Several members of laborer's union, Local 261, posed for a photo with Brightline Defense Executive Director Joshua Arce moments before a hearing at City Hall got underway, 5/10/10, to investigate why local disadvantaged workforce hiring contract provisions between the City and County of San Francisco and Recurrent Energy have not been fulfilled. From left to right: John Butler (Laborers Local 261), Mary Alice Rodrigues (San Francisco Conservation Corps), Mindy Kener (Anders & Anders), Fathina Holmes (Young Community Developers), Joshua Arce (Brightline), Lisa Fatoui (Hunters View Mothers Committee), Terry Anders (Anders & Anders), June Brashares (Global Exchange), Leaotis Martin (Laborers Local 261), and Antonia Malhi (Global Exchange). Photos by Luke Thomas.
May 17, 2010
When San Francisco’s Sunset Reservoir solar project is completed later this year it will be one of the largest solar installations of its kind in the country. The project, a 5-megawatt sea of 25,000 solar panels in San Francisco’s Sunset District, was approved in June after a revised commitment from the developer, Recurrent Energy, to hire no less than 21 workers from San Francisco’s most economically disadvantaged communities; 30 percent of the project’s workforce.
However, with the number of workers from this demographic firmly stuck at 7 (with some of those employed feeling marginalized), and media reports claiming that an increasing share of work for the electricians’ union, Local 6, has blocked opportunities for low-income San Franciscans in the laborers’ union, Local 261, Supervisor Eric Mar called a hearing last week to investigate the status of the hiring practices at the Reservoir.
The importance of an increased investment in renewable energy accompanied with the promise of green jobs opportunities for qualified economically disadvantaged people from targeted communities, originally earned support from Supervisor Mar as well as a host of national and local environmental groups, including Green for All, the Sierra Club, and the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights.
Mar’s decision to oppose his colleagues on the Board of Supervisors who were asking for more time to assess the Recurrent Energy bid properly and see if it really was the best deal for taxpayers, led some to question his political nous. But there was a lot of pressure from non-governmental groups to push the deal through, and quickly. (It turns out that construction only began in March, meaning that there was time to further improve the terms of deal for the city as well as tie off any loose ends in workforce hiring provisions).
Supervisor Eric Mar.
On the one hand, environmental groups like the Sierra Club were blinkered in their pursuit of the only solar energy contract that was left on the table. A source from Sierra Club claimed at the time, “In their eyes, a quick private deal for 5 megawatts is better than no megawatts in the next year,” thereby creating a false sense of immediacy for clean energy benefits. And Mayor Gavin Newsom, who was running for governor at the time, stood to benefit from a hastily penned agreement which he was quick to tout as a “green” accomplishment in his ‘vote for me’ campaign rhetoric.
And on the other hand, workforce organizations such as Joshua Arce’s Brightline Defense Project, lobbied in support of the contract primarily as an opportunity to get underemployed disadvantaged workers back into jobs with prospects for green jobs apprenticeship training for future solar installation projects in the city.
During last week’s Land Use Committee hearing on the matter, the mayor’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development (OEWD) provided figures claiming 52 percent of the work hours were performed by San Franciscans. The OEWD even lists the city’s zip codes and how many workers come from each. So San Franciscans are getting hired – 19 of the Sunset Reservoir workers are from San Francisco, and 22 aren’t – but the crux of the matter is, who is getting hired, and what type of work and training is being provided to disadvantaged workers?
OWED Executive Director Guillermo Rodriguez stressed, “The hiring plan for remaining positions will meet and surpass the First Source Hiring Agreement (FHSA).” The FHSA states that Recurrent Energy, and therefore its subcontractor, Bass Electric, must hire 1 electrician and 20 laborers, all referred by a branch of the OEWD called CityBuild.
Mayor's Office of Economic and Workforce Development Executuve Director Guillermo Rodriguez.
CityBuild is an employment program that provides workforce training and job placement services for San Francisco residents interested in pursuing a career in the construction industry. CityBuild also claims to “assist contractors that have been awarded projects in San Francisco with fulfilling their local hiring obligations.”
Mindy Kener, a job developer at Anders & Anders Foundation, which recruits laborers by “working with ex-offenders and drug rehabilitation centers,” stated in no uncertain terms that SFPUC General Manager Ed Harrington had “promised 21 workers from disadvantaged zip-codes… from the start. Not when they (Recurrent Energy) have two months left of work.”
Harrington’s role in this public-private mutant should not be overlooked. As head of the Public Utilities Commission, it was his responsibility to negotiate the best deal for the City. Instead, he used his influence to gain Supervisor Mar’s support for the Recurrent Energy deal despite admitting it was “expensive.” Mar, in turn, provided the swing vote in support of the contract despite prudent calls from the left for further review and analysis to ensure taxpayers were getting the best deal possible.
SFPUC General Manager Ed Harrington.
As the deal stands, the City and County of San Francisco is locked into a 25-year contract and is required to pay Recurrent Energy $235 per megawatt-hour of energy generated. Though the City would have a buyout option at years seven and fifteen, the buyout price is fixed at $33 million, or fair market value – whichever is higher.
