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  • Feb. 12, 2019

San Diego City Council Discussing Union Environmental Extortion on Proposed Building with 442 Residential Units


You have to give unions bosses credit for their level of shamelessness. It’s actually quite astonishing.

Now they’re back at it in San Diego, even with a lawsuit filed against them because of the practice.

CEQA (the California Environmental Quality Act) is being brazenly abused by the Laborers (LIUNA) Union Local 89 on the San Diego City Council agenda TODAY. They are trying to block 442 residential units to get an economic concession out of the developer (Project Labor Agreement) so union construction workers get a monopoly on work for the project.

Below are links to all the information, including extracted objection letters posted on the website Phony Union Tree Huggers - a compilation of construction union CEQA abuse letters that can be sorted by various categories.

Questions that need to be asked by council members and the media today:

  1. Ask the Lozeau Drury lawyer(s) for specific examples of environmental mitigation that the city council could direct the developer to do in a resolution as a condition of the union dropping its appeal.
  2. Ask the Lozeau Drury lawyer(s) if Sunroad agreeing to a Project Labor Agreement (PLA) or other agreement with Laborers Union Local 89 is an essential element of the union dropping objections to environmental review for this project.

In 2004, the Roseville City Council started bombarding the union lawyers with questions like this, and it was a disaster for the unions. They hemmed and hawed and looked like extortionists. News articles and editorials in Sacramento area newspapers exposed it because of the sparring at the meeting. And the union workers who were brought to the meeting to support jobs found out that their own union was extorting their city council! See transcript here: July 21, 2004 Roseville City Council Meeting Transcript - California Unions for Reliable Energy (CURE) Gets Project Labor Agreement - Revealing Questions and Remarks.

Imagine if this happened TODAY at the San Diego City Council. And imagine if the union lawyers admitted what they are doing. And imagine if some city council members declared their support for using CEQA to squeeze private developers into signing PLAs.

Here are the details about the meeting today and some background on the union greenmail trade unions are using:

Item 331: Appeal of Sunroad Centrum Residential, Phase 6 - Project No. 565879

Appeal Packet

November 28, 2018 Lozeau Drury - Laborers (LIUNA) Local Union 89 - Sunroad Centrum Residential Phase 6 - City of San Diego - Letter

December 10, 2018 Lozeau Drury - Laborers (LIUNA) Local Union 89 - Sunroad Centrum Residential Phase 6 - City of San Diego - Letter

December 21, 2018 Lozeau Drury - Laborers (LIUNA) Local Union 89 - Sunroad Centrum Residential Phase 6 - City of San Diego - Appeal 

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