The Anaheim City Council is going to vote on a proposed union-only project labor agreement tonight, which they are calling a ” Community Workforce Agreement,” or CWA. This is a terrible idea that will serve to rip off the taxpayers in Anaheim and feather the nests of the union hacks who are pushing for this.
Here is the agenda item the Anaheim City Council will be voting on:
Approve the Community Workforce Agreement (CWA) that provides opportunities for local hires on city construction projects for a five year term with the Los Angeles/Orange Counties Building Trades Council, and the signatory Craft Councils and Local Unions; authorize the Director of Public Works, or designee, to execute the agreement, periodically update CWA attachments, and take necessary actions to implement and administer the CWA; authorize de minimis changes that do not substantially change the terms and conditions of the CWA, as determined by the City Attorney’s Office; and determine that certain construction and rehabilitation projects to be performed under the CWA shall be categorically exempt under the California Environmental Quality Act, Sections 15301, 15302, 15303, and/or 15304 of Title 14 of the California Code of Regulations.
What the union bosses won’t tell you is the downside of this CWA, which is considerable, including:
- Section 3.8.1: Non-union contractors are only allowed to use FIVE of their employees. FIVE.
- Section 3.11: Non-union employees who are used must pay union dues.
- Section 5.2: Non-union employees who are used must have their benefit pay (more than $20 per hour) sent to UNION TRUST FUNDS those workers will not vest in and therefore is lost to them.
- Section 14.2: Young apprentices in state and federally approved apprentice programs are not allowed to work on any of your projects.
What do any of these provisions have to do with anything other than to implicitly and explicitly (in the case of non-union apprentices) discriminate against a class of people and make it more unlikely their employers will bid on Anaheim public construction projects?
If the union provided response is “local hire” here is what you get from big labor special interests in exchange for a monopoly PLA: A GOAL of 35% local hire where “The Unions and Contractors agree that, to the extent allowed by law, and as long as they possess the requisite skills and qualifications, the Unions will exert their best efforts to refer and/or recruit sufficient numbers of skilled craft Local Hires to fulfill the requirements of the Contractors.” (their words).
Get that? A 35% (what are your current local hire numbers?) GOAL with no enforcement mechanism, no teeth and more than likely is a lower percentage than you are already achieving. Quite a deal.
Tonight the Anaheim City Council has a choice to make: Reduce their bidding pool in an already tight labor market where it is hard to get bidders as it is (by discriminating against workers and apprentices) or place the rights of workers and your fiduciary responsibility to taxpayers ahead of big labor special interests who represent less than 15% of the construction workforce!
Learn more about the harms caused by union-only PLAs here.
