforce is."

In a statement from Walsh, he says that, "A community workforce agreement is mechanism for expanding access to jobs and increasing the quality of those jobs — especially for underrepresented communities".

However Torrijos says there are other ways to be inclusive to minorities without forcing employees into unions, "We're doing fine, we don't need a heavy hand by government to tell us who we have to hire and who not. There's other ways to do a successful program if you want to include diversity, inclusion, and equity throughout the state. There's the 'Disadvantage Business Enterprise' program which we support one hundred percent."

Yet Walsh says this amendment brings many more benefits like "-controlling construction costs, to ensuring fair wages and worker protections, to catalyzing the local workforce."