Organized Labor

Pile Drivers Local 34 Repair, Maintain Port of San Francisco

By Richard Bermack, Contributing Writer and Photographer

Drive down Third Street past Mission Bay, past Dogpatch, then out Cargo Way past the gravel yards, and you’ll come to what feels like the end of the world. In the cold, grey fog, where the land meets the bay, members of Pile Drivers, Divers, Carpenters, Bridge Wharf and Dock Builders Local Union 34 wrestle into place telephone-pole size timbers they are using to repair the docks of Pier 94.

Building the Trades

Reg Theriault

By Michael Theriault, Secretary-Treasurer
Reg Theriault died last month. San Francisco workers – workers everywhere – lost someone who wrote about them with knowledge, affection, and honesty. I met Reg in about 1991. I had read his Longshoring on the San Francisco Waterfront, a book bound plainly in yellow heavy stock and small enough for a shirt pocket. Then I found myself welding a moment frame in a street-level shop in the hotel across from the Longshoremen’s hall near Fisherman’s Wharf, and decided at break to go over and see if anyone knew this other Theriault.
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PLA Approved for Treasure Island Development

Saturday, March 1, 2014

Massive $1.5 Billion Job-Creating Project Finalized

The San Francisco Building & Construction Trades Council recently finalized a Project Labor Agreement with the developers of a massive project planned for Treasure Island.

Demolition of Cathedral Hill Hotel on Schedule

Saturday, March 15, 2014
Construction of California Pacific Medical Center’s New Cathedral Hill Hospital Will Begin This Fall
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AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust Committing to 101 Polk

Saturday, March 15, 2014

The AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust (HIT) is making a $58 million financing commitment towards construction of 101 Polk, an $82.8 million multifamily development in San Francisco. The all-union construction is expected to generate approximately 350 union jobs.

Booming Economy Leads to Housing Crisis

Saturday, March 1, 2014

Balancing Affordability with Growth Focus of Building Trades, Politicians and Activists

As San Francisco’s economy continues to boom, drawing more high-paid workers into the area, the city once again is in an affordable housing crisis that threatens to dislocate middle and working class people.

Chinese Hospital Rises in Heart of Chinatown

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

All-Union Project Starts Steel Work

A new hospital in the heart of Chinatown is being built with an all-union crew. General contractor DPR Construction completed a major concrete pour at the end of December, and Herrick Steel is set to begin erecting steel this month for the Chinese Hospital. Demolition of the original hospital building at 835 Jackson Street built in 1924 began in late 2012.

Trades Headlines

Salesforce Makes Landmark Deal to Lease Half of Transbay Tower

April 11

Company and city officials are set to announce in a private meeting Friday that Salesforce will be the anchor tenant in Transbay Tower - now to become Salesforce Tower.

VA Hospital Coming to Former Salesforce Campus Location

April 11

Their previously planned 2 million square foot campus in Mission Bay could be home to a new VA Medical Center cooperated by The San Francisco VA and UCSF.

Construction Starts on $45.5 Million Downtown Palo Alto Mixed-Use Development

April 11

The 1.4-acre site, at 2100 El Camino Real, sits just one block from Stanford University and Caltrain.

Seven New Tech Campuses Changing the Face of Silicon Valley

April 10

Silicon Valley's economy is firing on all cylinders, and the region's well-established tech companies are on a real estate spending spree.

Most of San Francisco's Office Construction Pipeline Already Taken

April 9

Just this year alone, construction will wrap up on 1.8 million square feet of space of which 78 percent is already spoken for.