LYNN — The City Council adopted a sweeping ordinance Tuesday night to prohibit contractors who violate the state’s labor laws from doing business with the city.
In a unanimous vote, the 11-member panel approved a measure to bar employers who have failed to pay their workers from obtaining city contracts.
Before the meeting, more than 100 union protesters rallied in front of City Hall urging the City Council to vote yes.
“Wage theft hurts all of us, including honest businesses who are underbid and undercut by businesses that cheat the system,” said Kathryn Cohen, an organizer with the North Shore Labor Council. “Taxpayers lose as much as $200 million in tax revenue annually. Here in Lynn we are saying enough.”
Two hours later, the council adopted the regulation that would also impact developers who have received a tax break from the city.
“Someone has to speak up for the workers,” said City Councilor Peter Capano. “We’ve put a lot of serious thought into this.”
Not everyone in the council chamber favored the ordinance.
Rick Wood, vice chair of the Lynn Area Chamber of Commerce (LACC), urged the council to reject the ordinance.
“It’s more regulation, makes the city more unfriendly and will cost the city money,” he said. “We are already in financial straits and there’s a law already in effect to cover this.”
Christopher Bibby, an LACC board member, said protecting workers from wage theft is the state attorney general’s job.
But Cynthia Mark, chief of the attorney general’s Fair Labor Division, testified that her department, which consists of 13 lawyers and 20 investigators, could use the help a local law would provide.
Over the last two years, her office has received 40 complaints about Lynn companies and has recovered $80,000 in wages, she said.
“We welcome your partnership,” she told the council. “We can’t do it alone.”
Mayor Thomas M. McGee, who supported similar legislation on Beacon Hill, said he enthusiastically backs the new law.
“We put together a sensible ordinance with the council and I look forward to signing it,” he said.
