The Jersey City Council delayed the final vote to dissolve their municipal construction board of appeals at Wednesday’s meeting, with an influential labor union asking for action that goes beyond that.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
“Just to provide some context, the construction board of appeals did meet this morning, they had a reorg meeting and there was a change in leadership,” said Ward B Councilwoman Mira Prinz-Arey, the prime sponsor of the local legislation.
“So there are a few more things that we should look into before we bring this back to vote whether to dissolve this and move to the county. So we’re just asking for two weeks and we will bring it back at the September 25th meeting.”
Council President Joyce Watterman said she’d like a list of the board members, to which Prinz-Arey said she would provide them.
A motion to carry was sponsored by Prinz-Arey and seconded by Councilman-at-Large Daniel Rivera, which was approved unanimously (9-0).
Chris Capers, a member of LIUNA Local 3 who lives in Ward F, said the governing body needs to take even more serious action than what’s in front of them.
“Thanks to Local 3, I’ve been able to support my family with good wages and health benefits. As a union laborer, unfortunately, not all construction workers in Jersey City can say the same,” he began.
“While serving as the chair of the board of construction appeals, Sunny Kumar allowed workers to be underpaid, overworked, and exposed to dangerous conditions on his job sites. He must resign. Ordinance 24-076 is a way to hold him accountable, but doesn’t help these workers. This isn’t just about one bad contractor or one bad project of development and Jersey City relies on worker exploitation.”
He continued that in the past six months, the union has helped nine Jersey City construction workers obtained nearly half a million dollars in settlements, asking the council to take their legislative power a step further.
“Real estate development is broken in Jersey City. Conflicts of interest on the Construction Board of Appeals are symptoms of pervasive abuse, not the cause,” LIUNA Vice President and Eastern Regional Manager Mike Hellstrom said in a statement.
“This ordinance solves the city government’s problem of powerful people working both sides of the issue, but it does nothing for the workers who face exploitation, intimidation, and abuse on Jersey City construction sites.”
In July, the New Jersey Department of Labor issued stop-work orders on four Euro Concrete projects – a company owner by Kumar – alleging wage theft.
Euro subsequently agreed to pay more than $101,000 to settle workers’ rights violations for one of its subcontractors but remains under investigation alongside another subcontractor, Newark-based MJSS Construction.
The company was previously cited for an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) violation after a worker fell at a jobsite in Jersey City in November 2023.
“These problems will not go away just because you get rid of the Construction Board of Appeals. This vote tonight has to be the beginning–not the end–of taking these issues seriously,” Capers added in a statement.
