14 Questions From A Local Trade Unionist Concerning the D.I.A. – Ferrovial Deal.

Heathrow Airport, December 2010. Airport was closed by Ferrovial 100% owned subsidiary, BAA causing airline delays, complications throughout Europe and beyond. So much for how “efficiently” Ferrovial runs Heathrow. As I recall, Denver does get more than five inches of snow each winter. 

As a trade union friend of mine noted concerning the Denver D.I.A. – Ferrovial contract – just noted “the horse has left the gate…but what the hell?”

A local trade unionist, he posses fourteen questions concerning the deal. Before posting them below, I thought the blog reading public might be interested in one particular article:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/heathrow-airport-shutdown-whats-the-real-cause

The essence of the piece: In December, 2010, the British government had to bring in the troops to clear five inches of snow from Heathrow Airport because Ferrovial, which manages the airport refused to do so, cheap so and so’s. So all this talk at the recent city council meeting in Denver about “how efficiently” Ferrovial subsiduary, BAA, runs Heathrow,  is a bunch of poppy cock?

So BAA didn’t have the will or the wear-with-all to clear five inches of snow from Heathrow…but they are going to all but manage D.I.A. for 34 years? How did all those well-informed politically astute members of the city council miss this? Here is another article on the subject:

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2010/dec/19/snow-weather-uk-heathrow-travel

Here the questions my trade union friend asked about the deal. Some have been answered, most not.

1. Is this the largest privatization in the city’s history? (Winter Park?)
2. Denver developed DIA and controlled its concessions without privatization, why is it necessary to privatize the Great Hall expansion?
3. What research has been completed on Ferrovial? Was adequate due diligence applied? Who conducted the due diligence?  Were consultants used?  If so, who were they?
4. Has the administration consulted closely with the three airports in the UK where Ferrovial has similar contracts? Is there a written comparison of the Denver contract with those in the UK? Wasn’t this a critical part of the necessary due diligence?
5. Was the administration aware of Ferrovial’s complicity in the debacle that occurred at Heathrow airport which caused David Cameron, the UK prime minister to intervene? http://www.thedailybeast.com/heathrow-airport-shutdown-whats-the-real-cause
6. Most members of City Council likely have not carefully reviewed the proposed contract and conducted a full review which is understandable given the complexity of the contract, although the 150 page document should have been reviewed by all members.
7. Does Ferrovial’s record of union busting, payoffs, and operating abusive detention centers, as reported in a recent Amnesty International report, raise concerns by this administration and City Council? http://unitehere.org/wp-content/uploads/Denver-Ferrovial-Report-Aug-2016.pdf

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2017/07/ferrovial-continues-to-build-a-fortune-on-refugees-despair/

8. Is the Council aware that Unite, the largest union in the United Kingdom, was forced to conduct a two-year campaign costing over $4 million, to stop Ferrovial’s union busting on a construction contract for the largest public works project in London for many decades.
9. Our political system operates on the principle of separation of powers. Everything we have learned about the Ferrovial contract has come from the executive branch.  Why hasn’t the president of the City Council asked the city council staff (six member staff) to conduct its own review of the proposed contract in the manner that the Congressional Budget Office provides an independent review separate from the executive branch?
10. Has Ferrovial agreed to sign a written neutrality agreement to ensure that its operations will not be adverse to the right of workers to unionize as determined by federal labor law and also to hold its concessionaires to it?
11. The involvement of Saunders, a local construction company, appears to have good relations with construction unions, although questions have been raised about its close relationship to the administration in the awarding of the contract.
12. What was learned about Ferrovial in the junkets taken to Ferrovial operations in Spain and the UK by both members of DIA, the city administration, and members of City Council?
13. Was there true transparency in evaluating the various bids? Why hasn’t the City Council or citizenry been fully informed why Ferrovial was awarded the bid with all of its problem?
14. What are Denver’s legal rights to end the proposed contract if the contact if is not fulfilled?