Press Room - Press Release

CFEC Leads Charge Against PLA on Community College in Sonoma County

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:                         CONTACT:

June 10, 2002                                                    Eric Christen 916-835-1041

LOCAL CONTRACTORS OPPOSE SANTA ROSA JUNIOR COLLEGE'S UNION-ONLY PROJECT LABOR AGREEMENT PROPOSAL

Petaluma-- The statewide construction group Coalition for Fair Employment in Construction, and the Santa Rosa based Redwood Empire Fair Employment Coalition, stated today that they strongly oppose any action today by the Santa Rosa Junior College Board of Trustees to approve a proposal to guarantee work to union members on all construction projects covered under Measure A.  This $200 million construction bond was passed in March and covers all work to be done at the college.  SRJC is expected to vote on such a proposal Tuesday, June 11.

Eric Christen, CFEC's executive director, said that the district would not benefit from the proposed Project Labor Agreement (PLA). "This PLA undermines the collective bargaining process and manipulates the competitive bidding process. They will add all kinds of costs to these important projects," asserted Christen. "The Santa Rosa JC Board should think twice before engaging in these discriminatory agreements. Study after study has proven that costs increase when public agencies sign PLAs and at such a time as this, with teachers screaming for more money in the district, such a decision boarders on incompetence."

Christen cited recent research conducted by the Washington, D.C. based Employment Policy Foundation (EPF), which defines a PLA as project-specific agreements between a government agency and the labor unions representing crafts needed for the public works projects. According to Christen, that research showed that the impact of PLAs results in additional costs due to the fact that PLAs feature provisions that require non-union contractors that bid on government project to hire through union hiring halls, pay union wages and benefits and adhere to collective bargaining agreements. EPF concluded that PLAs unnecessarily inflate wages and construction costs and skew a non-union contractor's opportunity to bid competitively and to operate efficiently.

"By requiring all contractors, including nonunion workers, to comply with stringent rules for local trade unions, the agreement effectively shuts out 80 percent of the local work force in our local communities that choose to be union-free," said Christen.

Larry DeSheilds of the Redwood Empire Coalition said that all the supposed benefits touted by PLA supporters are unproved and laughable at best and, at worst, insulting to the thousands of local skilled open-shop workers and responsible contractors in the North Bay.

"Merit shop companies like mine employ thousands of workers in this area and take care of them better then anyone else.  These workers have skills that can go up against any union worker ad then some.  To say they're not good enough because they don’t belong to a union is an insult."