機械工程師批評紐約市住房管理局使用無資質勞工

據10月20日The Chief報道，由于電梯技工短缺，紐約市住房管理局指派了勞工來填補崗位空缺，但機械工程師及其工會稱此舉是以安全為代價的。今年早些時候本有針對勞工的市內服務考試，但由于新冠肺炎疫情推遲了。紐約市住房管理局預計需要197名電梯技工，但目前只有144名。由于無法找到有資質的技工，當局雇用了36名勞動工人來幫助機械工程師。代表紐約市住房管理局電梯技工的Gregory Floyd提醒該機構，告知其使用缺乏經驗的工人執行此類危險任務可能產生的風險。他說：“如果發生意外，當局和整個城市都將承擔責任，后果可能是致命的。”。他補充說，紐約市房屋局很難雇用有資質的技工，是因為他們每小時31美元的工資比私營企業低了9美元。紐約市住房管理局發言人則表示，目前正在進行安排面試雇用新技工。當局希望有關考試可以在本財政年度內恢復。紐約市住房管理局旗下管理的電梯分布在326個項目中，近期故障次數不斷增加，使技工人數難以跟上。

MECHANICS CRITICIZE NYCHA'S USE OF UNQUALIFIED LABORERS

A shortage of elevator mechanic helpers has led the NYC Housing Authority (NYCHA) to assign laborers to fill in, but mechanics and their union say the move is compromising safety, The Chief reported on October 20. A civil-service exam for helpers had been planned for earlier this year but was postponed because of the pandemic. NYCHA is budgeted for 197 helpers but had only 144 on staff. Because it was unable to find qualified helpers, the authority hired 36 laborers to help the mechanics. Gregory Floyd, president of Teamsters Local 237, which represents NYCHA's elevator mechanics, warned the authority about the risks involved with using inexperienced laborers to perform such dangerous tasks. "If anything happens, the housing authority and the city will be liable, and the consequences could be deadly," he said, adding that NYCHA is having difficulty hiring qualified helpers because their pay of US$31 per hour is as much as US$9 less than what the private sector pays. A NYCHA spokesperson said the authority is in the process of setting up interviews to hire new helpers. The authority expects exams to resume sometime during the current fiscal year. NYCHA's elevators, spread across 326 developments, have seen an increasing number of outages, making it difficult for the mechanics to keep up.