Organized Labor

By Paul Burton Contributing Writer

The building trades are set to finalize several project labor agreements for upcoming construction projects in the City. The SFBCTC and allied unions have been in negotiations over PLAs for the Hetch Hetchy improvements with the SF Public Utilities Commission and with the San Francisco Unified School District for work under the bond measures passed by SF voters. Other PLAs in the works include deals with Lennar/BVHP for work on the Hunter’s Point redevelopment and with TopVision for a project at Candlestick Point.

SFPUC/Hetch Hetchy

Five local building trades councils began meeting with the SFPUC in late July to hammer out the details of the PLA. Representatives from the AFL-CIO’s Building Trades Department and from the National Construction Alliance have also been involved in the negotiations. The $4.3 billion project would seismically upgrade many of the pipelines, pumping stations, tunnels and dams along the system’s 167-mile long aqueduct that brings water to the City from the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite National Park. The aging system is vulnerable to earthquakes and crosses five major fault lines capable of generating a magnitude 7.5 earthquake. San Francisco voters passed Measure A in 2002 to issue $1.6 billion in bonds to finance part of the improvements, which would be the City’s largest capital project ever undertaken.

The SFPUC favors establishing a PLA for the project, as does the SFBCTC. Negotiators have arrived at agreement over the primary elements of most major issues, including mechanisms for resolving jurisdictional disputes. A few details are in the course of being resolved. Some of the work has already begun. The overall project includes about 77 different projects in Alameda, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, and Stanislaus Counties and will provide work for the construction trades for 10 to 13 years.

SF School District

The PLA with the SFUSD involves work remaining to be put out to bid under the 2003 bond, with a provision allowing the Board of Education to extend it to new construction and improvements funded by the bond passed last year. In 2003, voters approved a $295 million bond measure to modernize 30 schools and to set aside $15 million for a proposed building for the School of the Arts. Voters approved Prop. A in 2006 to give the SFUSD $450 million to continue its building improvement work.

The money will be used to modernize 64 additional School District facilities not included in the 2003 bond proposition. Work includes improving health and safety standards, including installing fire sprinkler systems, repairing elevators and replacing drinking fountains; making building repairs such as fixing bathrooms and repairing or replacing electrical and plumbing systems; improving accessibility for students with disabilities by installing ramps, signs, assistive listening devices and making other needed repairs and replacements; and performing needed environmental improvements, including removing materials containing asbestos.

SFBCTC Executive Secretary-Treasurer Mike Theriault reported that the SFBCTC and the SFUSD were attempting to resolve a side issue that was holding up implementation of the PLA. He believed that there was reason to hope that this issue would soon be resolved.

Hunters Point

The Hunters Point development is located on a 93-acre parcel of the former U.S. Naval Shipyard. Lennar Corp. is the developer of the Hunters Point construction project, which will see the construction of 1,600 new housing units and 300,000 square feet of commercial and retail space. Development plans also call for creating a community that runs on renewable energy sources like solar and as hydropower. At least 32 percent of the units will be set aside as affordable for low-income families.

The U.S. Naval Shipyard at Hunters Point was decommissioned in 1974, and before it could be made available to the City for civilian use, extensive cleanup of toxic pollutants dumped or stored by the Navy was ordered by the Environmental Protection Agency. Over $350 million was spent for environmental remediation and removal of toxics at the superfund site. Some of the work to remove the toxic waste at the site was done by members of the Laborers union.

As reported in Organized Labor last September, more than 30 members of Operating Engineers Local 3 worked on the first phase of the project last year. "With the use of scrapers, dozers and excavators, members work together moving close to a million cubic yards of dirt, as well as providing paving and retaining-wall construction," wrote Mandy Jessup. "The first phase began in January 2006 and is expected to keep members busy until 2007."

An estimated 430 construction jobs per year will be generated in the first five years of development. The Building Trades Council is circulating among its affiliates a possible final draft of a PLA with Lennar/BVHP. The 93-acre parcel is one of six that make up the 550-acre hillside site. Doug Perry reported in Organized Labor that, "Representatives from Lennar and Luster made a presentation to the San Francisco Building and Construction Trades Council on July 27, 2004" to begin the process of reaching a PLA with the building trades.