L.A. Transportation PLA Offers Lifeline for Long-Term Jobless, Homeless
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This is a cross-post from Chaz Bolte of the We Party Blog.
The city of Los Angeles and its mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa, have been leading the national push for Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) to help create jobs for local workers. This trend continued last Thursday as the city and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) announced that PLAs have been entered into to ensure that 40 percent of the work hours performed on most MTA projects moving forward will be done by people who live in economically disadvantaged communities.
[Project labor agreements are pre-hire agreements between labor and management that require all construction jobs be filled by local workers; include diversity requirements; establish wages and work rules covering overtime, working hours and dispute resolution; and ensure that safety guidelines on the job site are enforced.]
In addition, at least 10 percent of the work hours are to be reserved for people suffering from homelessness, chronic unemployment and other challenges. This kind of pro-active approach to tackling multiple societal ills through infrastructure development is commendable and needs to be mimicked nationwide.
From the LA Times blog L.A. Now:
“I am proud that the MTA board voted unanimously to become the first transit agency in the nation to use federal and local dollars to create jobs targeted at economically disadvantaged communities and individuals,” Villaraigosa said. “This landmark program is part of a strategy to deliver public transit projects while creating jobs that will lift people out of poverty and into the middle class.”
New San Francisco PLA Means Jobs for Bay Area Workers
A new project labor agreement (PLA) between the San Francisco Building and Construction Trades Council (SFBCTC) and Transbay Joint Powers Authority (TJPA) will create thousands of new jobs for members of 28 Bay Area unions.
The agreement announced earlier this month covers $4 billion worth of construction on the new downtown Transbay Transit Center that the council calls “The Grand Central Station of the West.” The center is expected to serve 45 million people a year using the region’s transportation system when the project is completed in 2017.
TJPA Executive Director Maria Ayerdi-Kaplan says:
This is a critical tool for us. Project labor agreements have been used successfully since the New Deal to complete major public works projects. A PLA was critical to the construction of BART, and more recently played an important role in the renovations at the San Francisco International Airport and in the seismic upgrades to the Hetch Hetchy water system.
Cornell Study Shows Partnerships Between Employers, Labor and Community Groups Work
A new study suggests one path to helping people struggling in today’s economy find their way into the middle class, via Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) for large-scale construction projects. Among the most successful PLAs, the Cornell University study found, are those that incorporate Community Workforce Agreements born of partnerships between community organizations, unions and employers. Community workforce provisions require the hiring of local residents on construction projects, and often target specific populations, including low-income people, women and veterans.
The best of these programs, according to the report, incorporate paid apprenticeships for those who have never worked before in the building trades, which add the longer-term bonus of helping to create a skilled workforce in a given community.
Among the report’s key findings, according to a summary from American Rights at Work:
Study Finds Project Labor Agreements Open Doors to Middle Class Jobs
Project labor agreements offer a pathway to the middle class by providing job opportunities to low-income communities, minorities, veterans and others, according to a new study by Cornell University’s Industrial and Labor Relations School (ILR).
The study, Community Workforce Provisions in Project Labor Agreements: A Tool for Building Middle-Class Careers, examined 185 project labor agreements around the country. It found that 97 percent contained community workforce provisions that are designed to open job opportunity doors and career training for residents in the communities where the construction projects take place.
Project labor agreements are pre-hire agreements between labor and management that require Read the rest of this entry »
Lawsuits Aim to Stop Anti-Worker Laws
The battles against anti-worker laws across the country have turned to the ballot boxes and courtrooms. As voters go to the polls next week in high profile recall elections in Wisconsin, workers in other states and their lawyers will argue before judges that some anti-worker laws should be struck down.
In New Jersey, Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 1033 filed a lawsuit this week over the failure by Gov. Chris Christie to make payments to the state’s pension funds. The suit claims that the failure by Christie and his predecessors to make payments to the funds violated a constitutional prohibition against the “impairment of contracts” a lawyer for the union said.
Working men and women also are suing to stop new laws in Idaho. One would prohibit project labor agreements (PLAs). These pre-hire agreements between labor and management require all construction jobs to be filled by local workers, include diversity requirements, establish wages and work rules covering overtime, working hours and dispute resolution and ensure that safety guidelines on the job site are enforced. They protect taxpayers by eliminating costly delays due to labor conflicts or shortages of skilled workers
New Boston Green PLA Means Jobs, Clean Energy Homes
It’s going to be a bit crowded and quite green in the winners’ circle created by a new Project Labor Agreement (PLA) in Boston to retro-fit more than 4,000 older area apartments.
