Thursday, October 15, 2026, 2 p.m. (Boston time), Boston City Hall, 1 City Hall Square, Boston, MA 02201
Hearing on Docket #0218
Committee: Labor and Economic Development Committee
The Labor and Economic Development Committee, chaired by Councilor Brian Worrell, held a hearing on docket 0218 reviewing the effectiveness of the Boston Residents Jobs Policy, which sets goals of 51% of work hours for Boston residents, 40% for people of color and 12% for women. The hearing opened with a moment of silence for advocates Brooke Watson and Janet Jones. Office of Labor Compliance and Worker Protections staff reported that from April 1 to September 30, 2026 the office monitored 150 projects totaling about 3,762,000 work hours, with 19% Boston residents, 44% people of color and 7% women, and presented separate data for the White Stadium project and a Bloomberg Philanthropies-funded skilled trades pipeline at Madison Park. Councilors asked about declining resident hiring, permit enforcement under the 1985 executive order, the jobs bank, payroll compliance and collecting wage data on private projects. No public testimony was given and the matter was discussed with no vote taken.
1:57 and.
5:31 brian worrell, district four
5:32 city councilor and I'm chair
5:33 of the boston city
5:34 council committee on labor and
5:35 economic development.
5:38 Today is OCTOBER 15th, 2026.
5:41 The exact time is 2:05 P.M..
5:42 This hearing is being recorded.
5:45 It is also being live
5:46 streamed@boston.Gov.
5:47 Backslash city dash
5:50 council dash tv and broadcast
5:52 on xfinity channel eight rcn
5:55 channel 82 and files channel
5:55 964.
5:57 Rent comments MAY be sent to
6:01 the committee email at
6:01 seek.Labor@boston.Gov.
6:03 We've made part of the record
6:05 available to all councilors.
6:06 Public testimony will be taken
6:07 at the end of this hearing.
6:09 Individuals will be called on
6:10 in order to stay signed up.
6:12 We'll have two minutes to
6:12 testify.
6:13 If you're interested in
6:15 testifying in person, please
6:16 add your name to the sign up
6:17 sheet near the entrance of the
6:18 chamber.
6:19 If you're looking to testify
6:21 virtually, please email our
6:23 central staff liaison ron cobb
6:27 at ron cobb@boston.Gov in the
6:28 link and your name will be
6:28 added to the list.
6:30 Today's hearing is on docket
6:32 number 0218.
6:33 Order for a hearing to review
6:35 the effectiveness of the boston
6:38 residents job policy and
6:39 improving equity and employment
6:40 standards on project throughout
6:41 the city.
6:43 This matter was sponsored by
6:44 councilor brown will run with
6:46 her to the committee on january
6:47 28th, 2026.
6:49 Today I'm joined by my
6:51 colleague, uh, councilor flynn.
6:54 We've also received a letter
6:56 of absences from
6:57 councilor mejia and
6:58 council PRESIDENT Breadon.
7:00 I will turn it over to my
7:01 council colleague to see if he
7:03 has any opening remarks.
7:06 Thank you, mr chair.
7:09 Thank you for your leadership
7:13 on this important issue
7:15 ensuring that residents
7:18 of boston and women people
7:21 of color have equal access to
7:24 jobs in the construction field
7:27 and also that ensuring that we
7:29 have a policy but that the
7:31 policy is enforced as well.
7:35 I've been on the city
7:37 council going on nine years and
7:40 I've made every one of these
7:40 meetings.
7:42 I believe we have two a year
7:43 because I know how critical
7:46 this issue is to residents
7:48 of boston, to people of color
7:50 to to women in the construction
7:51 field.
7:54 It's about ensuring that
7:57 economic development is enjoyed
7:59 by everybody, but it's also
8:02 about ensuring that there's
8:04 equal access to jobs but equal
8:09 access to training um,
8:11 employment opportunities,
8:13 giving people an opportunity
8:14 cliff paths to the middle
8:14 class.
8:17 I strongly support boston jobs
8:18 for boston residents.
8:20 I strongly support the
8:20 commission.