At the time, the deal was lauded by advocates for local hiring of disadvantaged workers: “We thought that we found a balance between securing work for the electricians as well as work for laborers from places like Bayview, Visitacion Valley, and the Excelsior,” said Kener in a statement released by Brightline.
However, the truth is more divisive than anyone could have expected.
“The reason this very nuanced approach came about is that we couldn’t guarantee that folks from these communities would have the opportunity to work on the project through Local 6,” Arce stated at the hearing.
Brightline Defense Project Executive Director Joshua Arce.
So Arce and Brightline Defense did what it had to do: pushed workers through Local 261, which has a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CPA) with the City, enabling their workers to get jobs on city projects.
Out of 41 construction workers reported on the project, 31 are electricians, 8 are laborers, and 2 are operators. But the statistics show that only 1 electrician is from San Francisco and the rest are from out of town. Rodriguez said that in ongoing attempts to reach a CPA with Local 6, the union had only been “accessible at times,” drawing a titter from the crowd. He also said the “CPA does not allow the contractor to ‘name-call’ an individual.”
So if Bass Electric needs to hire an electrician, it’s not allowed to use the e-word?
The non-delivery of disadvantaged community hiring promises made boils down to an intra-union dispute over who’s getting hired first, and who’s not. Says Arce, “It’s about fulfilling a commitment to low-income communities. It’s about building solar careers.” He stressed that he wanted the contractor to “commit to hands-on solar training” for the laborers, including “skills that translate to other projects in the city.” He complained that working on the project had “not been a solar experience” for the laborers, meaning they are not being provided solar installation training.
One question the hearing raised was who was responsible for enforcing the terms of the contract and what would happen if they weren’t fulfilled? As a public-private partnership, hiring practices are the shared responsibility between mayor’s office and Recurrent Energy. Arce claimed that the onus was on the City to prove a “lack of good faith” and “tried-your-best is not enough.”
Recurrent Energy VP of Engineering Pat Caramante testified he was not involved in the hiring practices and passed responsibility onto Bass Electric, the general contractor, who was under pressure to fulfill its contractual obligations with Recurrent Energy and was pressured from Local 6 to hire their electricians.
Recurrent Energy VP of Engineering Pat Caramante.
Jeffrey Yee, of Bass Electric, was quizzed by Supervisor Sophie Maxwell as to the exact nature of the work that the laborers were doing on the project. He cagily admitted “civil, structural and concrete work,” and that, “electricians do all of the electrical work.”
Bass Electric President Jeffrey Yee.
David De La Torre, of Local 261, claims that his union had been promised 21 hires, but no more laborers are being hired since electricians have taken over the remaining work. John Butler, a laborer with Local 261, said, “We were promised jobs. I have been installing solar panels since the eighties. It’s not that difficult. I joined the laborers’ union for this reason, and only 2 people got hired from my class.”
A laborer who actually works at the reservoir claimed that he “started working with electricians on solar panels, then it was snatched away from me. All I can do now is dig ditches.” His hours have been cut down to three days a week. “They won’t let us do anything,” he said.
But electricians and Local 6 sees this as a breach of the carefully delineated boundaries that define their very profession. In other words, they don’t like someone else doing their work.
Supervisor Maxwell, a former electrician herself, repeatedly stressed that it was, and had been difficult working with the electrician’s union, that they had not been willing to open up apprenticeships, and that “when they were not out of work, this was still the case. We all need to talk, to make relationships better,” she said.
Land Use Committee Chair, Supervisor Sophie Maxwell.
Jeffrey Phillips of Local 6 countered that he would be happy to take on some of these workers as electricians in his union, but they couldn’t do the algebra: “Kids need to be taught math in school so they can pass out electricians’ exams,” he said, adding that he hoped the laborers would join their union instead.
Jeffrey Phillips, Local 6.
Maxwell summed up: “It’s important as working people not to be pitted against each other… as people we all need to stand together.”
Maxwell’s sentiments were echoed by Ronda Simmons, Director of Workforce Development, who said, “It’s going to take the boldest thinking we’ve ever done,” to sit down and work this out together.
De La Torre says that laborers are multi-skilled and should be allowed to do any work they are qualified to perform. “If it means that we have to hold Bass Electric’s feet to the fire, we will.”
David De La Torre, Local 261.
Eric Brooks of the SF Green Party argued that only a mandatory local hiring ordinance with specificity would solve this issue. He also claimed that Local 6 had opposed Prop H in 2008 and other local moves toward cleaner large scale public energy, under pressure from its primary employer, PG&E. Citing this collusion with PG&E, and Local 6′s turf battles against local hiring, Brooks said of Local 6: “They need to step up for the community if they want support.”
In an interview with Fog City Journal, Arce conceded the City’s contract with Recurrent Energy was “not as good as it could be,” and expressed concerns that similar issues may arise when the City implements the “holy grail of Community Choice Aggregation.”
The bottom line is, this is a story about how less than ideal contracts get rushed through the legislative process for the benefit of political gain at the expense of taxpayer interests. It is a clear case of squandered political capital for political expediency.
Luke Thomas contributed to this report.
William Chadwick
Bio
William Chadwick is a young English writer who has recently moved to San Francisco from London. He has worked on-and-off in journalism for almost ten years. He is passionate about the theater, and has directed and written several plays. He is currently trying his hand at teaching English.
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