BUFFALO, NY (WIVB) A pilot program will utilize speed cameras to catch those who speed in work zones along the New York Thruway and other thoroughfares operated by the New York State Department of Transportation.

It’s part of legislation S.4682-B co-sponsored by Senator Tim Kennedy. “The general idea is to get people to slow down in work Zones. There were dozens of catastrophic injuries and deaths last year in the state of New York across the country.”

It is one of several pieces of legislation signed into law Monday by Governor Kathy Hochul, minutes before she marched in the Labor Day Parade in South Buffalo.

Another bill known as A.3350-A will hold contractors more liable if workers don’t get paid properly by subcontractors, according to Hochul. “We need to make sure that those people are paid. It’s not their fault if an unscrupulous subcontractor walks off a job or doesn’t pay them what they should, or tries to pay them under the table. So, our contractors will be engaged in this being responsible for what happens with the subcontractors.”

Governor Hochul also promises to enforce the New York Hero Act to protect employees against disease during a pandemic. That came as good news to Debbie Hayes, upstate director of the Communications Workers of America, who represents thousands of healthcare workers in the Buffalo area. “The standards, the airborne and droplet standards that are required to be in place to protect the healthcare workers when their at their job is critical, and every employer in New York should have an updated policy that has the protection of their workers at the forefront.”

Peter DeJesus is president of the western New York AFL-CIO. “It’s crucial for working class folks. It was important to see her commitment to labor, to ensuring that we move labor forward and that we’re protecting workers.”