JERSEY CITY -- Some private employers would be required to provide a minimum 30-hour workweek to their janitors, security guards, maids and other workers under a measure up for initial approval by the City Council tomorrow.

The proposal, which would apply to employers in buildings larger than 100,000 square feet and to residential buildings with more than 50 units, is being touted by labor union 32BJ as the first of its kind in the nation. Connecticut lawmakers and the Washington, D.C., Council are considering similar mandates.

Council President Rolando Lavarro, who is behind the measure, called it "progressive legislation" that represents a "paradigm shift on how we think about work."

"We should be striving for better jobs that are family-supporting type jobs," Lavarro told The Jersey Journal.

Aside from increasing workers' hours, the measure would also lead to more workers with health insurance. The federal Affordable Care Act requires large employers provide health insurance to employees working 30 hours or more a week, or else the companies could be hit with financial penalties.

The measure -- 32BJ dubs it the "Better Jobs Act" -- is the latest in a series of initiatives aimed at low-wage workers and proposed by Mayor Steve Fulop's administration. A related ordinance up for approval tomorrow would require the same employers give building-service workers 90 days notice if they plan to cancel their contract.

In 2013, the council approved his plan to require most private employers provide paid sick leave to their employees, a move that was subsequently replicated by nearly a dozen municipalities in New Jersey. Last year, the council OK'd a law that revokes city licenses from employers who do not reimburse workers for lost wages. Last month, Fulop signed an executive order raising the minimum wage for full-time city employees to $15 an hour.

Desiree Taylor, spokeswoman for 32BJ, the largest union of property service workers in the United States, said the city's proposal is "sorely needed" for low-wage workers who struggle to find full-time employment.

"If you only work 20 hours per week at $15 per hour, that's only about $15,000 per year," Taylor told The Jersey Journal. "You can't pay your bills on that salary in NJ, one of the most expensive states in the nation."

An affiliate of the Service Employees International Union, 32BJ's members include janitors, doormen, security workers -- the very workers whose workweeks would be set at a minimum of 30 hours a week by the measure up for approval tomorrow. One of them, Sonia Elgueta, a Jersey City woman in her 50s, is a cleaner of commercial buildings who said she typically works 25 hours a week at $15.40 an hour.

Though a translator -- Elgueta speaks Spanish -- she said she works at night but is seeking another part-time job during the day to help pay her bills. Her $20,020 annual pay would rise by $4,000 if she worked a minimum of 30 hours a week, and as much as $12,000 a year if she worked 40 hours a week.

"That would be really helpful," she said.

The move is winning praise from liberals and scorn from business groups. Michael Egenton, a senior vice president at the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce, said he's concerned both about this proposal and about its effect on businesses when combined with other government mandates, such as the city's paid sick leave law.



"At the end of the day the employer has a business operation to run. When you're putting these requirements/mandates on any employer, there can be unintended consequences," such as some workers losing their jobs, Egenton said.

32BJ was one of the few labor unions to endorse Fulop over his rival, former Mayor Jerramiah Healy, in the 2013 mayoral race. The union continues to support the mayor, whose latest campaign finance records show a $5,000 donation to Fulop's re-election campaign from 32BJ's political action fund in January. 1199, another affiliate of SEIU, gave Fulop's campaign an additional $5,000 in February.

The council meets tomorrow at 6 p.m. at City Hall, 280 Grove St.

Terrence T. McDonald may be reached at tmcdonald@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @terrencemcd. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.