8:25 I also am proud that my problem
8:27 MAY have funded a lot of work
8:28 on this, especially on the
8:31 employment commission which
8:32 enforces the boston jobs for
8:35 boston residents uh, job
8:35 policy.
8:37 So I'm going to continue to
8:39 advocate in support of this.
8:42 And there's no place that I'd
8:44 rather be than right here
8:46 because I know how critical
8:47 this issue is and I want to say
8:49 thank you to you, councilor all
8:50 but I also want to say thank
8:53 you to council cole pepper as
8:53 well.
8:55 I want to say thank you to the
8:56 administration team that's here
8:58 and I know you are also um have
9:00 done an outstanding job working
9:02 on this issue and I want to
9:04 acknowledge both of you, uh,
9:05 for your professional work that
9:07 you have done and your team as
9:07 well.
9:08 Uh, mr chair, thank you.
9:10 Uh, thank you, councilor flynn.
9:12 Um, I want to thank the panel
9:13 for being here.
9:15 Uh, I want to thank you for all
9:18 the work that you have poured
9:20 into, uh, the bjp and data and
9:23 reporting over the 4 or 5 years
9:24 I've been on the council.
9:27 Uh, I would love um and I know
9:28 you guys probably like.
9:30 Yeah, here he goes with another
9:33 task but, uh, acts that I made,
9:34 uh, previously.
9:36 Um, hoping that we could make
9:37 progress on it.
9:38 We report the hours.
9:40 We'd love to see if we could
9:40 get the wages.
9:43 Total dollar amount just to
9:44 start understanding.
9:49 The the financial impacts.
9:51 Want to see how those are
9:53 lining up within these, uh,
9:54 different groups?
9:58 Uh, to make sure that if
9:59 there's anything there that we
10:00 are able to address it.
10:03 Uh, also um, just want to.
10:05 Uh, you know.
10:08 remember some of the advocates
10:11 that we have lost, uh, brooke
10:11 woodson.
10:14 Uh, indiana jones who have been
10:15 fierce advocates, uh, and
10:17 leaders in our communities
10:19 around, uh, the boston
10:20 residents job policy.
10:22 So I'd love to take a just a
10:23 brief moment of silence.
10:26 Um, in the memory of those two
10:26 individuals.
10:37 Thank you.
10:39 With that, we'll turn it over
10:40 to, uh, the panel.
10:42 Um, the floor is now yours.
10:44 Okay.
10:46 um good afternoon council I
10:49 would um thanks for not
10:49 acknowledging the two.
10:52 Um, the the rap leaders that we
10:52 lost recently.
10:55 I'm just going to read a brief
10:57 caption for for both of them.
11:00 Uh, brooke watson, a long time
11:01 boston civic business leader
11:04 who spent more than two decades
11:06 .
11:06 working for the city of boston
11:08 Passed away on SEPTEMBER 26th
11:10 after a brief illness.
11:12 He was 62 years old.
11:14 Uh, his work centered on
11:16 expanding economic
11:18 opportunities for businesses
11:20 and workers from communities
11:22 that had historically been left
11:24 out of major development and
11:26 contracting opportunities.
11:28 And was the director of the
11:31 boston residents jobs policy
11:32 office for 20 years.
11:36 Uh, so MISS Janet jones, a long
11:38 time boston community organizer
11:40 justice.
11:40 and advocate for social
11:43 Passed away on JUNE 21st.
11:47 Uh, MISS Jones was the
11:48 co-founder of the dorchester
11:51 roxbury labor uh committee,
11:53 which promoted boston jobs for
11:57 boston residents and worked to
11:58 expand access to employment
11:59 opportunities throughout the
12:02 city, especially for people
12:03 of color and women.
12:06 Those efforts helped promote
12:08 greater enforcement of the
12:09 policy through the boston
12:12 employment commission, whose
12:14 meetings janet attended.
12:18 Uh religiously for many years.
12:20 Thank you.
12:21 To.
12:23 thank you chris.
12:27 overview.
12:27 Um, I'll get started with our
12:28 Uh, I'll go fairly quickly.
12:30 Councilors flynn.
12:31 And we're all you know our
12:32 programs very well.
