by Aesha Mahmoud
This morning, Jobs to Move America filed a lawsuit against the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LA Metro) for violating state and federal open bidding laws in a $730 million contract awarded to Hyundai Rotem. Hyundai is currently being sued by the Department of Labor for alleged employment of children throughout their vehicle supply chain in Alabama.
LA Metro did not properly follow their groundbreaking good jobs policy, the Manufacturing Careers Policy (MCP), which sets standards for contractors regarding wages, benefits, training, and hiring of disadvantaged workers.
When Jobs to Move America apprised LA Metro of these failures to hold Hyundai Rotem accountable to workforce commitments required by the MCP, LA Metro allowed Hyundai to revise their proposal, an opportunity not extended to the other bidders, in violation of competitive bidding laws.
“The Manufacturing Careers Policy was designed to ensure that public contracts create jobs that uplift communities, not runaway corporate profits without benefits to the communities paying for them,” said Madeline Janis, Co-Executive Director of Jobs to Move America.
Jobs to Move America calls on LA Metro to rebid the contract in compliance with contracting law and the MCP to provide a fair chance for bidders to compete over the public benefits they can provide.
See the JMA press release here, and read more about the lawsuit in the Los Angeles Times.