Renovations to the North Berkeley Library may be one of the first projects to be considered with the new "keep it local" trade union agreement.
The Berkeley City Council unanimously voted Tuesday night to enter into a landmark agreement with a number of trade unions that would give Berkeley and Green Corridor workers top priority for most contracted city projects.
The move has garnered the support of many local union workers who see the agreement as a way to help provide local prevailing wage jobs, but it is seen by some as a distortion of the free market, where competition over projects will be less fair and more expensive.
The decision by the council to enter into what is known as a Community Workforce Agreement makes Berkeley the first city in Northern California, and the second in the state, to approve a comprehensive, citywide local labor ordinance. Both San Francisco and Oakland have similar, but less comprehensive, agreements.
Under the three-year agreement, signed by the city, the Alameda Building Trades Council and 22 other trade organizations, projects contracted out by the city worth more than $1 million must have 30% of total labor hours prioritized to Berkeley workers first — union or non-union. If Berkeley workers cannot fill the requirement, workers located within the East Bay Green Corridor gain priority; the Green Corridor was established in 2007 and takes in UC Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and the cities of Berkeley, Oakland, Richmond, Emeryville, Alameda, Albany, El Cerrito and San Leandro. Finally, if no workers can be found at either of those levels, a search throughout all of Alameda County comes next before a contractor can bring in out-of-county help.(...)
Read the rest of Berkeley in landmark “keep it local” deal with unions (466 words)
By John Osborn. |
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Post tags: Building & Construction Trades Council of Alameda County, Community Workforce Agreement, Green Corridor, Mayor Tom Bates