Commentary

Commentary: Local Unions Proposal Will Shut Out Black, Contractors, Workers in Oakland Construction Projects

Published

5 years ago

August 2, 2019

The City of Oakland tried to sell an audience of primarily Black residents and a handful of Black contractors on establishing a Project Labor Agreement on all construction projects over $1 million at a meeting hosted by the Office of the Administrator Office of Contract Compliance on July 25, 2019.

The proposed PLA is being sponsored by the Alameda County Building Trades Council (ACBTC), which is the umbrella organization for all unions operating in the county.

ACBTC’s actions will result in insuring work for their membership while it effectively locks out Black contractors who are not dues-paying members of a local. Since Black contractors won’t get contracts on projects funded and subsidized by the city, whether by design or not, neither will Black men and women get opportunities to work.

Of the approximately 120 people in attendance, 80 were Black people seeking employment in the construction industry. There were three Black developers and eight Black construction sub- contractors. The City staff told the Black unemployed residents if they joined the union the chances they would get a good-paying job would be greatly increased. Nothing could be further from the truth.

In the real world people cannot just join a local. You have to have a sponsor (a firm that recommends you). You must be employed by the sponsor, that means you must have a job first before you are eligible to join a union local. In order to be in the construction industry you must go through an apprenticeship program and there are NO apprenticeship programs in Oakland, I repeat there are no apprenticeship program in Oakland. The last apprenticeship program in Oakland was the Skill Center on San Pablo avenue in the ’80s. It closed in the ’90s.

Elaine Brown, developer of affordable housing in West Oakland asked the staff if the PLA would apply to all Oakland projects and staff replied that the proposed PLA would only apply to projects that had a City of Oakland subsidy of some form, either land or money.

Another participant asked if all the projects using large building cranes in downtown Oakland would be subject to the PLA and staff replied that because the projects are privately financed the City has no control over who the hire. No local business participation requirement and no local hire requirements on these projects.

Robert Browning, a member of the East Bay Small Business Council and small black contractor, stated that ACBTC has been asked for 10 years to provide a breakdown by its 37 locals of the number of Oakland residents who are ethnic minorities. According to Browning, 20 locals have no Black members and the remaining 17 locals have less than 10 percent Black Oakland workers.

Browning also said that unions have abandoned training Oakland Blacks in construction and moved their training facilities to Sacramento, Concord, Benicia, Pleasanton and San Jose, well out of reach for Oakland residents. Until the unions start recruiting, training, and placing Oakland Black residents in jobs the unions don’t deserve special privileges, Browning said.

The reality of the proposed PLA is further complicated by the ill-conceived Surplus Public Lands policy that staff is circulating around the City and due for consideration by the City Council in September. This effort by City Councilmember Dan Kalb is a concept of designing a program to sell public land for the highest and best use.

The City should delay consideration of a city wide PLA until the City Disparity Study currently being conducted is released and shape the Surplus Land Policy based on the finding of the study.

There were no council members present at the July 25 meeting, and, to date, very few of the Council members have been actively engaged in the community outreach efforts.

Deborah Flynn, director of the Department of Equity and Race said that the “the Council is looking for (public) input before they decide whether to mandate a PLA and what elements should be included.”

The City will host another PLA outreach meeting at the West Oakland Senior Center in August. Some City Council members should be present. The Oakland Black Contractors should have their voices heard.

Eddie Dillard

Posts by Eddie Dillard

Activism

Oakland Post: Week of April 17 – 23, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of April 17 – 23, 2024

Published

5 days ago

April 19, 2024

Oakland Post

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Commentary

Opinion: Surviving the Earthquake, an Eclipse and “Emil Amok.”

Last Friday, a 4.8 magnitude earthquake shook New York City, reported as the “biggest earthquake with an epicenter in the NYC area since 1884” when a 5.2 quake hit. A bit bigger. The last quake similar to Friday’s was a 4.9 in 1783.Alexander Hamilton felt it — 241 years ago. That’s why New Yorkers were freaking out on Friday. They were in the room where it happens.

Published

6 days ago

April 17, 2024

Oakland Post

In New York City, the eclipse was about 90 percent visible. Good enough for me. Though a full solar eclipse is a celestial rarity, blockages of any sort aren’t generally celebrated. My one-man play is about growing up with the eclipsed history of American Filipinos and how I struggle to unblock all that.

By Emil Guillermo

I’m a Northern Californian in New York City for the next few weeks, doing my one-man show, “Emil Amok, Lost NPR Host, Wiley Filipino, Vegan Transdad.”

I must like performing in the wake of Mother Nature.

Alexander Hamilton felt it — 241 years ago.

That’s why New Yorkers were freaking out on Friday. They were in the room where it happens.

And it just doesn’t happen that often.

Beyonce singing country music happens more frequently.

When I felt New York shake last week, it reminded me of a time in a San Francisco TV newsroom when editors fretted about a lack of news an hour before showtime.

Then the office carpeting moved for a good ten seconds, and the news gods gave us our lead story.

On Friday when it happened in NYC, I noticed the lines in the carpeting in my room wiggling. But I thought it was from a raucous hotel worker vacuuming nearby.

