Mayor London Breed and SFBCTC President Larry Mazzola, Jr.

Citywide PLA Finalized

The San Francisco Building and Construction Trades Council (SFBCTC) have finalized a citywide Project Labor Agreement (PLA) with the City of San Francisco ensuring a steady flow of work for building trades members for years to come. 

  The 20-year agreement was adopted unanimously by the Board of Supervisors and signed by Mayor London Breed in January 2019. It was finalized in July when all the SFBCTC member unions, along with the city, signed off on the agreement. 

  “This Agreement is very important because it protects all workers and makes sure they receive the pay, benefits and working conditions that they deserve when working on publicly funded projects,” said Mazzola, Jr. “It also levels the playing field for contractors bidding on this work, ensuring that the bidding process will be fair and equitable.” 

  San Francisco joins San Jose, San Diego and Palmdale, along with numerous school and special service districts, and public agencies which have agreed to PLAs covering public projects. 

  The agreement covers all publicly funded projects including new construction, remodeling, seismic upgrades, and modernization of city infrastructure and buildings such as fire and police stations, libraries, hospitals and public work projects. 

  “Every detail was thought out and planned for,” Mazzola, Jr. said.

DETAILS MATTER, THE PLA AT WORK

  After San Francisco voters approved ‘Measure B’ in 2018, language including seismic retrofits became increasingly important in the PLA as Measure B allocates $628.5 million to be spent on the city’s infrastructure in preparation for the next major earthquake—meaning many years of union trades-work covered under our new city-wide PLA. 

  “This PLA now directly translates to hundreds of thousands of hours of work in the coming years!” Mazzola, Jr., continued, “and it means work with good wages and working conditions, important local hire provisions, and a path for area residents to get a career in the trades through state accredited apprentice programs.” 

  The work surrounding Measure B will include building a 911 Call Center and other public safety facilities, replacing deteriorating cisterns, pipes, tunnels and facilities necessary to ensure that firefighters have access to a reliable water supply to put out multiple fires that could erupt simultaneously in the wake of an earthquake.

BUILDING A FUTURE TO BELIEVE IN

  This historic citywide PLA ultimately enables the City to avoid costly delays and additional expenses associated with public works projects that involve numerous contractors and employees in different trades. It has critical timelines for completion, and requires a skilled and properly trained workforce to successfully complete the work in a timely manner. The decision by Mayor Breed to implement this historic San Francisco City-Wide PLA will help stimulate San Francisco’s economy with its own tax dollars, while creating opportunities for the city’s young people in apprenticeships thereby paving a pathway to the middle class for the next generation. “San Francisco has a long economic recovery ahead of us, and using our public construction projects is a key way that we can provide good-paying jobs and economic opportunity.” Mayor Breed concluded by saying, “thank you to the San Francisco Building Construction Trades Council for their valued participation throughout the process to ensure stability and continuity of public work and improvement projects.”