The New York state government and its vendor Kawasaki Rail Car are fighting to prevent the release of records about the company’s pay and benefits.
The rail equipment manufacturer suggested releasing the information could cause employees to unionize, or make it easier for competitors to recruit its workers, according to an affidavit submitted in February in New York Supreme Court by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
“KRC has been fortunate to have been able to maintain a cooperative, respectful and mutually beneficial relationship with its workforce, which has not felt a need to unionize in more than 40 years,” KRC manager Ken Takeda said in the document. Disclosing that information “may unnecessarily agitate KRC’s workforce,” he said.
The MTA is defending itself against a lawsuit filed in December by the nonprofit Jobs to Move America, a pro-labor watchdog group that pressures governments to require that companies they contract with create high-quality jobs. JMA has been trying for years to obtain records, including the “U.S. Employment Plan” Kawasaki agreed to in 2018 when MTA awarded it a contract to build new subway cars for New York. The deal is currently worth more than $3 billion and covers over 1,000 cars.
In a request filed under the state’s Freedom of Information Law, JMA has also been seeking the subsequent reports Kawasaki was required to provide the MTA documenting its progress, and other correspondence between the company and the agency.
MTA has made it “impossible to monitor Kawasaki’s compliance” with its obligations by withholding or extensively redacting documents, JMA alleged in its lawsuit.
The MTA declined to discuss the Kawasaki case. “While we are unable to comment on pending litigation, the MTA responds to FOIL requests in accordance with the law, which in some cases limits what may be released,” spokesperson Joana Flores said by email. The agency has said in court filings that the information sought by JMA includes “trade secrets.”
KRC, a subsidiary of the multinational Kawasaki Heavy Industries, didn’t respond to inquiries. In his sworn affidavit, Takeda said the records sought by JMA could allow competitors to glean “aspects of the inner workings” of Kawasaki, causing “substantial injury to the competitive position” of the company.
In addition, Takeda said, releasing the payroll information would “make KRC vulnerable to poaching of labor,” because it would help rivals come up with “competitive terms” to entice employees to go work for them instead.
Growing fear
The dispute underscores companies’ growing fear of becoming targets of a newly energetic U.S. labor movement. It also highlights how worker advocates are giving more attention to government procurement as an avenue to pressure companies over employee treatment.
JMA won a legal battle in 2018 to obtain records about job quality commitments from Los Angeles County’s bus vendor New Flyer of America, then brought a fraud complaint against the company that ended with a $7 million settlement and a commitment to implement new workplace and hiring policies. New Flyer denied wrongdoing.
The nonprofit seized on Kawasaki’s affidavit, saying in a March 11 filing it reveals the dispute “is not about trade secrets but suppressing worker organizing.”
“Kawasaki’s desire to hide its USEP commitments from its own workers underscores the need for access, particularly given New York’s policy of pay transparency,” JMA wrote.
The government shouldn’t be in the business of helping a company dodge union organizing or deter workers from finding better jobs elsewhere, said Transport Workers Union president John Samuelsen, who sits on JMA’s board and is also a nonvoting member of the MTA’s board.
“New Yorkers do not want their tax dollars being utilized in a way that shortchanges workers,” said Samuelsen, whose union has begun trying to organize Kawasaki employees. “If they were competitive in this labor market, they wouldn’t have to worry about their workforce being
Josh Eidelson, Bloomberg , 2024-03-18 16:55:10
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