National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation Challenges Proposition S PSA Requirement
The San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) is getting more resistance to their effort to discriminate against the vast majority of California’s private construction workforce that decided not to join a labor union. The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation has filed a claim against the SDUSD arguing that the project stabilization agreement (PSA – it’s a PLA by another name) requirement for all projects funded by the $2.1 billion Proposition S illegally discriminates against nonunion workers and apprentices.
Here is an excerpt from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation press release:
The discrimination against nonunion construction workers is facilitated by a so-called “Project Labor Agreement” (PLA) – essentially a collective bargaining agreement signed by contractors as a condition of performing work on a government-funded construction project. Arguing that the PLA between the school district and various unions (including the Southwest Regional Council of Carpenters and San Diego Building & Construction Trades Council, AFL-CIO) illegally discriminates against construction workers who exercise their right to refrain from union membership, Foundation attorneys are defending the interests of the vast majority of construction employees in California who have opted against unionization.
Last November, San Diego voters approved a $2.1 billion school bond, called Proposition S. California law requires that all qualified contractors’ employees complete state-mandated “apprenticeship” programs, but it is illegal under federal law to discriminate against workers or businesses on account of union association. The discriminatory PLA, however, requires workers to go through union-run apprenticeship programs (disqualifying high quality training programs run by employers and other groups), and the subcontracting clause further attempts to coerce even more workers into union ranks.
This is the second legal challenge filed against the SDUSD since adopting the project stabilization agreement requirement in May.
Read the San Diego Source’s October 13 article titled, “Another Discrimination Claim Against School Bond Measure,” or the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation’s October 7 press release for more information.