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November 3, 2017 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
DIVERSIFYING THE BUILDING TRADES
Portland ready to move on
Community Benefits Agreement
By Don McIntosh
After months of hibernation, a
package of policies intended to
increase the participation of
women and minorities on public
construction projects is set to go
before Portland City Council on
Nov. 8.
Building trades unions and
workforce training groups that
were highly critical of earlier ver-
sions of the policies are now
mostly on board with them after
some tweaks.
The policies are contained in
three ordinances. The first ordi-
nance wouldn’t apply to public
construction contracts that are
awarded using a low-bid
process, but would apply when
the City uses so-called “alterna-
tive contracting methods,” such
as Construction Manager/Gen-
eral Contractor (CM/GC), in
which a general contractor pro-
vides feedback during the de-
sign phase of a project. The or-
dinance has two components:
Projects over $25 million would
be subject to a 24-page Commu-
nity Benefits Agreement (CBA)
that functions not unlike a Proj-
ect Labor Agreement (PLA).
Projects from $10 to $25 million
would be covered by a separate
28-page “Community Equity
and Inclusion Plan” (CEIP).
[See box below for details.]
A second ordinance would set
aside 1 percent of the budget of
all City public improvement con-
tracts for a “Community Oppor-
tunities and Enhancements
Fund” (COEF). The fund would
provide grants to workforce
training and pre-apprenticeship
training organizations that pre-
pare women and minorities for
construction jobs, and for city-
brokered programs that offer
technical assistance to help
women and minority contractors
scale up. The City’s Office of
Management and Finance and
Office of Equity and Human
Rights would return to City
Council with a plan for how to
collect and divvy up the funds,
which could amount to between
$1 million and $2 million a year.
A third ordinance would direct
City managers to develop a
process that bureaus would use
to decide when to use low-bid
and when to use alternative con-
tracting methods, for construc-
tion contracts over $10 million.
The three ordinances were
discussed at an Oct. 26 meeting
at City Hall of the Fair Contract-
ing Forum, a mayor-appointed
citizen advisory group. At the
meeting, Willy Myers, executive
secretary-treasurer of the Co-
lumbia Pacific Building Trades
Council, said he appreciated the
direction the City has gone since
the package of proposals was
first aired earlier this year. Myers
said the key improvement was
that the earlier version left it up
to City managers’ discretion
whether to use the CBA.
When the proposed ordinance
went before City Council for a
first hearing on July 12, Com-
missioner Dan Saltzman pro-
posed an amendment to make the
CBA mandatory on contracts
over $25 million. Mayor Ted
Wheeler tabled that amendment,
but incorporated it in the revised
version that will go before City
Council Nov. 8. As of press time,
no specific time had been set for
the vote.
THE CITY’S GOALS: At least 22 percent of the total project labor hours would be
performed by minority workers, and 20 percent by registered apprentices. Women would
perform at least 9 percent of apprentice hours and 6 percent of total hours. Contractors
designated as minority- or women-owned, or disadvantaged or emerging small businesses,
would be responsible for at least 22 percent of hard construction costs. At least 12 percent of
that overall goal would go to minority and disadvantaged contractors, and 5 percent to
women-owned businesses.
▪ Community Benefits Agreement (CBA): Unions would represent all workers on the
project and dispatch workers through hiring halls (except that nonunion subcontractors
would be allowed to use some of their own core employees). All subcontractors would pay
union dues and make benefit contributions on behalf of workers. The agreement would be
between the City and the general contractor, signatory unions, community-based
organizations, and state approved pre-apprenticeship programs, and all parties would work
together to achieve goals for participation of women and minorities. A labor-management-
community oversight committee would meet quarterly to review progress on the goals.
▪ Community Equity and Inclusion Plan (CEIP): The City and the general contractor
would commit to try to meet the same targets for women and minority workers and
women-owned and minority-owned contractors on City projects — without any formal
role for unions. Other parties could sign a separate six-page “partnership agreement”
pledging to assist in achieving goals.