California bill would curb Trumponomics and help create good jobs

SB749 makes information about job creation, job access, and job quality in government contracts publicly accessible.

A good amount of noise has been made about corporations that receive tax breaks not following through on their job promises.

Who could forget the Chinese company Foxconn backing out of a $4 billion tax deal with Wisconsin to build a factory President Trump said would be “the eighth wonder of the world?”

But little has been said about whether companies that contract with state and local governments follow through on the promises they make.

That’s why a proposed California bill that would shine light on all job information supplied by companies in state and local contracts is so important. SB749 would make information about job creation, job access, and job quality publicly accessible, not a “trade secret” as many corporations like to claim.

Case in point: the Canadian bus manufacturer New Flyer tried — and failed — to keep hidden information about its employees’ wages and benefits, information that had helped it win a $500 million Los Angeles Metro contract in 2013.

It took a lawsuit by a watchdog organization, Jobs to Move America, to stop them getting away with it. Now, Jobs to Move America has filed a fraud complaint against New Flyer for not paying the wages it promised and misrepresenting the value of the benefits it was providing.

It shouldn’t be up to outside groups to force governments to enforce job promises. Unfortunately, for now, it often is.

SB749 would get the ball rolling on using government to help people, not corporations, for good.

With trillions of public dollars being spent every year on state and local contracts, the public deserves to know whether our huge investment is creating good jobs or just furthering the Trumponomics that’s burying poor and working people.

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