Committee Hearing, November 20, 1998

COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA PUBLIC HEARING BEFORE THE JOINT COMMITTEE ON LAW AND GOVERNMENT and COMMERCE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT - - - Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Friday, November 20, 1998 10:30 a.m. - - - Res. 980853 - Authorizing Joint Committees on Law & Government and Commerce & Economic Development to conduct investigation into whether City contractors and recipients of financial assistance fail to pay their employees a living wage. - - - PRESENT: COUNCILMAN DAVID COHEN, Chair COUNCILMAN MICHAEL A. NUTTER, Chair COUNCILWOMAN JANNIE L. BLACKWELL COUNCILMAN ANGEL L. ORTIZ COUNCILMAN RICHARD T. MARIANO COUNCILMAN FRANK RIZZO COUNCILMAN FRANK DiCICCO - - - VINCENT VARALLO ASSOCIATES, INC. Registered Professional Reporters Eleven Penn Center Plaza, Suite 600 Philadelphia, PA 19103 (215) 561-2220 I N D E X RESOLUTION 980853 Robert Brand, President, Solutions for Progress------------------------------------- Stephanie Luce, Research Fellow, Political Economy Reserve, University of Mass.--------- 48 Carol Hemingway, Board Member, ACORN------------ 61 Howard Wile, Senior Fellow, Keystone Research Center--------------------------------------- 72 Louis Applebaum, Commissioner, Procurement------ 108 Stephen Mullin---------------------------------- 148 Kevin Feeley, Representative, Mayor's Office---- 149 - - - 3 RESOLUTION 980853 CHAIRMAN COHEN: It is great to see such enthusiasm on Friday morning. (Applause.) CHAIRMAN COHEN: But the Joint Committees on Law and Government, Commerce and Economic Development is now in session for the purpose of considering Resolution No. 980853, authorizing the Joint Committee on Law and Government and Commerce and Economic Development to conduct a full and comprehensive investigation into whether and to what extent city contractors and recipients of financial assistance fail to pay their employees a living wage -- (Applause.) CHAIRMAN COHEN: -- and why. We appreciate the enthusiasm, but at the same time we have got some very serious business to deal with. And I am going to call first a panel of four people who have traveled here, mostly from outside the city, to give us the advantage of their expertise on why it is necessary to have facts and data in order to deal with the question of a living wage. 4 RESOLUTION 980853 I would like to invite the following four people to come together on the same panel, and then to address us, to take seats there. Robert Brand, Stephanie Luce, Howard Wile, and Carol Hemingway. (Applause.) CHAIRMAN COHEN: I am pleased to note the presence of the city Administration folks sitting to my left. Because I think it is important that all of us get the same information at the same time, and then we are better able to proceed. Who is going to start the testimony? Now, each one of you, before you begin, I am going to ask you to identify your names for the record so that the