After 70 years, the Old Colony housing project in South Boston is getting a fresh start. The aging complex at the rotary where Columbia Road meets Old Colony Avenue has been transformed into 116 attractive new rental units made up of wood-framed townhouse-style homes, a six-story midrise, and a community center. The enhanced view from Dorchester Bay across Joe Moakley Park is only the most visible change in the neighborhood. The second phase of the Boston Housing Authority's master plan is now underway under an innovative project labor agreement that will produce 169 more rental units and, as importantly, offer some of the project's residents a pathway out of poverty.
The master plan is the result of a year-long community process that will ultimately create another 453 units along with the goals for job opportunities for public housing and local low-income residents. The PLA negotiated with Boston's building trades unions incorporates language that exceeds the city's standard hiring goals for residents, minorities, and women by establishing additional employment preferences for Section 3 residents from Old Colonyand the city's other public housing developments.
The project is making use of Building Pathways, a pre-apprenticeship program servicing Greater Boston, as well as other programs that prepare recruits with the soft and hard skills needed to thrive in the challenging world of construction. The PLA's commitment to diversity has already borne fruit. Forty participants have completed the Building Pathways program and are working in the trades. Ten more will be placed in upcoming months and an additional training cycle has been scheduled.
Almost half of the graduates are women; all are low-income Boston residents in search of a career, not just a one-time job. Tyiesha Thompson has lived at Old Colony for 10 years. A 38-year-old single mother of three, Thompson is now a union apprentice working on a high-rise in the Seaport District. As phase two of Old Colony unfolds, she hopes to be part of the renaissance of her home community.
Read the rest of this article at http://bostonglobe.com.
By Mark Erlich, executive secretary-treasurer of the New England Regional Council of Carpenters.
(c) The Boston Globe Mar 22, 2013
Showing posts with label pla. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pla. Show all posts
Sunday, April 7, 2013
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Repost: City of Portland commits to build union, and use minority workers and contractors
By DON McINTOSH, Associate Editor
The City of Portland is about to try out a new kind of project labor agreement on public construction contracts. The 23-page “Model Community Benefits Agreement” approved Sept. 5 mandates that on future City construction projects, unions will represent workers, and women and minority workers and contractors will have expanded opportunities. The community benefits agreement, approved in a 5-0 vote, was developed in nearly two years of meetings among unions, minority contractors, pre-apprenticeship training programs, and city officials, and will apply to projects of over $15 million.
The City of Portland is about to try out a new kind of project labor agreement on public construction contracts. The 23-page “Model Community Benefits Agreement” approved Sept. 5 mandates that on future City construction projects, unions will represent workers, and women and minority workers and contractors will have expanded opportunities. The community benefits agreement, approved in a 5-0 vote, was developed in nearly two years of meetings among unions, minority contractors, pre-apprenticeship training programs, and city officials, and will apply to projects of over $15 million.
The agreement sets goals:
- At least 18 percent of the work will be performed by minorities, and 9 percent by women, and the targets apply both to journeymen and apprentices;
- At least 20 percent of the work on contracts of over $200,000 (and subcontracts of over $100,000) will be performed by apprentices;
- At least 20 percent of the hard construction costs will go to women-owned, minority-owned and “disadvantaged” businesses, and joint ventures with minority and women-owned businesses will get a preference of up to 5 percent in bidding on contracts; and
- At least 30 percent of the workforce will be hired from areas identified by the U.S. Small Business Administration as “historically underutilized business” zones, census tracts that include downtown Portland, inner Southeast and Northeast Portland, and the Lents, and Cully neighborhoods in outer Southeast and Northeast, as well as areas of Gresham, Hillsboro and western Clark County.
