Successes of Construction Careers

Los Angeles is currently embarking upon one its largest investments in infrastructure in decades. Through these investments, we will be modernizing our port, fixing our roads, and undertaking the largest expansion of public transit in recent history. These investments, representing over $12 billion dollars in construction, will also result in the creation of thousands of jobs in communities slowly recovering from the Great Recession. In 2008, a broad coalition of community members, faith leaders, workers and labor leaders successfully passed a Construction Careers Policy at the Community Redevelopment Agency-Los Angeles, the first of its kind in the nation. This policy approach aimed to increase workplace standards in publicly-funded construction projects and increase access to quality construction careers for communities struggling under the weight of poverty and chronic unemployment. The policy met these goals by coupling a Project Labor Agreement with a targeted hire program. Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) are collective bargaining agreements made between contractors, government agencies, and construction trade unions creating quality jobs that guarantee prevailing wages and health benefits, in exchange for a guarantee of labor peace to protect the public investment. Targeted hire programs ensure that good jobs are created where they are most needed. When paired, PLAs and targeted hire programs can create a much needed pathway out of poverty for workers with limited education and career opportunities in low-income communities.