12:34 But just as a reminder, the
12:37 boston resident jobs policy is
12:38 part of the worker empowerment
12:41 cabinet which was created in
12:41 2022.
12:43 Um, it moved over to our
12:46 cabinet in APRIL 2023 and is
12:48 part of the office of labor
12:49 compliance and worker
12:50 protections, which is one
12:52 of the three departments in the
12:53 worker empowerment cabinet.
12:57 Um, in addition to the work
12:59 that we do to support
13:00 compliance with the boston
13:02 resident jobs policy our
13:04 cabinet enforces our department
13:06 enforces the boston jobs living
13:07 wage and prevailing wage
13:09 ordinance, the boston wage
13:11 theft executive order and as
13:13 of this summer um the heat
13:14 illness and injury prevention
13:16 ordinance which um we are very
13:18 honored to be one of very few
13:19 municipalities that has a law
13:21 protecting workers from
13:22 excessive heat.
13:23 We also provide free health and
13:26 safety training um, and have a
13:27 worker's rights initiative
13:28 partnering with workers under
13:31 to provide free multilingual
13:33 know your rights training and
13:36 just I always like to make sure
13:37 that you know about the free
13:38 resources and I hope you'll
13:39 help share this with your
13:39 communities.
13:41 We do free osha training in
13:44 english, spanish, haitian
13:46 creole, um and portuguese and
13:48 osha 30 training in english and
13:48 spanish.
13:51 After the tragedy in jamaica
13:53 plain on SEPTEMBER 24th, we are
13:55 also going to be offering free
13:57 fall prevention training.
13:59 We'll be releasing uh uh qc
14:01 soon to have a partner help us
14:02 with that in english, spanish
14:05 and portuguese very um
14:08 important um to the bjp.
14:09 I think everybody here knows
14:11 that it was established in
14:15 1983, amended in 2017 to set up
14:17 employment standards for all
14:19 boston projects as well as any
14:21 private development over
14:21 50,000ft2.
14:24 And at the moment the goals are
14:25 that projects should do their
14:28 best to hire um have a total
14:30 of 51% of the total work hours
14:30 of journey.
14:32 People and apprentices go to
14:35 boston residents 40% to people
14:38 of color and 12% to women and I
14:40 will go through this and then
14:43 um senior manager chris brown
14:44 will give an overview of the
14:46 data over the last six months.
14:49 Um, one thing that is important
14:51 to mention is that compliance
14:53 with the boston resident jobs
14:56 policy, however, is not linked
14:59 to the um the employer's
15:00 ability to meet those hiring
15:02 standards and said it is based
15:05 on a set of administrative uh,
15:06 complaints or administrative
15:08 requirements around the steps
15:11 that contractors must take to
15:11 comply.
15:13 Do they attend a
15:14 pre-construction meeting and
15:16 have they provided copies
15:18 of their communications?
15:21 Um and most importantly payroll
15:22 documentation and
15:23 councilor role I'll I'll add
15:27 that we collect um payroll
15:29 documentation for all projects
15:29 .
15:32 However we only and only more
15:35 recently since NOVEMBER of 24
15:37 have collected wage data for
15:39 public projects which um is
15:41 connected to our compliance
15:42 monitoring for prevailing wage.
15:46 So unfortunately we because
15:48 it's not required for
15:49 monitoring of the boston
15:50 resident jobs policy, we don't
15:53 collect wage data from um from
15:55 those who are not publicly
15:55 funded at the moment.
15:59 Uh, we do have the ability
16:01 though to issue penalties and
16:02 fines.
16:04 Um, we've only done this, uh,
16:05 since my time once.
16:08 Um, but we have come close is a
16:10 result of, uh, a new
16:11 transparent system that we have
16:14 put in place and I just like to
16:15 highlight a little bit about
16:17 the the we've done a lot over
16:19 the last few years to really
16:22 try to improve our impact and
16:23 do as much as we can with the
16:24 resources that we hire.
16:27 So we transition to a new not
16:28 new anymore.
16:30 I keep saying new but
16:31 salesforce database.
16:33 So now all contractors submit
16:36 their payroll uh via the
16:37 salesforce database.
