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Unions Respond To Ravenstahl-Backed Ads Against Peduto

Several dozen union members who supported Pittsburgh’s prevailing wage law gathered in the City County Building Thursday to denounce advertisements Mayor Luke Ravenstahl’s PAC, Committee for a Better Pittsburgh, has taken out against mayoral candidate Bill Peduto.

Peduto supported the prevailing wage law, and union members feel he has been misrepresented in the ads.

“There should be no place in Pittsburgh politics for the kind of swiftboating, the kind of lie-telling, the kind of rewriting of history that we’ve seen in recent days,” said Sam Williamson, Assistant Director 32BJ for the Service Employees International Union in Western Pennsylvania.

City Council passed the Service Worker Prevailing Wage Ordinance in January 2010. The ordinance requires that building service, food service, grocery and hotel employees working on projects receiving city subsidies can’t be paid less than other workers who are receiving middle class wages and benefits.

Ravenstahl did not support the bill.

Helfer said the priority should be on the candidate’s platforms and not on tearing each other down.

“This is crap that’s going on in the city," said Tony Helfer, President of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 23. "It needs to stop. We need to talk about what the mayors are going to do, not tear each other down.”

Erika Beras (she/her) is a reporter and host for NPR's Planet Money podcast.