SFPUC outlines Project Labor Agreement for $2.73 billion WSIP, forecasts 10.7 million craft hours

Carol Eisen, director of labor relations and community programs, briefed the commission on the Project Labor Agreement that governs much of the Water System Improvement Program construction work.

Eisen said the PLA covers $2,730,000,000 of construction work across five Bay Area counties and was negotiated to provide stability and continuity across the multi‑year program. Key features she described include a union no‑strike pledge for the life of the program in exchange for work being performed under union conditions, the requirement that contractors acquire labor through hiring hall dispatch and letters of assent binding firms to the PLA’s terms, and an emphasis on local hire, local apprenticeship and dispute resolution mechanisms (mediation/arbitration and dispute resolution boards) to keep disputes out of the field.

Eisen said the SFPUC and its partners, with assistance from Parsons, developed a model projecting roughly 10,700,000 craft hours needed from 2009 through program completion. The PLA includes a uniform substance‑abuse testing protocol (pre‑employment drug screens) and staff reported an approximately 2% positive rate in tested projects, which led to disqualification from work on program sites.

Commissioners commended staff for resolving trade jurisdiction questions and for laying out prequalification and prevailing‑wage enforcement procedures. Eisen said five projects were already in construction under the agreement and both union and non‑union contractors were participating at bid stage under prequalification rules.

No formal vote was required on the presentation; commissioners requested the PLA briefing book be updated and circulated to the full commission.