16:39 that gives us a lot more
16:41 ability to be able to track
16:43 data and analyze data.
16:45 Um, we have a new equitable
16:47 system for warning sanctions
16:48 and fines.
16:50 We have a new dashboard.
16:52 Um, our newest dashboard is now
16:53 a couple of years old.
16:54 I still feel somewhat new.
16:58 Um, but we do um, we have
17:00 everybody from bpd used to have
17:02 a set of compliance, uh,
17:04 monitors who are now all part
17:05 of the bridge office.
17:07 And one thing that we have done
17:09 to try to quantify the economic
17:11 impact of noncompliance is an
17:14 annual report looking at um,
17:18 what what wages are lost as a
17:21 result of not meeting the 51%
17:23 goal for boston residents and
17:25 we are due to do that again.
17:27 We'll have it in APRIL at our
17:28 next hearing for 2026.
17:30 And um, we'll look forward to
17:33 providing that the 2024 and 25
17:35 reports are available on our
17:35 website.
17:38 Um, the warning system we've
17:40 talked about before also we
17:43 give people a warning um, and
17:45 then a second written warning
17:47 before we come up with
17:48 recommendations to the boston
17:49 employment commission for
17:50 sanctions.
17:51 This seems to be working pretty
17:53 well because while we've gotten
17:55 through quite a few first
17:57 warnings, a handful of second
18:00 warnings we haven't quite moved
18:02 into um or folks have been able
18:05 to rectify whatever problem
18:07 before we had to recommend
18:07 sanctions.
18:10 And again you've all seen our
18:10 dashboard.
18:12 Councilor wu I do want to point
18:14 out we have added trade so now
18:17 you can look at the data by um
18:19 your developer contract or
18:22 subcontractor or trade or any
18:23 combination of those.
18:25 So um I know that was a request
18:26 and we were very happy to be
18:29 able to add that and um now you
18:31 can look at any project any
18:33 contractor by trade to see the
18:35 real time numbers in the
18:36 dashboard is linked directly to
18:37 the salesforce database.
18:40 So it's real time data.
18:42 And with that I will hand it
18:44 over to chris.
18:45 Oh are we.
18:47 Nope I'm sorry I forgot I'm
18:50 doing uh I did add one of the
18:52 most important pieces of the
18:54 boston resident jobs policy is
18:56 building a pipeline for boston
18:58 residents and young people into
18:58 the trades.
19:02 Um, we were very fortunate in
19:06 that we were um we received a
19:08 grant from the uh, the
19:10 bloomberg philanthropies as
19:12 part of their new initiative,
19:14 uh, to build and expand access
19:16 to the skilled trades for young
19:16 people.
19:18 Um, this slide shows we were
19:22 one of, uh, handful of um towns
19:26 and uh counties to be selected
19:28 and we are very excited to be
19:29 doing this work.
19:31 It came directly out of the
19:32 project labor agreement signed
19:34 by mayor wu with the building
19:36 trades in 2025, which um
19:39 essentially set up not only uh
19:42 ,ensuring a supply of quality
19:44 union labor for certain uh
19:46 school retrofits but at that
19:47 time the building trades and
19:49 the carpenters stepped up and
19:52 said that they would accept 50
19:53 up to 50 young people a year
19:54 into the trades.
19:56 So the bloomberg philanthropies
19:58 funding allows us to do that
20:00 work and fund that work.
20:04 And um, it is uh very exciting
20:04 .
20:06 We're building the pipeline by
20:07 the embedding uh, pre
20:09 apprenticeship program building
20:11 pathways directly into madison
20:13 park by the end of the grant
20:15 period with matt with bloomberg
20:17 philanthropies we will be
20:18 expanding the number of young
20:19 people going from madison
20:21 directly into registered
20:22 apprenticeships in the trade
20:23 from 50 to 100.
20:24 Part of the way we're doing
20:26 that is expanding access to new
20:29 trades and we're building a new
20:30 registered apprenticeship
20:32 program with the machinists,
20:34 uh, into jobs at their
20:35 signatories like boston water
20:37 and sewer commission.
20:39 And we're doing um expanding
20:43 access by also uh, providing
20:45 programing to students outside