As reported by Labor Issues Solutions' Kevin Dayton:
INTERLAKE TUNNEL PROJECT
HERE is a link to a June 15, 2015 letter from the Monterey/Santa Cruz Counties Building and Construction Trades Council expressing a lack of confidence in the Monterey County Water Resources Agency. Obviously this is pressure on the agency to move forward with implementation of a Project Labor Agreement.
Meanwhile, a regional building and construction labor union sent a letter to the county on Monday criticizing water agency administration, including Chardavoyne, the second such letter from a prominent area organization on the subject.
The letter from the Castroville-based Monterey/Santa Cruz Counties Building & Construction Trades Council to the supervisors and agency board indicated council leadership had voted "no confidence" in the current agency administration, urging county officials to "look into this matter and take any and all actions to resolve this issue and put the (agency) on a firm and energetic foundation and road to progress."
Signed by council CEO Ron Chesshire and other council members, the letter questioned whether agency staff was "up to the challenge" of dealing with issues ranging from state-mandated groundwater basin monitoring and the Salinas River diversion permit to challenges involving the tunnel project and the Salinas Valley Water Project, along with budgetary difficulties.
"In our opinion, the Leadership (GM) has not made a full commitment to our community and seems distracted or unwilling to take on the issues as needed," the letter read. "Efforts need to be made to work with our Legislators as much as possible to solve problems. The current course we are on is vague. We need leadership, commitment, and a new energy to bring solutions to our County."
Chardavoyne said the trades council letter contained "misstatements of what the true facts are," and defended the agency's actions on several fronts. He suggested the letter's true motivation was a disagreement over the timing of negotiations on a project labor agreement for the tunnel project.
