By prohibiting "union-only mandates" on city projects, the measure will make San Diego attractive to private investment - and jumpstart job creation again.

All San Diegans should be allowed to apply for jobs on public and private projects - without any requirement that they join a union.

The Competition and Transparency in City Contracting Initiative prevents the City from funding any union-only project labor agreement (PLA) that discriminates against non-union firms and workers. This type of discriminatory PLA is used to limit bidders and force contractors to use union workers, pay into union benefit plans, and follow outmoded and inefficient union work rules.

Union-only PLAs drive up construction project costs by decreasing the number of bidders and by forcing contractors to adopt inefficient union work practices and to use unfamiliar union workers. A May 2006 study by the Beacon Hill Institute at Suffolk University in Boston, Massachusetts, found that the use of PLAs on school construction projects in New York increased the cost of the projects by 20 percent. This study concluded that the presence of a union-only PLA increased the projects’ base construction bids by $27 per square foot relative to non-PLA projects. [link]

Please note, worker’s wages are not at issue here. State law requires all contractors, union and non-union, to pay prevailing wages on most California public works jobs. In fact, unionized workers often suffer from lower take-home pay because union leaders make them pay dues and other fees.

Currently, the City of San Diego awards contracts to the “lowest responsible bidder”. The Competition and Transparency in City Contracting Initiative protects the principle of “lowest responsible bidder” by prohibiting the City from funding contracts that favor union firms over non-union firms.

Most importantly, this measure will make San Diego attractive to private investment because firms will know that they will not be coerced into costly Project Labor Agreements and other anti-competitive labor union mandates.

Help get San Diego working again - vote YES on the Competition and Transparency in City Contracting Initiative.