Labor Agreement for San Diego Unified School District?

Tonight the San Diego Unified School District will take up a resolution to ask the district to engage in negotiations with the San Diego Building Trades for a Project Works Agreement.

I am simply amazed that this is happening. It is a real positive step for the district. Specifically there is discussion of social justice provisions in the agreement. While I was administering the Maritime and Aviation Project Labor Agreement (MAPLA) for the Port of Oakland, I took a lot of pride in helping to introduce careers to people that have been excluded from traditional pathways to construction.

The MAPLA's success speaks for itself:

Local apprentice participation was 75% higher than in 2004. In calendar year 2005, local workers made up 67% of all construction workers used on Port construction under MAPLA. Local apprentices made up 13% of the overall workforce during 2005 (three year-high), and comprised 86% of all the apprentice project hours.

Social Justice provisions are more and more a part of labor agreements. The San Francisco Public Utilities Hetch Hetchy project, Los Angeles Unified School District and the redevelopment agencies in Los Angeles.

Typically the San Diego AGC and ABC are having tantrums about the issue. The venom here is palpable and totally unprofessional. Read it here.

The Union Tribune published a story on about this.