Скачать или смотреть National Black Contractors Association urges City of San Diego to keep Prop A

(SAN DIEGO, CA) - In 2012 voters across San Diego overwhelmingly voted in support of banning the City of San Diego from engaging in project labor agreements on public projects that it carries out through Proposition A. That could all change this year as the new San Diego City Council and Mayor Todd Gloria vow to get a "Repeal Prop A" measure on the November ballot. Next Monday the San Diego City Council will decide whether to place a Repeal to Proposition A on the November ballot or whether to keep the ban on project labor agreements within the City of San Diego in place. Labor unions are vying for the opportunity to get rid of proposition A arguing that it would boost the local workforce fully allowing the City of San Diego to engage in a project labor agreement with almost all of its infrastructure and construction projects going forward while open shop programs such as the National Black Contractors Association argue that it will leave them out of work by forcing urban inner city residents to become paid members of unions before they'll ever get access to construction work in San Diego again. The history of PLA's within San Diego's unions show that they have struggled to keep a diverse workforce and primarily with Black communities. The National Black Contractors Association is an open shop program that allows urban inner city residents to get their journeyman cards without ever having to become a member of a union and the program is the only federal and statewide approved apprenticeship program of its kind aimed specifically at the Black and urban inner city community. Today the National Black Contractors Association, the Associated General Contractors San Diego, the Western Electrical Construction Association and the Building Industry Association gathered to hold a press conference urging the San Diego City Council to vote against the upcoming Proposition A repeal ballot measure vote coming before the council next Monday. The open shop programs such as the National Black Contractors Association argue that if the ban on PLA's is lifted it will privatize all of San Diego's public work projects to paid union members only and will not keep free and open opportunity within San Diego's billions of dollars worth of public work happening over the next few decades.

A Project Labor Agreement, also known as a Community Workforce Agreement, is a pre-hire collective bargaining agreement with one or more labor organizations that establishes the terms and conditions of employment for a specific construction project. PLA's give labor unions exclusivity on public projects. These same Project Labor Agreements are opposed by San Diego's open shop programs which are programs that do not require someone to become unionized in order to become an apprentice and then get access to construction work. Open Shop programs argue for a free and open market and want to keep it that way on local public projects. Open Shop programs like the National Black Contractors Association are concerned that public projects like the City of San Diego's pure water project will strip billions of dollars worth of work from the communities who need it most and will gather with other open shop programs for a press conference urging the city council not to vote to place the repeal on the November ballot arguing voters already chose to ban PLA's in the City of San Diego. Following the news conference the President of the National Black Contractors Association Abdur Rahim Hameed led civil disobedience on the City of San Diego's Pure Water Expansion site in Miramar and was arrested by San Diego Police around 12:00 PM. The President of the National Black Contractors Association has been released and is preparing to bring hundreds down to next week's council meeting to urge the council to vote No on the upcoming vote deciding whether to place a Proposition A repeal on the November ballot.