Labor Union Blog

IBEW member John Harriel says a union job helped turn his life around.

After a strong push by union members, clergy and community groups, the city of Los Angeles last week passed a landmark law that will fight poverty by expanding opportunities for low-income residents to access union construction jobs.

The new “Construction Careers and Project Stabilization Policy” requires that most of the projects funded by the city’s community redevelopment agency hire more local and low-income residents from the communities where a project is being built. The policy also encourages partnership, through a project labor agreement (PLA), between developers and contractors and the Los Angeles/Orange County Building Trades Council. A PLA defines wages and work rules for a project based on community standards and is approved by the workers’ representatives and the agency awarding the contract before the project begins.