California Construction Unions Saved the Planet Again in 2015

By Kevin Dayton
12/30/2015
California construction trade unions continue to protect the environment from the scourges of renewable energy and infill development. A chart below provides examples of their achievements for the planet in 2015. Meanwhile, 2015 ends with the annual chatter at the state capitol that “maybe next year” will be the year that the California legislature amends the California Environmental Quality...

TAGS: California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), California Unions for Reliable Energy (CURE), CEQA, Greenmail, Project Labor Agreement, Project Labor Agreements, San Diego Convention Center Expansion, State Building and Construction Trades Council of California

Unions Still Selectively Finding Environmental Calamity in California Solar Projects

By Kevin Dayton
01/21/2015
Out of nowhere comes a new, well-funded champion of Mother Earth. A group called “Monterey County Residents for Responsible Development” has submitted two sets of letters and exhibits to Monterey County alleging serious deficiencies in its environmental review for the county’s first large solar photovoltaic power plant, the 280 megawatt California Flats. Obviously the Monterey...

TAGS: AB 32, Adams Broadwell Joseph & Cardozo, California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), California Unions for Reliable Energy (CURE), CEQA, Did Unions Hasten Demise of California’s Solar Thermal Power Plants?, Greenmail, State Building and Construction Trades Council of California

Monterey County Water Officials Abandon Bill After Unions Reshape It

By Kevin Dayton
07/29/2014
Any California local government seeking help from the state should know that union lobbyists won’t let the legislature pass anything unless unions have their own interests satisfied in the process. The Monterey County Water Resources Agency learned this lesson the hard way: it has now withdrawn support for its own bill after the State Building...

TAGS: Assembly Bill 155 (2014), Luis Alejo, Monterey County Board of Supervisors, Monterey County Water Resources Agency, Monterey/Santa Cruz Building and Construction Trades Council, Project Labor Agreements, State Building and Construction Trades Council of California

Unions Virtually Alone in Love with California High-Speed Rail

By Kevin Dayton
01/21/2014
Even close observers of the California High-Speed Rail Authority have struggled to track developments for the state’s planned bullet train. The debacle began in November 2008, when 52.7% of California voters approved Proposition 1A and triggered serious planning for what could be the most expensive construction project in human history. With that kind of money...

TAGS: AB 32, California bullet train, California Governor Jerry Brown, California high speed rail, California High-Speed Rail Authority, Community Benefits Agreements, Federal Railroad Administration, Fresno Bee, Governor Jerry Brown, Jerry Brown, Project Labor Agreements, Proposition 1A (November 2008), State Building and Construction Trades Council of California

Will California Union Officials Get to Discuss Project Labor Agreements in Closed Session?

By Kevin Dayton
11/26/2013
A September 17, 2013 article in www.UnionWatch.org reported on “the end of public deliberation and votes for Project Labor Agreements in the legislative branch of state and local governments. Instead, backroom deals are made in the executive branch to give unions control of the work.” Now another union strategy has been discovered for evading public scrutiny:...

TAGS: Los Angeles/Orange County Building and Construction Trades Council, Project Labor Agreements, Rancho Santiago Community College District, San Diego Unified School District, State Building and Construction Trades Council of California

Unions “Using Political Leverage to Punish Those Exercising Rights” in California Constitution

By Kevin Dayton
10/29/2013
On October 13, 2013, California Governor Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 7, which cuts off state funds designated for construction to any California city that exercises its right under the California Constitution to establish its own policies concerning government-mandated wage rates (so-called “prevailing wages”) on contracts. This was a major victory for the State Building...

TAGS: California Constitution, Charter Cities, Jerry Brown, League of California Cities, Prevailing Wage, Senate Bill 7 (2013), Senate Bill 829 (2012), Senate Bill 922 (2011), State Building and Construction Trades Council of California

Something is Bothering California Union Leaders and Lobbyists

By Kevin Dayton
08/27/2013
Something is bothering union leaders and lobbyists in California. A few unreconstructed troglodytes in the hinterlands still haven’t received the memo explaining how unions will lead the state in its evolution to a more Progressive society, under the firm but benevolent hand of government authority. The typical political, business, and community leader in California today...

TAGS: Associated Builders and Contractors, Charter Cities, Senate Bill 7 (2013), State Building and Construction Trades Council of California

Judicial Council of California Imposes Project Labor Agreement on San Diego Courthouse

By Kevin Dayton
06/08/2013
Excerpts from four documents (obtained from California’s Administrative Office of the Courts on June 5, 2013 through a public records request) reveal the successful behind-the-scenes plot within the California court system involving top staff of the Administrative Office of the Courts and the Judicial Council to give construction trade unions monopoly control of the $586 million new San Diego County Central Courthouse with a Project Labor Agreement. Although...

TAGS: City of San Diego Proposition A (June 2012), Measuring the Cost of Project Labor Agreements on School Construction in California, National University System Institute for Policy Research in San Diego, Project Labor Agreements, State Building and Construction Trades Council of California

Exposing the Plot Behind Project Labor Agreement for California Bullet Train

By Kevin Dayton
04/30/2013
Documents obtained on April 29, 2013 through a request under the authority of the California Public Records Act reveal behind-the-scenes maneuvering for a government mandate that construction companies sign a Project Labor Agreement with the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California as a condition of building California’s High-Speed Rail. Getting these records was not a simple task....

TAGS: Bob Balgenorth, California high speed rail, California High-Speed Rail Authority, Federal Railroad Administration, Project Labor Agreements, State Building and Construction Trades Council of California

Union Influence in the California Democratic Party’s 2013 Convention Resolutions

By Kevin Dayton
04/16/2013
Can you guess which special interest group influenced many of the resolutions approved at the California Democratic Party convention on April 14, 2013? That’s right, unions. Here’s my annotated collection of the 2013 resolutions and the clean version of the resolutions on the California Democratic Party web site. (As the party web site says, “Click...

TAGS: California Construction Industry Labor-Management Cooperative Trust, California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), California Federation of Teachers, California Teachers Association, Charter Cities, Democrats for Education Reform, Gloria Romero, Greenmail, Michelle Rhee, Prevailing Wage, Project Labor Agreements, Senate Bill 7 (2013), State Building and Construction Trades Council of California, StudentsFirst