San Francisco

Construction Fatalities and Protest by Minority Contracting Community Plague New 49ers Stadium Project

2 October 15, 2013  Featured, State & Local Construction

Construction of the San Francisco 49ers’ $1.2 billion Levi’s stadium, subject to a controversial government-mandated project labor agreement (PLA), has been plagued by two fatal jobsite accidents and a protest by a coalition of community groups and activists outraged by the lack of construction contracts awarded to minority businesses. PLA advocates claim anti-competitive and costly PLA schemes promote safe jobsites and […]

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Another Accident on a Project Labor Agreement Jobsite: OSHA Investigating Construction Fatality on New 49ers Stadium

3 June 18, 2013  State & Local Construction

A tragic construction accident on a California project subject to a government-mandated project labor agreement (PLA) claimed a life last week. According to The San Francisco Chronicle, on June 11, 2013, an elevator mechanic was killed at the new 49ers stadium construction site in Santa Clara, Calif., (“49ers stadium accident kills worker,” 6/11/13): An elevator mechanic was killed […]

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Workers Injured on San Fran Union-Only Construction Jobsite Financed by Union Pension Fund

0 September 5, 2011  Federal Construction, State & Local Construction

Last week four union construction workers were seriously injured in an accident at the $40 million Potrero Launch apartment project in San Francisco’s Dogpatch neighborhood (“Four hospitalized after SF construction accident,” 8/31/11): The roof support structure gave way and collapsed onto three workers below, who were in a stairwell on the sixth floor, he said. […]

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Solano County in California Uses Erroneous Citation of State Law to Justify Project Labor Agreement

0 October 6, 2010  State & Local Construction, Uncategorized

Associated Builders and Contractors’ (ABC) government affairs staff in California knows the state’s labor laws and public contracting laws, inside and out.  So ABC representatives immediately spotted the error when they read the Solano County Department of General Services staff report for the September 28, 2010 Board of Supervisors meeting that justified the use of […]

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Union Hiring Halls Are A Roadblock to Local Hire

0 August 5, 2010  State & Local Construction

An article in yesterday’s San Francisco Examiner demonstrates that PLAs can’t guarantee local hire because union hiring hall rules can’t guarantee local hire (“Union allocation is roadblock to local hiring,” 8/4/10): SAN FRANCISCO — City residents are landing more construction jobs on San Francisco Redevelopment Agency projects, but union practices still keep some from working. The […]

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Project Labor Agreements and Big Labor Fail at Local Job Creation

5 August 5, 2010  Federal Construction, State & Local Construction

Big Labor bosses and government-mandated project labor agreement (PLA) advocates frequently claim that PLAs are the only way to guarantee local hire on construction projects funded by tax dollars. Of course, this is another myth promoted by special interests to convince lawmakers and taxpayers that there is a public benefit to anti-competitive and costly PLA […]

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Op-Ed Critical of Fed Gift to Big Labor in California

1 February 12, 2010  Federal Construction, Uncategorized

The Napa Valley Register ran an Op-Ed by Carole Bionda, vice-president of ABC member Nova Group in Napa, CA, that is critical of president Obama’s pro-project labor agreement (PLA) Executive Order 13502 and other special interest giveaways to Big Labor that will kill jobs and increase wasteful federal spending (“Stopping the blows to construction industry,” 2/12/10). Of […]

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