Peduto Signs Executive Orders Concerning Workforce Makeup For City Construction Projects

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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto has signed two executive orders concerning city construction projects and the makeup of the workforce for those projects.

Peduto says the executive orders come as the City of Pittsburgh is on the cusp of a boom. He wants to make sure that minority and female workers are part of the city-managed projects.

With city leaders, construction managers and union representatives surrounding him, Mayor Peduto says the executive orders are for project labor agreements and workforce development.

Going forward, the city want to make sure minority works comprise at least 12 percent of the workforce on city-managed projects, things like retro-fitting the City County Building to make it energy efficient.

"We're going to need a heck of a lot more workers and we're either going to find them in places like Homewood, Hazelwood and the Hill, or we're going to find them in Ohio, West Virginia and Maryland and I'd prefer trying to find people from this city and this region to fill those jobs," said Peduto.

The orders apply to projects of $500,000 or more. A construction industry task force is charged with creating a pipeline for trained, local workers to fill the positions.

"People who look like me, have dreams like me, and aspirations like me, only want a fair shake," Allegheny County Councilman DeWitt Walton said,

The task force has seed money of $350,000 for outreach and recruitment.

"This will help to fund the pipeline for Pittsburgh residents to become union workers," Peduto said.

With a capital projects budget of more than $1 billion, the mayor said the city will need a lot more workers, workers he'd like to see come from Pittsburgh.