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Educational
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Anaheim Unified School District
: In 2014 voters in this district approved a $249 million construction bond. What was never mentioned was the fact that there would be a Project Labor Agreement (PLA) placed on the work. After narrowly being approved the bond became a target for big labor special interests and in October of 2016 the board allowed CFEC's Eric Christen to address the pitfalls of PLAs. They had previously allowed unions to put forward their arguments. At the meeting in October the board voted to have staff begin "negotiating" a PLA that would be in effect for 5 years. On July 13th the "negotiated" PLA was brought back to the board for approval. As you can read for yourself this "negotiated" agreement is your standard PLA that forces the FIVE workers a non-union firm is allowed to even use on the project to pay union dues, pay into union pension and health plans, and excludes non-union apprentices from working at all. We will make sure that voters remember this betrayal when the school district puts up its next bond. Please let the board know what you think about their decision to put union bosses ahead of workers and students by emailing them at
[email protected]
Mira Costa Community College District:
Thanks to the hard work of AGC of San Diego and ABC of San Diego Trustees at MCCCD are now adding language to their $500 million bond measure that rejects PLAs. Big labor is targeting this college next. They will lose.
Antelope Valley Community College District:
The Board of Trustees at AVCCD unanimously approved a PLA for their $350 million construction bond which was approved by voters in November. Of course no mention of a PLA had been discussed before the election but that is the way the Los Angeles/Orange County Building and Construction Trades Council likes it. Of course one of the first acts of the College was the need to hire and spend money on a consultant to help administer the PLA. This money will come out of the bond money thus reducing further its effectiveness. If you would like to contact the Trustees regarding their vote please do so.
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Counties
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Sonoma County:
CFEC and our allies fought this PLA for 4 years. Even after the County Board of Supervisors narrowly approved a PLA in 2015 they had never actually had any project fall under it, until now. The County's new Adult Detention Center will be built with a PLA. We will be following closely the results of the PLA on the bidding process and holding the Supervisors accountable for the inevitable cost overruns. Stay tuned.
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State
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From our friend Richard Markuson:
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Gov. Jerry Brown, Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles), and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Lakewood) announced on July 10 a new Cap-and-Trade extension plan and accompanying air quality program. The two-bill package is comprised of AB 398 by Assembly Member Eduardo Garcia (D-Coachella), which sets forth the extension plan, and AB 617 by Assembly Members Cristina Garcia (D-Bell Gardens), Eduardo Garcia (D-Coachella), and Miguel Santiago (D-Los Angeles), which would create the new air quality monitoring program. The bills were approved Thursday by the Senate Environmental Quality Committee on a party-line vote. AB 398 (among other provisions) requires the California Workforce Development Board to "report to the Legislature on the need for increased education, career technical education, job training, and workforce development resources or capacity to help industry, workers, and communities transition to economic and labor-market changes related to statewide greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals....and the scoping plan. The report to the Legislature shall address a number of factors including the use of community benefits agreements, community workforce agreements, and project labor agreements that connect workforce services and job training directly to jobs impacted or jobs created." While it is only a report--it sets the stage for the mandated use of PLAs on any project funded by C&T dollars to "help industry, workers, and communities transition to economic and labor-market changes related to statewide greenhouse gas emissions reductions."
SANDAG and Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher
, What does a bill (AB 805) that makes changes to the governance and financing authority of the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (MTS), and the North County Transit District (NCTD) have to do with PLAs and Skilled and Trained Workforce? A lot, if the author is Assembly Member Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher. Fletcher is the former head of the San Diego Labor Fed and recently married Nathan Fletcher, who ran for San Diego Mayor first as a Republican (his stated party when he served in the State Assembly), then as an independent. After losing, Fletcher re-registered as a Democrat and is now considering a run for San Diego County Supervisor. But back to AB 805. Probably to secure the support of State Building and Construction Trades Council, LGF made several amendments to the bill. First, she would prohibit SANDAG, MTS, and NCTD from entering into a construction contract over $1 million with any entity unless the entity provides an enforceable commitment that the entity and its subcontractors at every tier uses a skilled and trained workforce to perform all work on the project. This amendment further specifies that the above mentioned requirement does not apply if SANDAG, MTS, or NCTD has entered into a project labor agreement that will bind all contractors and subcontractors performing work on a project.
Senate Education passed AB 45 (Thurmond D) the California School Employee Housing Assistance Grant Program. It would permit school districts to build housing for their employees with a $25 million gift of tax dollars--the district must adopt a PLA.
The Senate Governance and Finance Committee passed AB 73 (Chiu D), which 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 if the project pays PW (even with no public dollars), bars Labor Commissioner enforcement if a PLA is in place and waives new penalties for failure to use a skilled and trained workforce if a PLA is in place.
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