I just wanted to remind everyone about the importance of paying attention to local politics. We have had a lot of successes through the relationships built with local politicians and the Building and Construction Trades Councils in our area. By successes I mean Project Labor agreements or Community Workforce Training Agreements. These agreements ensure that contractors performing work under these agreements are paying for healthcare and a retirement for the workforce. It also requires employers to hire local workers to give members of the community an opportunity to work for companies that provide benefits for their employees. Although these agreements allow for Union and Non-Union to bid, most of the time the projects will go Union. This is because the Non-Union would be required to pay into our trust fund to provide the benefits to their workforce. With that being said, all of these agreements have expiration dates on them. Which means they will have to be voted on by the people holding office when it expires. The Sacramento City Wide Community Workforce Training Agreement is up for renewal. It will most likely require a vote from the City Council. If it does, we would need the votes to get it renewed. Right now, it looks like we have the votes from the City Council to get it passed, but we still need to go to the meeting to support the renewal. There is always opposition from the Non-Union that will show up and speak against these agreements. We originally thought it might go before the City Council on June 27, but it looks like it might happen in July. We will send out information via UNITE when we get a date for this. We need as many members as possible to show up and support the renewal of this agreement. Keep an eye out for more info. At the same time the labor friendly politicians are not going to be in office forever. These people run for different positions or have others run against them when their term expires. We need to educate ourselves on who the decision makers are and whether they are looking out for the best interest of the working people. With elections coming up it is especially important that we do this. We will do our best to bring as much information to the membership as we get closer to these elections, but you must take the time to come to the meetings and get involved. The political scene is constantly changing, and we must pay attention. Stay Tuned.

We have an Administrative office position available for Local 767 and 1237. If you know someone interested in applying for the position. Contact the Union Hall to get full details on this. 

I want to wish all the Dads a Happy Father’s Day Weekend. 

In Solidarity

William Gonzalez