Not only will it put hundreds of area construction workers on the job, residents, many of them lower-income families will see lower utility bills, young people will have new job training opportunities and the energy savings will lighten the apartments’ carbon footprint.
The “greening” of the 4,300 units will include installing energy efficient lighting, converting electric heat to gas, upgrading or replacing old central heating plants, installing co-generation and a rooftop photovoltaic electric system, Energy Star rated fiberglass windows, high reflective “cool” roof membrane, replacing water closets, showerheads and faucet aerators and healthy apartment improvements.
The $63 million PLA is between the Boston Housing Authority (BHA), the Boston Building and Construction Trades Council (BBCTC) and the construction firm, Ameresco.
At this week’s groundbreaking ceremony, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino pointed to the job and job training segments of the PLA.
In this economy we need agreements like this to keep construction going, get people trained and working, I’m proud to be able to create good paying union jobs for Boston residents. Read the rest of this entry »
Workers Come Out Strong At End of Missouri Legislative Session
Missouri AFL-CIO President Hugh McVey and Secretary-Treasurer Herb Johnson wrap up the outcome of the state’s legislative session.
The first session of the 95th General Assembly of Missouri ended at 6 p.m., May 13. The session began with the emotional fervor of the majority Republican party proclaiming great changes they would make in the state during the upcoming legislative session.
Among those issues were those that were political in nature, bills that would produce no employment and create no economic gains for our state. Those bills were simply meant to reduce the capacity of labor unions to advocate for our members and so reduce the participation of working people in the political process in our state. Read the rest of this entry »
Attack on Middle-Class Jobs, Workers Is Nationwide
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The incredible response and mobilizations against the coordinated attacks on workers’ rights and middle-class jobs in Wisconsin, Ohio and Indiana have grabbed most of the media spotlight during the past few weeks.
But there are other serious assaults under way in dozens of states, pushed by corporate CEOs and their Republican puppets. Perhaps flying lowest under the radar is one of the most drastic measures, one that even its own supporters blatantly call Michigan’s “financial martial law.”
The so-called emergency managers bill would allow Gov. Rick Snyder (R) to declare a “financial emergency” in a city or school district and appoint a manager with broad powers, including the ability to fire local elected officials, break contracts, seize and sell assets, eliminate services—and even eliminate whole cities or school districts without any public input, according to the Michigan Messenger.
Last week, more than 1,500 people jammed the Lansing Capitol building to protest the bill during the state Senate’s debate. Ken Bower, a United Steelworker (USW) Local 2-21 member from Escanaba, Mich., said:
I’m here to tell the governor that he has to stop this attack on working-class citizens. Removing the people that we put into office without any check or balance is completely undemocratic.
Iowa Gov. Won’t Launch Wisconsin-Like Assault on Rights, But Other Threats Remain
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Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad (R ) says he will not mount an all-out attack on public workers’ right to bargain for middle class jobs like his fellow Republican governors Scott Walker in Wisconsin and John Kasich in Ohio.
“This is not Wisconsin. It’s Iowa,” he told reporters. But he is backing legislation that while not as sweeping as that in Wisconsin and Ohio, would weaken public workers collective bargaining rights.
Also when he took office in January, Branstad issued an executive order banning the use of project labor agreements (PLA) on any construction project that receives state funding.
That has lead to a stand off between Branstad and the city of Cedar Rapids that in December included a PLA for a $75 million convention center complex due to receive $15 million in state funds. The city says the PLA was authorized before Branstad’s order and the governor says he will not release the funds.
PLAs are pre-hire agreements between labor and management. The agreements require all construction jobs to be filled by local workers, include diversity requirements, establish wages and work rules covering overtime, working hours and dispute resolution and ensure that safety guidelines on the job site are enforced.
Pipeline Project Creates Thousands of Skilled Construction Jobs
More than 13,000 American workers will build the U.S. portion of a 2,000-mile oil pipeline running from Alberta, Canada, to Port Arthur, Texas, under a project labor agreement (PLA) signed this week by four U.S. unions and pipeline builder TransCanada Corp.
Mark Ayers, president of the AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Department (BCTD), says:
At a time when corporations and industries are seeking to ensure maximum efficiencies and a proper return on their investments, America’s building trades unions are pleased that TransCanada Corporation has recognized that a project labor agreement is a valuable tool to assist them in achieving those important objectives.
PLAs are pre-hire agreements between labor and management. The agreements require all construction jobs to be filled by local workers, include diversity requirements, establish wages and work rules covering overtime, working hours and dispute resolution and ensure that safety guidelines on the job site are enforced.
