Project Labor Agreements - Scourge of Corrupt Districts

The purpose of this page is to shine a light on, perhaps, one of the most corrupt practices that has been made legal by the California Legislature.

However, just because it's "legal" for some circumstances doesn't mean its "legal" for the purposes of Proposition 39 bond funds.

Of course, the school bonds cartel is in cahoots with all the parties involved. It's a corrupt system of cronyism where everyone scratches each others' backs.

What Is a Project Labor Agreement

It's gotten a bad name in recent years, so the parties have come up with new euphemisms for the same dirty trick on taxpayers. The currently favored moniker is a Community Workforce Agreement. That sounds all warm and fuzzy, doesn't it?

No matter what it's called, it's purpose remains the same -- to make it prohibitively expensive for local, non-union contractors to bid on public works projects, like those made possible with Proposition 39 bond funds. It doesn't just affect the contractors themselves, it also affects their rank and file employees who are forced to have union dues and fees deducted from their paychecks, even though they are not members of the union and will never benefit from the forced payroll deductions.

The agreement has all kinds of high-sounding language about employing local workers, local workforce training, and keeping the money in the community. None of that language is enforceable. The only parts that are enforceable are the parts that guarantee the gifts to the union contractors and their union workers. While school districts are notorious for ignoring mandates in state law, the districts typically hire another firm at great taxpayer expense to enforce the agreements so that the unions don't lose a penny. It's just pure corruption. See what happens when anyone tries to enforce the independent oversight statutes and agreements. It's just a sick joke.

Most obviously, this is a gift to the participating labor unions, despite the fact that public agencies are prohibited from making gifts to anyone with taxpayer money.

It's especially egregious for Proposition 39 bond funds because the taxpayers are forced to foot the bill, not only for the 15% to 20% premium that these agreements add to the cost of the project, but also the interest on that premium (because it's borrowed money).

Who Can You Do?

Plenty!

These agreements are implemented under cover of darkness. Exposing the outrageous, knowing waste of money means bad public relations. Often, the only thing that corrupt government officials fear is bad public relations.

I can't reveal all the proven tactics here, publicly. So contact me, if this is an area that you feel needs some local attention.

Who Are the Perpetrators?

With almost a thousand school and college districts in California, and no state reporting requirement, it's very difficult to gather this information. Two watchdogs that help to maintain this list are Coalition for Fair Employment in Construction and Labor Issues Solutions, LLC. This site has joined with them in exposing this taxpayer fraud.

As you can see, every one of these perps is using Proposition 39 bond funds to make these gifts of taxpayer funds. Not a single bond measure in the list told the voters that their taxes would be used to make these gifts. Perhaps, even more importantly, these agreements were not disclosed in the bond disclosure documents when the bonds were issued or as part of the mandatory continuing disclosure. It's outright fraud.