Organized Labor

Package Will Expedite Development, Generate Construction Jobs

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and Supervisor Bevan Dufty signed legislation to stimulate development on May 25 in front of One Rincon Hill. The Development Impact Fee Reform and Deferral legislation will help expedite development and generate construction jobs by allowing developers to defer up-front city development impact fees. The 2-part impact fee reform legislation re-designs how and when development impact fees are paid.

All-Union Job Providing Much-Needed Work for Trades

By Paul Burton, Contributing Writer

Construction of a San Francisco Lowe’s home improvement store is underway on Bayshore Boulevard, at the site formerly occupied by Goodman Lumber. The site has been vacant for nine years. Home Depot planned to build a store at the site and reached an agreement with the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 2005. But the company dropped its plan in 2008, citing a downturn in the home-improvement sales market that saw its earnings decrease by about 19 to 24 percent in 2008.

Construction Partially Funded Through AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust

By Paul Burton, Contributing Writer

Union construction workers will soon be building two new projects for the Martin Building Company in San Francisco. The contractor will serve as developer of the two projects that are funded, in part, with loans from the AFL-CIO’s Housing Investment Trust (HIT). As part of the deal to get financing from the labor federation, the projects will be built all-union. Nibbi Brothers will be the General Contractor for the Potrero Launch apartments at 2235 3rd Street and Roberts-Obayashi will be in charge of the Arc Light development at 178 Townsend.

Building trades leaders gathered in Washington, DC for their annual legislative conference with one clear goal – good jobs, right now. In his keynote address, Building Trades Dept. President, Mark Ayers, noted that even though the building trades are facing the worst economic crisis in recent memory, things could have been much worse. He reminded the audience of several important contributions made by President Obama such as overturning a federal ban on project labor agreements and passing the economic stimulus package which still has money flowing to construction projects across the country.