Construction Career Opportunities Project
Last updated: 2/12/09
The
Partnership for Working Families and Cornell University’s School of Industrial
and Labor Relations are excited to launch the Construction Career
Opportunities Project. Our goal is to identify,
study, support and promote promising approaches to elevating union density in the
construction industry and increasing access to building trades careers for
low-income urban residents.
Why
do we need this effort?
Historically,
construction careers provided workers with opportunities to become middle
class. When city residents entered the
trades, the wages and benefits they received not only helped their own families
succeed, but also ensured that their neighborhoods could thrive. Over the past few decades, that reality has
shifted. More and more, cities and local
governments have enacted policies that make it harder for union firms and
organized workers to get construction jobs. And when people of color can’t get
construction jobs, then construction projects have less of an impact on the
vitality of neighborhoods where they are likely to live.
The
solution is to find and implement the best policies that serve two goals: make
it easier for building trades firms to compete for construction work in urban
areas and create effective mechanisms for getting more people of color into
construction trades jobs. We believe you
should always combine these efforts.
There
are a lot of possible ways to work toward success. Not every policy will work in every setting. State and local statutes rule out some
options. A whole range of local issues
make some policies work better than others. One of the goals of this project is to collect
and analyze existing efforts, so we understand better what works where and why.
Promising Policy Approaches:
- Project Labor
Agreements that Include Local Hiring Requirements
- Prevailing Wage
Requirements
- Policies that Require Training and Apprenticeship Utilization
Project Labor Agreements that Include Local Hiring
Requirements
Community Redevelopment Agency of Los Angeles (CRA/LA)
In
February, the Board of Commissions of the CRA/LA passed a policy requiring all
subsidized development to be covered by a Local Hiring and Project Labor
Agreement negotiated between the CRA/LA and the Los Angeles/Orange County
Building Trades Council. The agreement
requires that local residents perform 30% of all work hours on subsidized
projects, and sets aside a subset of those hours for apprentices and workers
with barriers to employment. Further,
the policy requires developers to hire a jobs coordinator to ensure the terms
of the agreement are fulfilled.
See
the policy
language Construction Careers Policy
Read
a report
on the policy produced by the UCLA Labor Center
The
Los Angeles
Alliance for a New Economy support the policy.
See
the press
release and frequently
asked questions
Maritime and Aviation Project Labor Agreement (MAPLA)
A
project labor agreement governing the planned $1.2 billion modernization of the
Oakland ports included significant local hire requirements. The agreement specified that 50% of the work
should be performed by residents of the local impact area (three communities
neighboring the port) while 20% of the work should be performed by local
resident apprentices. The port staff,
community organizations, contractors, and building trades unions have worked
together to generate significant new job opportunities for local residents
through the agreement.
Prevailing
wage requirements ensure that public investment in development results in high
quality workmanship and contributes to the economic well-being of the community
by investing in its workforce.
Opponents
of prevailing wage requirements argue that they increase project costs, but
most research concludes the opposite.
Research
Reports on Prevailing Wage
The
Economic Development Benefits of Prevailing Wage
Prevailing
Wage Laws and School Construction Costs
Prevailing
Wage Laws in Construction: The Costs of Repeal to Wisconsin
On the ground, community-labor coalitions are fighting for prevailing wage requirements as a way of ensuring higher quality jobs.
In
Milwaukee, the Good Jobs and Livable Neighborhoods Coalition
won an agreement that includes prevailing wage requirements, among other
things, for a major new downtown development. The Park East Redevelopment Compact (PERC) requires developers to pay prevailing wages for
redevelopment of any parcel within the 16 acres owned by Milwaukee County. The coalition is now working to get prevailing
wage and local hire requirements applied to all development projects subsidized
by the City of Milwaukee.
Read the PERC policy language
In
Denver, FRESC is in the midst of a campaign
that applies prevailing wage to all developments subsidized through Tax
Increment Financing (TIF).
See
the powerpoint
overview of the campaign
Read
FRESC’s Issue
Brief
Learn
about the history of the campaign
Policies that Require Training and Apprenticeship
Utilization
Santa Clara County Building Trades Agreement with
Foothill De Anza Community College District
The
Santa Clara County Building Trades Council struck an agreement with the
community college district that creates job opportunities for community college
students while also ensuring labor peace for college building projects. Under the terms of the agreement, contractors
that get work on community college projects will work with the Construction
Careers Association to hire community college students and graduates in
apprentices or journey-level positions. The
Construction Careers Association, of which the Community College District is a
member, helps prepare students for the jobs, with training and job placement.
The goal is to hire up to 30 graduates/students a year through the program.
Read the policy language in the agreement
Newark/Essex Construction Careers Consortium State of New Jersey
In 2000, the State of New Jersey approved legislation
that financed $8.6 billion in public school construction. The law mandates that
½ of 1% of all expenditures associated with this legislation be used to provide
training that would afford women and people of color better access to
construction careers. The New Jersey Institute for Social Justice administers a training program for low-income residents of Newark and Essex.
Read an evaluation of the program
Apprenticeship Utilization Policy Language
FRESC, an
organization in the Partnership network, has compiled an extensive inventory of
local government entities, including municipalities, counties, ports and
financing special districts, that require apprenticeship utilization for all
construction contracts.
See FRESC’s inventory of apprenticeship
utilization policies
Responsible Contracting Policies
Prequalification Policy Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority
In 2001, the Santa Clara County (CA) Valley Transportation Authority initiated a pre-qualification pilot program, which was renewed in 2003. The program requires contractors that want to bid on VTA construction projects to apply for pre-qualification. The pre-qualification process is designed to reduce safety and prevailing wage violations, and ensure that publicly-funded construction contracts go to firms with strong safety and quality records.
A number of municipalities and school districts in California have instituted a pre-qualification process to ensure that construction contracts go to responsible contractors. Working Partnerships USA published a policy brief that provides an overview of the issue and a detailed inventor of public entities in California that use pre-qualification.
In 2004, CU-Boulder levied a higher student fee to support major new construction on campus. The University was facing loss of accreditation of its law school because of unsuitable space and other programs were also facing major problems as a result of old or unsuitable buildings. Pre-qualification requirements were incorporated into the campus legislation that authorized the fee increase as a result of student legislators’ concern that these funds leverage fair labor standards in new campus construction. The legislation also required new construction to comply with LEED standards.
Building and Construction Trades Department of the
AFL-CIO
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
Sheetmetal Workers International Association
Laborers International Union of North America
International Union of Painters and Allied Trades
