Unions Pressure San Diego City Council on Repeal of Project Labor Agreement Ban
Today (July 14, 2020), the San Diego City Council will feel the political pressure from the lobbyists of the San Diego Building and Construction Trades Council to put a measure on the November 2020 ballot to repeal an ordinance prohibiting the city from entering into contracts that require construction companies to sign a Project Labor Agreement.
In June 2012, 56% of San Diego voters chose to enact Measure A, a "Fair and Open Competition" ordinance for public contracts. The ordinance derailed union efforts to obtain a monopoly on construction of taxpayer-funded construction projects, including the ultimately-scuttled San Diego Convention Center Expansion, Phase 3.
Unions still have their vision of using the government to cut bid competition and raise costs of construction in the City of San Diego for their own benefit. They also dream of the day when every construction trade worker and professional services worker in California is compelled into union representation (with mandatory dues and fees) in order to have a job in this industry and receiving training in this industry. Independence, choice, and dissent is the biggest threat to collective political power.
Some San Diego City Councilmembers are fully on board with this vision. They believe voters will reverse their decision from eight years ago, which was a different political era in San Diego County.
Several construction associations are opposing this union plot. They sent a letter to the city council along with some proposed language for a compromise position: Construction Association Letter to San Diego City Council Opposing Ballot Measure to Repeal Voter-Approved Project Labor Agreement Ban - July 13, 2020.
San Diego City Council Meeting Agenda - July 14, 2020
https://onbase.sandiego.gov/OnBaseAgendaOnline/Meetings/ViewMeeting?id=3909&doctype=1
Item S503: Consideration of a Proposed Ballot Measure to Amend the San Diego Municipal Code Article 2 Division 44 to Amend the City’s Contracting Policies
O-2021-4 PLA Ballot Measure Digest