Supervisors, labor and community groups press America's Cup authority for stronger local-hire and prevailing-wage guarantees

San Francisco supervisors, labor unions and community organizations on Feb. 6 pressed the America—s Cup Event Authority to make stronger, enforceable commitments to hire city residents and to guarantee prevailing wages across work tied to the event.

Supervisor John Avalos opened the hearing saying the goal is to extend San Francisco—s local-hire principles to the America's Cup and to ensure the event delivers meaningful jobs and contracting opportunities to city residents. City project staff and the Event Authority described a detailed workforce development and small-business inclusion plan but emphasized much of the plan relies on contract terms and monitoring rather than statutory application of the local-hire law.

Mike Martin, America's Cup project director for the Office of Economic and Workforce Development, said the event presents significant economic opportunity beyond construction, including vendor and sponsorship opportunities, and praised the Event Authority—s outreach efforts. Dr. Laura Lester, a consultant to the Event Authority, said the plan sets minimum goals of 25% local-business enterprise (LBE) participation for construction subcontracting and 30% for all event activities. For vendor and service contracts of $150,000 and above, she said firms will be contractually obliged to participate in San Francisco—s FirstSource hiring system; for construction contracts above $350,000 the authority will require certified payroll reporting and monitoring. Lester said the plan expects at least 50% of new entry-level hires on covered contracts to be San Francisco residents and that many jobs would be paid at prevailing wages.

But members of the public said those measures are insufficient. Labor representatives and community groups urged mandatory application of the City's local-hire ordinance rather than reliance on —good-faith— efforts. Speakers from the Carpenters, Laborers and other unions, as well as community groups including the A. Philip Randolph Institute, Coleman Advocates and several neighborhood organizations, said good-faith requirements have historically failed to bring meaningful employment to economically disadvantaged residents and argued the Event Authority should adopt the City—s residency hiring standards and clearer penalties for noncompliance.

City Attorney staff and others answered technical questions about coverage: Ron Flynn of the City Attorney—s office clarified that the local-hire ordinance (referred to in the hearing as —6 22—) applies to construction contracts awarded by the City and County of San Francisco, and therefore would apply to portions of the America's Cup work that are City contracts (for example, Pier 27). Flynn said private contracts generally are not covered by the ordinance; supervisors noted that some public dollars and development rights are tied to elements of the event.

Speakers called for explicit penalties and stronger outcome-based obligations instead of penalties tied only to paperwork steps. Public commenters asked the Event Authority and the Office of Economic and Workforce Development to move from voluntary or —good-faith— approaches toward binding requirements that produce measurable hiring and apprenticeship results for San Franciscans.

The committee closed public comment after extensive testimony and directed staff and the Event Authority to continue negotiations; the item was continued to the call of the chair so those conversations could proceed before the development-disposition agreement and other actions return to committee.

What the plan would require: - 25% LBE participation goal for construction subcontracting and 30% for all event activities, with contractual obligations for vendors and periodic quarterly reporting to the Human Rights Commission. - Local-resident hiring goals for larger contracts: an expectation that at least 50% of new entry-level hires on $150,000+ contracts be San Francisco residents; a 20% local-hire floor across trades in certain bids tied to earlier bidding cycles (e.g., Pier 3032); apprenticeship goals (50% apprentices San Francisco residents, with 25% economically disadvantaged).

What remains unresolved: - Whether the City can require the Event Authority to adopt the full text of the local-hire ordinance for private or quasi-public components of the event. - How contractual penalties will be structured and enforced if numerical goals are missed versus if required outreach steps are not followed.

The committee asked the Office of Economic and Workforce Development and the Event Authority to return with more detail and next steps; supervisors and outside groups pledged continued engagement.