News, Culture and NPR for Central & Northern Michigan
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
91.7FM Alpena and WCML-TV Channel 6 Alpena are off the air. Click here to learn more.

Detroit City Council considering setting up an ordinance on industry standard boards across city

Yuzhu Yang (left) trains Lori Cochran at the Fuyao Glass America factory in Dayton, Ohio, in the documentary <em>American Factory.</em>
Danni Wang
/
Netflix
Yuzhu Yang (left) trains Lori Cochran at the Fuyao Glass America factory in Dayton, Ohio, in the documentary American Factory.

The Detroit City Council will consider an ordinance that would set up industry standards boards across the city.

The ordinance would allow the Detroit City Council to set up the boards if 50 workers from a particular industry petition for it.

It would bring together nine worker, employer, and politically-appointed representatives.

They would have the power to issue industry-standard recommendations for wages, benefits, and working conditions.

Unions and workers’ rights advocates hailed it as an important step toward empowering workers.

Charles Sloan is a certified nursing assistant and representative for the Service Employees International Union.

“It’s an exciting opportunity. I am really thinking that this is going to be a game-changer.”

Sloan says the boards would put workers on equal footing with employers to set industry standards.