At the Berkeley City Council meeting on Jan. 18, 2011, the Council voted to adopt a resolution as noted on the action calendar for that evening “authorizing the City Manager to execute a contract with the Building Trades Council and twenty two labor organizations regarding the provision of labor to City construction projects in excess of $1 million dollars for a term of three years.”

This landmark Community Workforce Agreement will not only put local residents back to work but is a model to persuade other cities to work in partnership with their local communities and labor organizations to bring the jobs home. These prevailing wage projects will bring jobs to local residents, will pay a living wage to infuse the local communities with dollars and will use qualified, well trained and safe labor to the City of Berkeley, extending to residents of the green corridor and finally to residents of Alameda County by working in partnership with the Alameda County Building Trades Council.

The meeting was well attended by the building trades, with Andreas Cluver, secretary-treasurer of the Alameda County Building Trades Council, beginning the discussion along with a number of other Berkeley residents, including myself, in support of the agreement. As a Berkeley resident I applaud the city for voting to adopt this resolution. And as a member of Operating Engineers Local Union No. 3, I look forward to more jobs for our members and for the members of other building trades in the community.