To read the full article, visit nwlaborpress.org.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Tradeswoman in the News: Sonya Codero
The PLA also established an Access and Opportunity Committee which has worked hard to ensure contractors meet the goals. The job is just starting, but Sonya represents the difference that hiring goals can make. For more information on the project, go to http://www.mass.gov/anf/
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
ISC Topping Off Ceremony Set for Thursday, 2/16/12
UMass Boston Construction Update
February 14, 2012.
As ironworkers near the end of assembling the structural steel of the Integrated Sciences Complex (ISC) frame, UMass Boston will celebrate the milestone with a "topping off" event on Thursday, February 16, at 1:30 p.m. at the intersection of University Drive and the Quinn Roadway, near Healey Library.
The "topping off" of a construction project is a ceremonial event marking the end of steel construction by putting into place a final, signed beam. The campus community is invited to stop by and sign the steel beam between 8 a.m. and 1:15 p.m. on Thursday.
To get to the beam signing and to the ceremony, walk through the Quinn Upper Level doors, take a right and follow the Quinn Roadway. Just before reaching University Drive, take a right. The white beam will be located in front of a fence gate.
Following the ceremony, light refreshments will be served in the Quinn Upper Level lobby.
For those who want to stay inside for the beam-raising ceremony, good viewing areas include the catwalk between the Healey Library and Quinn Administration Building; the Ryan Lounge, third floor McCormack Building; and the Healey Library, eighth floor.
The crane on the ISC site is scheduled to leave next week. The most noticeable construction will move to pouring concrete for the floors of the new building.
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Monday, November 28, 2011
Integrated Sciences Complex Webcam of the UMass Boston Integrated Sciences Complex (ISC)
Integrated Sciences Complex Webcam
This live webcam shows the footprint of the Integrated Sciences Complex (ISC), now under construction at the University of Massachusetts Boston. The ISC is located near the entrance of the university, adjacent to the Healey Library and Quinn Administration Building. Anticipated to open for classes in September 2013, the ISC will advance student and faculty access, engagement, and success with state-of-the-art research, teaching, and training laboratories.
Retrieved from: http://www.umb.edu/news_events_media/construction/isc_webcam/
Friday, November 11, 2011
UMass Boston Workforce Outcomes posted- you won't believe the outcomes!
Quick read: The Access and Opportunity goals and outcomes for the multi-million dollar UMass Boston project have been posted!
Have you seen the new website for UMass Boston projects (www.mass.gov/dcam/umb)?
The new site is to encourage community outreach and access for UMass Boston, and that includes providing information and reports about progress towards diversity goals. There is information for current and prospective employees, contractors, and other members of the community.
The Access and Opportunity goals and outcomes for the $700+ million UMass Boston project have been posted! Check them out, then let your voice be heard by coming to an Access and Opportunities Committee meeting or contacting a committee member.
Note: You can view the UMass Boston PLA here.
Have you seen the new website for UMass Boston projects (www.mass.gov/dcam/umb)?
The new site is to encourage community outreach and access for UMass Boston, and that includes providing information and reports about progress towards diversity goals. There is information for current and prospective employees, contractors, and other members of the community.
The Access and Opportunity goals and outcomes for the $700+ million UMass Boston project have been posted! Check them out, then let your voice be heard by coming to an Access and Opportunities Committee meeting or contacting a committee member.
 |
| Sneak peek of the latest report |
Note: You can view the UMass Boston PLA here.
Monday, August 22, 2011
Article on Job Corps Center being built in New Hampshire...mobilized women are an important consideration for success
Jobs Corps Center project going forward
By GARRY RAYNO
New Hampshire Union Leader
MANCHESTER — A project labor agreement, which delayed construction of New Hampshire's Job Corps Center for 21 months, will be a project requirement according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
The department announced last week it would move forward with the long-delayed $35 million project off Dunbarton Road. A New Hampshire contractor challenged the requirements two years ago, delaying project construction.
U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte said in a press release Friday she is concerned that the PLA favors out-of-state unionized contractors over local firms and could drive up the project's cost.
