Project Labor Agreement Attempting to Enter Dublin

DUBLIN, Calif., Dec. 3, 2019—At tonight’s meeting, Dublin City Council members will discuss adopting a project labor agreement, titled a “Community Workforce Agreement” on future City construction and other public work projects.

“Other cities that have adopted similar agreements have seen high costs on projects and very few bids from local companies,” said Nicole Goehring, Community and Government Relations Director for the Associated Builders and Contractors of Northern California. "Project Labor Agreements/Community Workforce Agreements (PLAs/CWAs) are exclusive construction and development contracts developed between a client, typically public agencies, and labor unions for the development of projects such as prisons, schools, hospitals, police and fire stations. Because of the exclusive nature of these contracts, PLAs/CWAs discourage the vast majority of local contractors and small business owners from competing for and winning construction project contracts."

Nicole Goehring will be available before and after the City Council meeting and can be reached at 925-960-8513.

Under a PLA:

• Workers must pay costly union dues, even if the employee is not a union member. These dues can cost upwards of $1,100!
• All workers must be hired through a union hiring hall. This discriminates against non-union workers. Companies are not able to use their skilled and trained journey workers with a record of performing work safely and ethically and must hire strangers that the company has no previous experience with.
• All employees must contribute to union health, welfare, and pension plans, regardless of whether the workers already have their own plans. Union plans also require long vesting periods making it unlikely that the non-union worker will see the benefit of their contributions.
• All apprentices must come from state approved union programs, discriminating against thousands of apprentices in state approved merit shop programs.

Further information about PLAs can be read here.

Meting information:

• Time: 7:00 PM
• Address: 100 Civic Plaza, Dublin, CA 94568

For more information about ABC NorCal and their apprenticeship and training programs, visit abcnorcal.com

###

Representing more than 21,000 construction and industry-related firms nationwide, the Associated Builders and Contractors was founded in 1950 and today has 69 chapters. The ABC NorCal chapter started in 1976 and now represents nearly 500 large and small companies and their workers across Northern California.