Project Labor Agreement Signed for Hetch Hetchy Water System Improvement Plan

Building Trades leaders joined San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and representatives of the SF Public Utilities Commission at a signing ceremony for the Hetch Hetchy Project Labor Agreement April 10.

After several months of negotiations between the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission and representatives of Bay Area and national building trades unions, a Project Labor Agreement has been signed for the SFPUC’s Water System Improvement Plan. The $4.3 billion project would seismically upgrade many of the pipelines, pumping stations, tunnels and dams along the system’s 167-mile long aqueduct that brings water to the City from the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite National Park. The aging system is vulnerable to earthquakes and crosses five major fault lines capable of generating a magnitude 7.5 earthquake. The overall project includes about 77 different projects in Alameda, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, and Stanislaus Counties and will provide work for the construction trades for 10 to 13 years.

Five local building trades councils began meeting with the SFPUC in late July to hammer out the details of the PLA. Representatives from the AFL-CIO’s Building Trades Department and from the National Construction Alliance (NCA) have also been involved in the negotiations. The NCA includes the Carpenters, Operating Engineers, and Laborers unions.

The SFPUC and Mayor Gavin Newsom hosted a public signing ceremony held atop the concrete roof of the Stanford Heights Reservoir in the Twin Peaks neighborhood April 10. SFPUC General Manager Susan Leal noted that the first work to be covered under the new PLA would be at the Stanford Heights reservoir, which was built in 1923. The reservoir will undergo a major seismic retrofit, with work beginning in the fall of 2007 to be completed in 2009. Leal said that having the PLA would ensure that the work was done on budget and on time. “Unions built this city, and union labor will be used on this incredible, multi-county project,” she said. An estimated 12.2 million labor hours will be required to complete all the different components of the project. Some of the work has already begun.

Mayor Newsom thanked the labor leaders for fashioning a PLA that will benefit workers and the City. “This is a labor town and we’re proud of it,” he said. Newsom said that he and Sean McGarvey of the AFL-CIO’s Building Trades Department had been talking about the economic divide between the wealthy and the working class. “Union labor helps to preserve, protect, and promote the middle class,” Newsom said. “This project isn’t just about rebuilding the water system, it’s about rebuilding families. We can reconcile the gap that exists and focus on strengthening the labor movement and working families. The work done by the crafts will define the future of our region.” He said he hoped the Hetch Hetchy PLA could serve as a model for other projects.

Newsom presented McGarvey with a proclamation from the City declaring April 10, 2007, as Project Labor Agreement Day. McGarvey said the PLA would strengthen and maintain the middle class, not just by creating jobs but creating careers in the construction trades. He said he was particularly proud that the project would also create job opportunities for veterans. A provision of the PLA incorporates the “Helmets to Hardhats” model initiated by the BCTD. “Helmets to hardhats serves as a way to transition members of the military into construction careers and employment,” he said.

National Construction Alliance Vice President Ray Poupore praised the Bay Area building trades leaders, saying, “This PLA is about protecting workers. The labor leaders here put their workers first.” Poupore called the PLA a “win-win for San Francisco and the whole area.”

SFBCTC Secretary-Treasurer Mike Theriault acknowledged the leadership of the other building trades councils who helped formulate he PLA. Other BCTC leaders involved were Bill Nack (San Mateo County), Neil Struthers (Santa Clara and San Benito Counties), Barry Luboviski (Alameda County), and Lucille Palmer-Boyd (Stanislaus County).

Theriault noted that work on the water system improvement plan would also involve hiring young workers through San Francisco’s City Build program. “This will enable us to bring young people into the trades and provide them with steady work for many years,” he said. Theriault said that the PUC had made a wise decision in agreeing to the PLA and the hiring of union members: “You’ve committed yourself to hiring the most highly skilled workers on the face of the earth, trained through our apprenticeship programs.”

Members of the signatory unions, building trades councils, and national construction organizations took turns signing a copy of the PLA, along with Mayor Newsom and the SFPUC’s Susan Leal.

Some of the key components of the Project Labor Agreement include a no strike clause, prevailing rates for all work performed, using labor management trust funds to provide health care and pension benefits, hiring and dispatch through union hiring halls, a commitment to training and hiring local residents, and a joint administrative committee to maintain good lines of communication and to resolve disputes.

Signatories to the PLA are the Building Trades Department of the AFL-CIO, the National Construction Alliance, Building Trades Councils of San Francisco, San Mateo, Alameda, Santa Clara and San Benito, and Stanislaus/Merced/Tuolomne/Mariposa Counties.

Unions signing on are Boilermaker Local 549, Bricklayers Local 3, Elevator Constructors Local 8, Northern California Carpenters Regional Council, Electrical Workers Locals 6, 332, 595, 617 and 684, Heat and Frost Local 16, Iron Workers Locals 377, 378 and 155, Operating Engineers Local 3, Cement Masons Locals 66 and 300, Plumbers Locals 38, 342, 393, 442, 467 and 483, Roofers Locals 40, 81 and 95, Sheet Metal Workers Locals 104 and 162, and Teamsters Local 853.