The most important Oakland City Council vote no one’s talking about
What happens when labor union priorities conflict with affordable housing and racial equity goals
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Story of the week
Media reports have uncovered a crucial yet under-the-radar City Council vote that will determine whether to require a Project Labor Agreement (PLA) for $350M in affordable housing projects funded by Measure U, the bond approved by voters in 2022.
What’s at stake: PLAs are contracts that set pay, benefits, and other work conditions before a construction project begins.
This means any affordable housing developer that wants to apply for Measure U funding must first negotiate a PLA with the building and construction trades unions.
Supporters of the PLA say it would guarantee higher pay, better benefits, and a pipeline of jobs for union workers and apprentices.
It would also guarantee 100% union labor on all Measure U jobs, up from ~85% that’s already standard across Oakland’s affordable housing projects.
Matthew Beeston of the Nor Cal Carpenters Union said: “Without these labor standards, construction workers are more likely to be subjected to inferior pay, no medical benefits, and inadequate training to do their job safely.”
While fair living wages are paramount, opponents argue a PLA would be superfluous because all city-funded projects are already guaranteed a range of benefits and protections.
City documents show the prevailing wage for construction workers is more than $65/hour. They also have guarantees around benefits, apprenticeship hiring ratios, local hire, and local business participation.
More harm than good? Oakland’s housing department says PLA-driven cost increases would result in 40% fewer newly constructed housing units under Measure U.
Higher costs make it more difficult to get state funding for similar projects.
It would also further delay Measure U funding. In the past, PLA negotiations have taken months and sometimes years to negotiate; one agreement has been in talks since 2018 and still hasn’t been finalized.
Perpetuating racial disparities through legislation: Opponents say PLAs are bad for Black workers and smaller minority-owned contractors who are unable to compete with the unions.
Data from a PLA project in Brooklyn Basin shows Black workers represented only 4% of the workforce. White-owned businesses took the overwhelming majority of contractor dollars.
Remarkably, only 1 in 5 workers resided in Oakland, meaning the vast majority of the union earnings went to (likely suburban) households outside Oakland.
Groups like the Black Cultural Zone (affordable housing developer in East Oakland) and the City’s Director of Race and Equity have come out against a PLA.
This begs the question: Will City Council vote with affordable housing advocates and racial justice groups, or will they go with the building trades unions?
The building trades contribute hundreds of thousands of dollars each election cycle.
They also award coveted endorsements to individual candidates — and they’ve endorsed a supermajority of current council members.
Bottom line: We have to ask whether additional measures are necessary if they come at the expense of our valuable (and very limited) public affordable housing dollars and some of our most vulnerable community members.
Make your voice heard: Feel strongly about this issue? If so, email City Council to let them know your thoughts ahead of the September 10 vote.
In other news…
Oaklanders are demanding immediate changes to dangerous intersections after a number of recent fatal crashes. (NBC)
Retiring Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson has endorsed Emeryville Councilmember John Bauters to succeed his District 5 supervisor seat. (East Bay Insiders)
Tonya Love is petitioning to be on the ballot for Oakland’s District 7 race, after a few signatures on her nomination form were disqualified. Love, who is currently Carrol Fife’s (D3) chief of staff, originally filed to run for the At-Large council position, until Treva Reid dropped out of the D7 race. (KQED)
An opinion piece posited on the current state of affairs in Oakland saying the city needs a “manager with authority to cut through red tape, reorganize the city government, fire those who need to be fired and fix its deficit-ridden budget.” (CalMatters)
The owners of Jo’s Modern Thai are expected to open a new brunch restaurant on Lakeshore next month, serving “American classics with Asian twists.” They also have plans to open a separate taqueria and Thai-inspired speakeasy bar. (SF Chronicle)
🇺🇸 Oakland Proud
Oaklanders, including members of the NAACP Oakland Branch, traveled to Chicago for last week’s Democratic National Convention, where Oakland native Kamala Harris officially accepted the Democratic nomination for president. In her acceptance speech, Harris made multiple references to her Oakland roots, including photos and videos from her childhood. (CBS)
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This IS NOT a shortage of public dollars for public works because your State govt has the taxpayer by the balls. They will raise taxes at will, increase fines, impose regulations to make things more costly so that at the end of day, taxpayers are impoverished. Remember printing money to cover deficits (via Federal Reserve) to monetize deficits is another tactic employed for the last 50 years (at the national level) ever since the dollar went off the gold standard. There is simply no accountability for bad management. All these officials and govt representatives get elected on platitudes and NO ONE holds them accountable. They cater to special interests and the taxpayer is simply a hostage.
A big problem in Oakland is that the demands of one group always conflict with the demands of another. The only thing consistent is higher taxes.