BUILDING TRADES BULLETIN September 13, 2013 Letters Needed Urging Governor Brown To Sign SB 7 and SB 54 Thanks to your united and convincing advocacy, two crucial State Building and Construction Trades Council sponsored bills were approved by the Legislature and reached Governor Jerry Brown’s desk this week. Now, more action is needed to ensure those bills become law. It is urgent that your local union and members contact Governor Brown now, using the attached information, and urge him to sign Senate Bill 7 and Senate Bill 54. We also urgently need your international presidents and district councils to contact Governor Brown, using their relationships with him to request him to sign these bills. SBCTC President Robbie Hunter commented: “Both these bills will increase opportunities for California building trades workers on public works projects and industrial facilities.” SB 7, co-authored by Democratic Senate President pro tem Darrell Steinberg of Sacramento, and Republican Senator Anthony Cannella of Ceres, provides that any charter city that removes prevailing wage loses all state funding for public works. SB 54 by Senator Loni Hancock, D-Berkeley, would improve worker safety and public safety by requiring a “skilled and trained” workforce at refineries and high-hazard chemical manufacturing and processing facilities. Starting in 2014, SB 54 will eventually lead to 60 percent of workers employed by contractors at these facilities required to be journeypersons who have graduated from a state-approved apprenticeship program. This bill has the ability to put tens of thousands of California building trades workers to work, and will bring to an end the practice of refineries importing workers from Texas and other states. These two bills are urgently needed to protect and enhance the quality of life and safety of workers and communities. Big business groups, refineries, and anti-union forces are pressuring the governor to veto them. Governor Brown needs to hear from all of us why these bills should be signed. Sample letters urging the Governor to sign SB 7 and SB 54 are attached. You may use these, alter them as you see fit, or draft your own message. The Governor has a limited time window to act. So please contact Governor Brown now and urge him to sign these bills. The governor’s fax and email contact information is: Fax: 916-558-3160. Email: Visit gov.ca.gov and click on “Contact.” The Honorable Edmund G. Brown Governor, State of California State Capitol, Sacramento CA 95814 Dear Governor Brown: I am writing on behalf of (name of your council or union), to urge you to please sign Senate Bill 7 (co-authored bipartisanly by Senate President pro tem Darrell Steinberg and Senator Anthony Cannella), to provide a strong incentive to charter cities in California to follow state policy and pay the prevailing wage on municipal public works projects. California’s prevailing wage law requires contractors and subcontractors to pay fair wages to their employees, to employ apprentices from state-approved apprenticeship programs, and to help train the next generation of skilled craftpersons. These apprenticeships offer a meaningful opportunity for young people graduating from high school in California to become skilled craftpersons and valued members of the work force. The prevailing wage is critical to the delivery of a quality construction product because it encourages contractors to perform the work with an efficient, skilled and streamlined workforce, ultimately creating long-term savings to the taxpayers. The people of the State of California have benefited tremendously from the prevailing wage, and we feel state policy should encourage it in all municipalities. SB 7 offers that encouragement by making prevailing wage a condition of receiving state funding on public works projects. SB 7 helps protect the vast majority local governments from the small minority of charter cities who harm the economy of an entire region by driving down wages and saddling other entities with the costs of apprenticeship training and other benefits, such as health care and retirement, while increasing the costly burden of social services. For these reasons, we respectfully request that you sign Senate Bill 7. Sincerely, The Honorable Edmund G. Brown Governor, State of California State Capitol, Sacramento CA 95814 Dear Governor Brown: I am writing on behalf of (name of your council or union), to urge you to please sign Senate Bill 54 by Senator Loni Hancock, to create an industrial workforce safety standard at chemical manufacturing and processing facilities, including refineries, to make these facilities safer both for the workers at these facilities and for the surrounding communities. As you are well aware, refinery safety has become a growing concern in California and throughout the United States. SB 54 strengthens risk management at these complex and dangerous facilities by ensuring that unregulated outside contractors hire craft workers with the highest skills and safety training. It would phase in the requirement that by 2016, 60 percent of the workers at these facilities who are brought in by outside contractors be skilled and trained journeypersons who have graduated from a state-approved apprenticeship program. These apprenticeships offer a meaningful opportunity for young people graduating from high school in California to become skilled craftpersons and valued members of the work force. There is no doubt that a well-trained workforce would help reduce the rate of accidents and lower the risk of a potential disaster. Further, to remove contractors’ motivations for bringing in low-paid, unskilled workers from out of state, SB 54 requires that the workers at these dangerous facilities be paid the prevailing wage. The state has a mandate to protect the public and the environment. It also has an interest in ensuring that California residents that often live in the shadow of these refineries have the opportunity to be trained and productive, enabling businesses to be profitable and driving the state’s economy. This bill has the ability to put tens of thousands of California building trades workers to work, and will bring an end to the practice of refineries importing workers from Texas and other states. SB 54 furthers these goals by ensuring workers at these volatile and dangerous facilities are better trained, and in turn, making those facilities more safe, for the workers and the surrounding communities. For these reasons, we respectfully request that you sign Senate Bill 54. Sincerely,
Posted on: Mon, 16 Sep 2013 15:02:59 +0000
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