There are no new details on what, exactly, San Diego Unified will negotiate in its agreement with unionized labor on its new $2.1 billion facilities bond, Proposition S, and it looks like there won’t be until the plan is put up for a vote by the school board. But that hasn’t stopped the debate raging over the plan, known as a project labor agreement:
- Mailers, radio ads and a billboard criticizing San Diego Unified for moving forward on the agreement on its new $2.1 billion bond have popped up across the city. A press release from the campaign, dubbed the SavePropS Coalition, stated that the ads will run on more than a dozen radio stations over the next three months. They’ve put together a pretty dramatic website too that characterizes the three board members who voted to start negotiating the agreement as union puppets, claiming that the agreement will disadvantage or even bar nonunionized companies from bond work.
- Eleven elected officials, all Democrats, signed an open letter to the three school board members who voted to start negotiating the agreement, praising them for their “reasoned and proactive decision.” The letter states that project labor agreements “are the only way to legally require contractors to provide healthcare for workers and to make certain that the local workforce is used.” The signers are Rep. Susan Davis, Rep. Bob Filner, State Sens. Denise Ducheny and Christine Kehoe, State Assembly members Marty Block, Mary Salas, and Lori Saldana, and City Council members Ben Hueso, Marti Emerald, Todd Gloria and Tony Young.
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It’s been a madhouse in here, as usual, but I’m hoping to dig into this issue more soon. Feel free to send me your tips and suggestions at emily.alpert@voiceofsandiego.org.
— EMILY ALPERT