Big changes that favor labor unions could be coming soon to large municipal construction projects built by the city of San Diego, such as fire stations, libraries, sewer pipelines and bridges.
San Diego officials say they plan to create a blanket project labor agreement with local unions that would apply to projects citywide.
A PLA sets the wages, safety protocols and regulations for contractors and all their subcontractors on projects. It also sets goals for hiring of local workers and the awarding of contracts to construction firms led by disadvantaged people like former foster children.
Some cities work out PLAs on a project-by-project basis, but Mayor Todd Gloria wants the city and local construction unions to create one consistent set of rules.
City officials have held preliminary talks with union leaders and are exploring how other government agencies, such as the San Diego Unified School District and the Metropolitan Transit System, have handled their blanket PLAs.
This month or next, officials plan to present the City Council with a potential framework that could include proposed hiring rules and how small a project would need to be for an exemption from the PLA — probably less than $1 million.
“We are starting the process of putting a framework together,” said Jessica Lawrence, Gloria’s director of policy. “We’re looking at what other cities and agencies are doing.”
City voters made it possible for San Diego to consider a citywide PLA in November when they easily approved Measure D, lifting a ban on PLAs they had approved a decade earlier.
Supporters say PLAs help projects get built on time and under budget, because they require contractors to use mostly trained union workers who are more efficient and less likely to make mistakes or perform tasks out of order.
“Our members are well-trained and very good at what they do,” said Carol Kim, who will help negotiate San Diego’s citywide PLA as leader of the San Diego Building and Construction Trades Council.
Supporters also tout that PLAs include policies encouraging contractors to hire local workers and favoring contractors owned by people deemed disadvantaged, such as formerly incarcerated people.
By laying out a comprehensive set of rules and guidelines, PLAs also protect workers by making it much harder for contractors to withhold wages, pay workers “under the table,” intentionally misclassify workers or flout prevailing wage mandates.
Labor unions say PLAs also boost the middle class by requiring at least 20 percent of work be performed by apprentices, creating a pathway to middle-class jobs for young people willing to get the proper training.
Critics say PLAs make projects more expensive by shrinking the number of contractors willing to submit bids, reducing flexibility for contractors and creating confusion between them and workers that slows projects down.
The Associated General Contractors of San Diego, which represents mostly non-union contractors, estimates costs for city projects will rise 30 percent under a blanket PLA and suggests more projects will be handled by contractors and workers from outside the region.
“A blanket PLA will have major impacts to the city,” said AGC chief executive Eddie Sprecco. “The city should do a project-by-project justification and analysis for a PLA. If done honestly, the city wouldn’t need a threshold, but likely it would only apply to projects above $40 to $50 million.”
Other critics say PLAs have typically not done enough to help workers of color.
Supporters and opponents of PLAs poured millions into the campaigns for and against Measure D, which voters