Organized Labor

By Paul Burton
Contributing Writer

San Francisco’s CityBuild Academy offers disadvantaged and low-income residents an opportunity to learn a skilled trade and find employment in the City in the construction industry through its apprenticeship training program. It also offers a second chance to those who take advantage of it.

During a recent visit to the Academy at San Francisco City College in Bayview, students were gaining hands-on experience with carpentry and roofing and learning basic skills by building a demonstration house. The current session is the third class, set to graduate in January.

Student Margo Christin said she applied to the Academy through a local community organization and hoped to become a sheet metal worker or sprinkler fitter. “It’s an incredible opportunity,” she said. “You can learn about all the different trades and choose which one you want to go into.” Christin said that students were able to ask questions about the different trades when guest speakers from various trades made presentations to the class. “You don’t have to jump into something without knowing about it,” she said.

Instructor Olwyn Brown called CityBuild, “a phenomenal success.” She said of the 50 students in the first class, 43 were hired. Overall 80 of the 88 students in the first two classes have been placed in union jobs as apprentices. Brown has been a member of Carpenters Local 713 in Hayward for 10 years. She said many students had taken and passed tests to become electricians, stationary engineers, sheet metal workers, and sprinkler fitters.

“We provide you with the proper attire for your job, place you in a job, pay your union initiation, and provide you with the tools you need,” she said. An added bonus, she said, was that although classes run for 14 weeks, students who show up to classes every day on time can go out on a job after seven weeks.

For student Rick Vedilago, the CityBuild Academy offers a chance to make a dramatic change in his life. The 37-year-old former San Quentin inmate said of the program: “It’s the best thing that ever happened to me. To be able to accomplish something and have a steady job is great.” Vedilago said he entered the program through the County Based Organizations Anders & Anders and 111 Taylor.

“The teachers are great, they give you everything—even a shuttle to classes,” he said. “It’s incredible.”

Vedilago said he had already joined the Iron Workers union and will be placed on a job in five weeks. “I’m looking forward to working,” he said.

Joseph Williams, who had worked as a carpenter years ago, said CityBuild offered him a great opportunity to “reinstate myself, to go back to work and have steady employment. It’s a great opportunity for young and old,” Williams said and helps replace the retiring workforce. He said he was encouraging others to take advantage of the program.

Instructor Oscar Tarango, who brings 31 years of experience as a carpenter to his job, said that students are involved in all aspects of construction, including plumbing, wiring, taping, building footings, tying rebar, installing doors and windows, and building ladders and saw horses. “They can try different things and choose what they want to do,” he said.

Tarango, who has developed many hands-on exercises to show students the necessary skills they will need, said he has students measuring, learning how to organize the work to be done, reading plans, and building footings and forms. “They learn to cut, bend and tie steel, handset ties, layout the work using batterboards, install cleats and kickers,” he explained. “They have to learn rigging and tying loads,” he said. “I tell them if you take a job as a carpenter, you’re not going to be building little houses, you’ll be tying steel and building forms.”

Students are also required to take math classes and life skills classes. “I’m big on them being successful,” Tarango said. “It’s not about flunking, it’s about learning and getting the information to them. There are no grades.”

Safety is a top priority in the program. “No one uses a Skil Saw until they pass a test.” He said he is always fine tuning the curriculum and developing new hands-on exercises and drawing up plans for the various tasks.

Students recently built a small wood-frame house behind the City College auto shop. “They learned stair framing, plumbing and lining, bracing, setting windows, and how to install flashing,” Tarango said. He said he tells students, “Follow directions, and you’ll be successful.”

Tarango added that many contractors in the City want to hire local but can’t always find the skilled workers. CityBuild is designed to fill that need.

CityBuild Academy Coordinator Zelda Saeli said the program benefits contractors by providing experienced, entry-level construction workers who are ready to work and affiliated with a local union. CityBuild also is responsive to making placements who are a good match for contractors and follows up after hiring with on-site observations and direct contact with the employer and workers. Contractors also receive credit toward requirements that 50 percent of new hires on public works projects in the City are San Francisco residents.

Project Director Chris Iglesias said that, “In September CityBuild began providing project compliance monitoring and employment placement for four City-sponsored projects. It is now assembling schedule and workforce demand data for all City-sponsored construction projects. CityBuild has become the operational arm of First Source and implements all construction-related First Source agreements. CityBuild is currently working on 10 First Source agreements but this number will increase to 28 over the next few months.”

The CityBuild Initiative was launched in February by the Mayor’s office. As the centerpiece of CityBuild, the CityBuild Academy is a partnership between the City’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development, the Northern California Carpenters Regional Council, SF City College, the Transportation Authority, and the Private Industry Council.

Mayor Gavin Newsom called CityBuild “a revolutionary tool for creating jobs,” saying “CityBuild makes it possible for the City to use our tremendous market leverage to benefit San Franciscans by creating high-paying jobs and opening the door to lifelong employability.”

According to the Mayor’s Office, over the next few years, CityBuild will leverage some $1.5 billion in 287 current City public works projects, creating several hundred new jobs. It is one of the most extensive public private partnerships ever pursued by the City. It includes agreements with companies like WebCorp Builders and PG&E to hire CityBuild participants.

Academy Students are required to be San Francisco resident, posses a High School Diploma or GED, have a valid CA Drivers License, have the legal capacity to work in the U.S., and pass a basic skills test (8th grade level minimum) using the TABE test. A criminal history does not preclude someone from entering CityBuild Academy.

A graduation ceremony for the current class will be held at the Mayor’s Office on Jan. 17.