Recession-Hit Los Angeles Communities See Relief: Port of Los Angeles Votes on Construction Careers Program

Program will ensure thousands of construction jobs for local communities with high unemployment, will offer career-track apprenticeship programs

(Los Angeles) – On Thursday, June 17^th, the Port of Los Angeles Harbor Commission voted on a sweeping, agency-wide Construction Careers Program that will cover construction projects at the Port of Los Angeles over the next several years. The Construction Careers Program’s intent is to guarantee good, quality jobs for local residents by increasing access to construction apprenticeship programs in communities with high unemployment rates.

Thursday’s vote authorizes the Port of Los Angeles to negotiate a master Project Labor Agreement that would set standards for contractors, developers and workers, including safety training, apprenticeship programs, and wage and benefit standards. These benefits will be available to local area residents via the local hire requirements of the Construction Careers Policy. Last year, the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE) released a report which estimates that 13,700 jobs would be created over the next several years at the Port of Los Angeles. In a period of economic struggle for thousands of working families in Los Angeles, this vote is a major step toward recovery.

“The Construction Careers Program means that local residents—people who live in the shadow of the port—will have an opportunity to sign up for apprenticeship programs that offer training, good wages, and a career-track job in construction,” said Jerilyn Lopez-Mendoza, Vice President of the Harbor Commission. “The recession has hit these communities harder than most, but now the Harbor Commission will pass a program that guarantees port construction is a real chance to lift all boats.”

The Construction Careers Policy and the Project Labor Agreement is endorsed by the building and construction trades, LAANE, the L.A. County Federation of Labor and a coalition of community, religious and business advocates. The Construction Careers Policy is reshaping the way developers who receive funding from public entities interact with their local communities by ensuring that local residents are hired for construction jobs and that those jobs provide good wages, health care benefits and a pension.

The Harbor Commission vote comes shortly after a Los Angeles City Council resolution recognizing the success of the apprenticeship programs and calling on the Harbor Commission to approve the Construction Careers Program. “By moving forward with the PLA, we are ensuring that these will be good jobs, with good benefits, and that we give priority to those that live in San Pedro and Wilmington,” said Councilwoman Janice Hahn. “The Port is a major economic engine for this region, and the entire country for that matter, but it is vital that we ensure the workers in the communities most impacted by port operations get some direct benefits in the form of jobs and job training – especially since these areas also suffer from high unemployment.” In addition to Thursday’s vote, the Construction Careers Program was successfully implemented at the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency in 2008 and a similar program is currently being negotiated at the Board of Public Works.