Community College Board in California Will Be Accountable to Voters

By Kevin Dayton
10/17/2015
The eastern suburbs of San Diego (“East County”) have been and are still regarded as politically conservative. But even this area isn’t impervious to the political movement in California toward European-style social democracy. Labor unions and their political allies have recently gained political control of an East County local government and are now exercising their power. Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District...

TAGS: Coalition for Fair Employment in Construction, Project Labor Agreement, Project Labor Agreements, Proposition 39 (2000), San Diego County Taxpayers Association

Are Unions Behind California Assembly Bill 76 to Hinder Public Records Access?

By Kevin Dayton
06/18/2013
What special interest group would have such disregard for the tenor of the times that it would now push for a law to hinder the public’s ability to obtain records from local governments? And what special interest group would have the chutzpah to get that law enacted through a supplemental trailer to an annual budget,...

TAGS: California Public Records Act, Coalition for Fair Employment in Construction, Senate Bill 7 (2013), Senate Bill 829 (2012), Senate Bill 922 (2011)

Persistent Pressure Compels San Diego to Spit Out Project Labor Agreement

By Kevin Dayton
04/23/2013
For five months, the City of San Diego refused to give the public a Project Labor Agreement negotiated for its planned $520 million convention center expansion. This union agreement was reportedly the result of a backroom deal involving top union leaders, but multiple requests for it under the authority of the California Public Records Act failed to dislodge it. But today (April 23,...

TAGS: California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), City of San Diego, City of San Diego Proposition A (June 2012), Coalition for Fair Employment in Construction, Greenmail, Lorena Gonzalez, Project Labor Agreements, San Diego Convention Center Expansion, San Diego County Building and Construction Trades Council, San Diego County Central Labor Council, San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders, Senate Bill 829 (2012), Senate Bill 922 (2011)

Watch Union Official’s Rude Antics at California High-Speed Rail Conference

By Kevin Dayton
01/15/2013
On January 11, 2013, a video camera recorded a stunning public tirade by Fresno’s top construction union official at a conference about supposed local contracting opportunities for the first segment of California’s High Speed Rail. Below is video footage of the beginning of a panel discussion about Project Labor Agreements, and below that is the...

TAGS: Associated Builders and Contractors, California high speed rail, California High-Speed Rail Authority, Coalition for Fair Employment in Construction, Community Benefits Agreements, Community Benefits Policy, Gray Davis, Project Labor Agreements, Proposition 1A (November 2008), San Joaquin Valley, State Building and Construction Trades Council of California, U.S. Department of Labor