Representatives of the San Francisco Building and Construction Trades Council (SFBCTC) are continuing to negotiate with the City of San Francisco to reach an agreement on the terms of a Citywide Project Labor Agreement for public works projects. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance in January requiring the City Administrator to negotiate with the relevant trade councils, craft and labor unions, and sign a PLA on behalf of the City by September 1, 2019.
The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission’s (SFPUC) efforts to recruit and train local workers for its Sewer System Improvement Program (SSIP) projects has gotten results, with several Bayview residents earning good union wages and benefits on the major renovation of the City’s Southeast Water Treatment Plant. The SSIP work is covered by a Project Labor Agreement (PLA) with the San Francisco Building and Construction Trades Council that builds on the successful PLA for the SFPUC’s Water System Improvement Program (WSIP) that began in 2007.
The California State Senate passed the landmark Assembly Bill 5 on September 10 on a 29 – 11 vote. Both Bay Area State Senators Jerry Hill and Scott Wiener voted for the legislation that ensures workers misclassified as independent contractors will receive the basic protections as employees as outlined in the Dynamex case.
According to data from the U. S. Department of Labor, there are significantly more women in trades professions than there were in prior decades. Since the year 2000, there are 23 percent more women working in construction nationally, 43 percent more working in transportation and materials moving and 40 percent more working in protection services.
The San Francisco Giants are moving closer to starting construction on the massive Mission Rock project south of their ballpark on the Port of San Francisco’s Seawall Lot 337. The Port chose the Giants as the master developer of the 28-acre site in 2010.
The City College of San Francisco Board of Trustees will vote at its September 26 meeting on placing a bond measure on the March 2020 primary election ballot to fund new construction, renovations, and infrastructure improvements at some campuses and CCSF Centers throughout San Francisco.
After a rally at City Hall July 9 attended by dozens of San Francisco Building Trades union members, the Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to place a $600 million Affordable Housing Bond Measure on the November ballot.
Several school modernization projects funded by the $744 million bond measure passed in November 2016 are progressing this summer. Work on the 2016 bond funded projects began in 2017, with several more projects seeking bids over the next several months. Three major projects are underway this summer at George Washington High School, Harvey Milk Elementary School and Lafayette Elementary School.
HOPE SF, known as “the nation’s first large-scale public housing revitalization project,” is underway with its first building Potrero Block X now complete utilizing 100 percent union labor. The 109,000 square foot building is located at 110 Connecticut Street and offers 71 housing units. The units are mostly two-bedrooms with one and three-bedroom units as well. The residences are all affordable with 18 for households earning between 40 and 60 percent of the Area Median Income and 53 for existing public housing residents. At full buildout, the Potrero HOPE SF master planned development will have 1,600 units with 50 percent of the units market-rate and 50 percent below-market-rate.
