...But bowing to their "progressive sensibilities," the board chose the less threatening term "Community Benefits Agreement." Finally, speakers and board members alike dropped the pretense and called it a PLA for much of the evening on June 13th when the Board of Trustees of the Southwestern Community College directed their staff to begin negotiating a PLA with the San Diego Building and Construction Trades Council for the remainder of the construction work under their Proposition R bond issue - approved a few years ago. Lorena Gonzalez of the AFL CIO and Tom Lemmon of the Building Trades have convinced the Trustees that this agreement will ensure the district's remaining projects are completed "on time and under budget" and employ local workers.
Neither the board nor staff could point to any problems with their current contracting practices.
Local contractors have been working with SWCC for several months on this issue but were blind-sided when the PLA was put on the agenda at the last minute.
The same night - the City of Escondido approved a proposed charter with Fair and Open Competition language. You can read more here.
