News

Results released from a poll by the Responsible Development Coalition indicate strong support from Massachusetts residents for strengthening laws and enforcement related to wage theft and implementation of responsible development policies.

The poll was conducted by The MassINC Polling Group from August 5-9. The poll included questions about wage theft, responsible development and publicly funded projects. It also included questions related to primary election campaigns and the income surtax constitutional amendment. Results for the later issues are being released separately.

The poll showed that residents worried significantly more about the cost of living, cost of housing, cost of food and inflation than the availability of jobs, indicating that general economic anxiety is being fueled by not individual employment concerns, but by how poorly jobs are meeting the economic needs of people.

When asked about responsible development, then, it was not surprising that more than 80% supported the policies, which create a better balance for workers and taxpayers. Responsible development policies include providing living wages; benefits; support of apprenticeship programs; minimizing environmental impacts of development and working with community members to ensure projects reflect their values.

Seventy percent support new laws that would make wage theft–when employers steal wages or benefits from workers–a felony and make general contractors more accountable for wage theft committed by the subcontractors it hires.

Workers can currently sue employers in civil court, but generally lack the time and money required to bring such action even if they knew it were possible. The Attorney General’s office can and has prosecuted wage theft as well, but can not have the impact a proposed new law would.

The Responsible Development Coalition, led by Joe Byrne, is a coalition of responsible developers, contractors and the Carpenters Union. The coalition believes that we can build a better future — but we need to do it responsibly in order to protect our neighborhoods and create opportunity for everyone looking to live and work in Boston.

Last year, the Responsible Development Coalition asked candidates for Mayor of Boston to sign a pledge to support responsible development policies and held a candidate forum at the Carpenters Center in Dorchester. Every candidate, including current Mayor Michelle Wu, signed the pledge and participated in the forum.