I didn’t even think earthquake. In New York?

I just went about my business as if nothing had happened. After living near fault lines all my life, I was taking things for granted.

Considering the age of structures in New York, I should have been even more concerned about falling objects inside (shelves, stuff on walls) and outside buildings (signs, scaffolding), fire hazards from possible gas leaks, and then I should have looked for others on my floor and in the hotel lobby to confirm or aid or tell stories.

Of course, as a Californian who has lived through and covered quakes in the 4 to 6 magnitude range, I tried to calm down any traumatized New Yorker I encountered by taking full responsibility for bringing in the quake from the Bay Area.

I reassured them things would be all right, and then let them know that 4.8s are nothing.

And then I invited them to my consoling post-Earthquake performance of “Emil Amok, Lost NPR Host…”

It was the night of the eclipse.

ECLIPSING THE ECLIPSE

For example, did you know the first Filipinos actually arrived to what is now California in 1587? That’s 33 years before the Pilgrims arrived in America on the other coast, but few know the Filipino history which has been totally eclipsed.

I was in Battery Park sitting on a bench and there was a sense of community as people all came to look up. A young woman sitting next to me had a filter for a cell phone camera. We began talking and she let me use it. That filter enabled me to take a picture of the main event with my iPhone.

For helping me see, I invited her and her boyfriend to come see my show.

Coincidentally, she was from Plymouth, Massachusetts, near the rock that says the year the Pilgrims landed in 1620.

In my show she learned the truth. The Pilgrims were second.

History unblocked. But it took a solar eclipse.

Next one in 2044? We have a lot more unblocking to do.

If you’re in New York come see my show, Sat. April 13th, 5:20 pm Eastern; Fri. April 19, 8:10 pm Eastern; and Sun. April 21st 5:20 pm Eastern.

You can also livestream the show. Get tickets at www.amok.com/tickets

About the Author

Emil Guillermo is a journalist and commentator. He does a mini-talk show on YouTube.com/@emilamok1. He wishes all his readers a Happy Easter!

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Commentary

Commentary: Republican Votes Are Threatening American Democracy

In many ways, it was great that the Iowa Caucuses were on the same day as Martin Luther King Jr. Day. We needed to know the blunt truth. The takeaway message after the Iowa Caucuses where Donald Trump finished more than 30 points in front of Florida Gov. De Santis and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley boils down to this: Our democracy is threatened, for real.

Published

1 week ago

April 16, 2024

Oakland Post

It was strange for Iowans to caucus on MLK day. It had a self-cancelling effect. The day that honored America’s civil rights and anti-discrimination hero was negated by evening. That’s when one of the least diverse states in the nation let the world know that white Americans absolutely love Donald Trump. No ifs, ands or buts.

By Emil Guillermo

In many ways, it was great that the Iowa Caucuses were on the same day as Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

We needed to know the blunt truth.

The takeaway message after the Iowa Caucuses where Donald Trump finished more than 30 points in front of Florida Gov. De Santis and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley boils down to this: Our democracy is threatened, for real.

And to save it will require all hands on deck.

It was strange for Iowans to caucus on MLK day. It had a self-cancelling effect. The day that honored America’s civil rights and anti-discrimination hero was negated by evening.

That’s when one of the least diverse states in the nation let the world know that white Americans absolutely love Donald Trump. No ifs, ands or buts.

No man is above the law? To the majority of his supporters, it seems Trump is.

It’s an anti-democracy loyalty that has spread like a political virus.

No matter what he does, Trump’s their guy. Trump received 51% of caucus-goers votes to beat Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who garnered 21.2%, and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who got 19.1%.

The Asian flash in the pan Vivek Ramaswamy finished way behind and dropped out. Perhaps to get in the VP line. Don’t count on it.

According to CNN’s entrance polls, when caucus-goers were asked if they were a part of the “MAGA movement,” nearly half — 46% — said yes. More revealing: “Do you think Biden legitimately won in 2020?”

Only 29% said “yes.”

That means an overwhelming 66% said “no,” thus showing the deep roots in Iowa of the “Big Lie,” the belief in a falsehood that Trump was a victim of election theft.

Even more revealing and posing a direct threat to our democracy was the question of whether Trump was fit for the presidency, even if convicted of a crime.

Sixty-five percent said “yes.”

Who says that about anyone of color indicted on 91 criminal felony counts?

Would a BIPOC executive found liable for business fraud in civil court be given a pass?

How about a BIPOC person found liable for sexual assault?

Iowans have debased the phrase, “no man is above the law.” It’s a mindset that would vote in an American dictatorship.

Compare Iowa with voters in Asia last weekend. Taiwan rejected threats from authoritarian Beijing and elected pro-democracy Taiwanese vice president Lai Ching-te as its new president.

Meanwhile, in our country, which supposedly knows a thing or two about democracy, the Iowa caucuses show how Americans feel about authoritarianism.

Some Americans actually like it even more than the Constitution allows.

About the Author

Emil Guillermo is a journalist and commentator. He does a mini-talk show on YouTube.com/@emilamok1.