VISTA — Moving forward, all Proposition LL projects for the Vista Unified School District will have a new labor deal.
During its July 23 meeting, the VUSD Board of Education approved a project labor agreement with the San Diego Building and Construction Trades Council for a sizable portion of its $247-million bond, which was approved in 2018. The district and SDBCTC began negotiations on Dec. 12, 2019, after the board approved the project labor agreement on Sept. 12.
Last September’s meeting was contentious as pro-union and non-union workers and representatives fiercely battled each other to sway the VUSD board. In the end, the board passed the agreement, 4-1.
Union representatives said the project labor agreement fosters a competitive bidding process, ensures worksite protections, benefits, source local jobs and provide prevailing wages.
Those against the agreement claim it boxes out non-union workers and apprentices, force workers to pay union dues and receive no benefits. Additionally, these projects typically incur higher costs through bids or numerous change orders. Some parents and opponents are worried potential higher project costs will lead to a reduction in the total completed projects in the district.
“Any contractor may bid on the projects, they would just pay the equivalent of the union fringe benefits,” VUSD Assistant Superintendent of Business Services Ami Schackleford said. “If their plan is equal or greater value, they wouldn’t have to pay into that plan. This ensures all workers have benefits.
According to the PLA, cost control measures include each project must have at least three “responsible” bidders with the lowest bid being awarded the contract, according to VUSD. However, bids may be up to 10% more than the estimated project cost.
Should the district not receive three responsible bids or the costs are too high according to the agreement, the district may rebid with or without PLA.
Some other highlights of the deal include a no-strike policy on projects by the unions, union apprentice programs, encouraging small business participation and a workforce goal of hiring 80% of workers who live in San Diego County.
The goals outline specific areas of the workforce, as up to 25% should reside in Vista and include VUSD graduates and veterans. Also, 25% of the workers should reside north of State Route 52 and the rest of the pool from the county.
The PLA will begin in Phase 1 of the bond measure, which includes projects at Rancho Minerva, Madison and Vista Magnet middle schools, Lake Elementary School and the Vista Innovation and Design Academy.
“The agreement would be effective from the first award,” Shackleford said. “It’s a four-year agreement.”
1 comment
Earlier this year, before the Covid crises, Vista Unified announced it’s budget was in such bad shape it was going to have to lay off people to balance it out. Now, with Covid, it’s only worse.
I can appreciate the desire to pay people more who work on their projects, but does that take precedence over the jobs of employees in the district or the ability of the district to pay for projects that benefit their kids?
Seems a bit short-sighted to me, perhaps the wrong time to be doing this…
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