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San Diego Fundraiser a Success!
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Dear
,
Thank you to Mayor Kevin Faulconer and all the others who were able to join us at Bergelectric's Tom Anderson's house in Point Loma last Thursday. Great food, drink, and conversation was had by all as we discussed ways to keep business booming in San Diego. You can visit our
Facebook page to view pictures from the event.
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| Education |
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On Tuesday, June 27th at 4:30pm, the Palomar College Board of Trustees will be holding their second workshop on Project Labor Agreements (PLAs). This workshop will focus on how PLAs have worked or not worked at community colleges throughout California.
WE NEED CONTRACTORS AND WORKERS TO SPEAK ABOUT THEIR EXPERIENCES UNDER PLAs!
The meeting will take place in Governing Board room in the Student Services Building at the San Marcos campus. The address is 1140 W. Mission Rd. San Marcos, CA 92069.
We also need you to contact the Trustees and explain why a PLA is not in the college's best interest. They can be reached at:
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| Cities |
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City of San Jose:
The City of San Jose was tasked by way of a Task Force to put together a recommendation on PLA to the City Council in August. They have been meeting monthly since January to figure out how to wrap their arms around the issue. CFEC and our allies have been participating in the meetings. They are looking for contractors to come to the
June 26th Task Force
meeting
to give their viewpoint on PLAs. If possible can you send a representative from your company to Monday's meeting to give your company's perspective on PLAs?
Meeting details:
Monday, June 26, 2017 3:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
San Jose City Hall
City Manager's Conference Room, T-1734 (17th Floor)
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| Studies |
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The Beacon Hill Institute (BHI) has previously completed extensive statistical analysis of the effects on school construction bids and costs of PLAs in Massachusetts, Connecticut and the state of New York. In both the Massachusetts and Connecticut studies, their analysis found final construction costs to be significantly higher when a school construction project was executed under a PLA. In the New York study, they found that final bids for construction projects were higher under a PLA.
Now BHI has released a similar analysis of school construction projects in the state of Ohio. They have applied the methodology and procedures used in their earlier studies to school construction projects undertaken in Ohio since 2000. They based their findings on a sample of 88 schools.
The results, which can be found
here, find that the presence of a PLA increases the final base construction costs of a school construction by $23.12 per square foot (in 2016 prices) relative to non-PLA projects. Because the average cost per square foot of construction is $176.23, PLAs raise the base construction cost of building schools by 13.12 percent.
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| State |
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From our friend Richard Markuson at the Western Electrical Contractors Association:
Assembly Bill 45 (Thurmond -D) would create the California School Employee Housing Assistance Grant Program, a pre-development grant and loan program to fund the creation of affordable housing for school district employees, including teachers. Sounds great right? Not so fast. Thurmond, whose top donors are general trade unions, and public sector unions inserted a requirement that any project funded by a pre-development grant is subject to a project labor agreement and is either a public work or is subject to a legally binding requirement that prevailing wages be paid to all workers. Prior to being elected to the Assembly in 2014, he was a member of the Richmond City Council, a Board Member of the West Contra Costa Unified School District, and social services administrator. Thurmond's next stop--Superintendent of Public Instruction--another Tom Torlakson clone--in the pocket of State Building and Construction Trades Council! The Assembly approved the bill on a party-line vote with Republican Marc Steinorth voting AYE.
The Assembly also passed AB 73 (Chiu-D) that allows a city or county to create a housing sustainability district to complete upfront zoning and environmental review to receive incentive payments for development projects that are consistent with the district's ordinance. The BT's requirement? If the project is not in its entirety a public work, that all construction workers employed in the execution of the project will be paid at least the general prevailing rate of per diem wages for the type of work and geographic area and the Labor Commissioner is barred from enforcing the Labor Code if there is a Project Labor Agreement. Republican Rocky Chavez joined Steinorth and the Democrats in moving this bill to the Senate. Really Rocky???
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