As Seaside considers an agreement with trade unions regarding public projects, controversy ensues.

Emotions ran high at a Feb. 17 Seaside City Council meeting when the council reviewed a draft project labor agreement. If ultimately approved, any city projects estimated to cost above $750,000 would be put out to bid with the restriction that trade labor on the projects would have to utilize union labor. The agreement would be in effect for a trial period of three years, so the city could weigh its impacts.

City Council directed City Attorney Sheri Damon to investigate the legality of such an agreement with federal labor laws.

Some of the who’s-who of local contractors – Don Chapin, Paul Bruno and Mike Avila – showed up to voice their opposition to the proposed agreement, arguing it would restrict competition and potentially lead to less work for locals, as the region is not heavily unionized.

Representatives of labor unions also showed up – in some cases via Zoom – to argue that the agreement would open the market for locals who join labor unions to be guaranteed a living wage and good benefits, and the expectation they will receive work.

Jolene Kramer, an attorney for the Monterey/Santa Cruz Counties Building & Construction Trades Council, says it would also preclude work stoppages from strikes, and an increased likelihood of projects finishing on time and on budget.

The City Council first discussed a potential agreement in September 2020, and then-city manager Craig Malin advised the council that any agreement should articulate how it would adhere to the city’s preferential policy of hiring local labor. He also cautioned that it could cause bids to come in at a cost 5 – to 20-percent higher.

Chapin, whose Prunedale-based company is a perennial bidder on local public works projects, says the agreement is “essentially Seaside creating a union-only environment for public works projects in their city. I’m not sure why they’d want to do it, other than for personal or political gain.”

He argues it would eliminate competition from non-union shops like his. He estimates no more than 10 percent of local trade workers are unionized, as opposed to higher numbers in larger cities.

That’s one reason, Kramer says, the agreement is important: It would incentivize local would-be trade-workers to enter into union training programs that theoretically will lead to better compensation.

Damon says she doesn’t expect City Council to consider the matter for at least a month or more while she examines the legal ramifications, though Kramer, a labor attorney, says there’s no question it’s legal.

One idea raised at the meeting, by Councilmember Jason Campbell, was to put out two separate requests for proposals for a trial period – one under the draft agreement, the other not – to compare bids, an idea Chapin is a fan of. Kramer, however, is skeptical: “That is an invitation for anti-labor groups and anti-labor employees to game the system and unberbid and cheat to make a point,” she says.