"The administration's plan to keep in place the PLA represents yet another senseless government mandate that could put New Hampshire businesses and workers at a competitive disadvantage. A PLA effectively gives unionized firms an unfair advantage over non-union firms, making it less likely that New Hampshire contractors would be able to bid successfully for the work," said Ayotte. "This is a New Hampshire project, and local contractors should be able to compete for it on a level playing field."
Project labor agreements usually require companies working on a construction project to provide health care, retirement benefits and apprenticeship programs. And PLAs usually include work rules, safety provisions, dispute resolution and a no-strike clause.
Contractors balked when the Job Corps agreement called for experience with three or more PLAs. North Branch Construction of Concord filed a protest with the Government Accountability Office and that brought the bidding process to a halt.
Manchester Mayor Ted Gatsas said Friday his concern with the original PLA was the prior PLA experience. That meant no New Hampshire firms could qualify to do the work, because no firm had experience with three PLAs, he said.
"My understanding was that was not going to be in there," Gatsas said. "It should be New Hampshire people doing this project."
Gatsas said he has not seen the documentation, but noted "This is a project we need to move forward. It's 300 construction jobs to the city and 135 permanent jobs."
In response to a request from Ayotte asking to clarify the PLA issue, the DOL wrote that in keeping with a January 2009 executive order by President Obama, construction projects over $25 million should use PLAs. A PLA is appropriate for the $35 million Job Corps project, the department wrote.
Mark Holden, president of the Associated Builders and Contractors of New Hampshire/Vermont said: "It is important for all New Hampshire taxpayers to understand the impact of this decision. Requiring non-union contractors to execute union agreements for the project, agreeing to replace their employees with union workers, pay into union funds and abide by union work rules and conditions creates unknown costs that are impossible to plan and bid for and are conditions that make it non-competitive for non-union contractors.
"To suggest that a non-union contractor's ability to compete would not be impacted by this PLA is untrue. A PLA requirement will have a chilling impact on competition from non-union contractors and will dramatically inflate the construction cost of this taxpayer funded project. At a time when a challenging economy is dependent on real solutions for job creation and accountability for every taxpayer dollar, this decision is unbelievable."
Joe Casey, president of the New Hampshire Building and Construction Trades Council, said Ayotte and Holden are making a lot of assumptions about the PLA and what it will require. "It all depends on what the project labor agreement is and I have yet to see one for this project," Casey said. "This is a debate we should have once the Department of Labor releases the project (documents)."
He noted the DOL hired an independent group, Hill International, to determine if a PLA is feasible for the project, but he had not seen the study. "We should all take a step back and see the actual contents of the project labor agreement," Casey said. "The provisions could benefit New Hampshire contractors and New Hampshire workers."
He noted the last major federal construction project in New Hampshire was the Berlin prison and the contractors and almost all of the workers came from out-of-state. That prison has yet to open because the federal government has not released operation money.
"That is the type of thing the project labor agreement addresses," Casey said. "If federal money is coming to the state of New Hampshire, why shouldn't it stay in New Hampshire with the New Hampshire workforce. At the end of the day, that is what we are looking for."
Dick Anagnost, a Manchester developer who is chairman of the Job Corps Task Force, told the New Hampshire Union Leader last week that the project will take about 18 months.
He said the Labor Department should take a month to prepare bid specifications. Another month will be needed to solicit bids, and a final month will be needed to review them.
A Job Corps Center will help train economically disadvantaged youth to enter high-growth industries. New Hampshire is among the last states to have a Job Corps Center. The state began efforts 10 years ago to land a center of its own.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Video about the on the UMass Boston PLA: Check out the video of the ISC Groundbreaking Ceremony
The UMass Boston Groundbreaking Ceremony
Can be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sv0W7L7Ki1M
Want to know more about the Project Labor Agreement?
The background is from (0 - 2:30)
UMass Boston's new complex means jobs and opportunities for Boston residents, minorities, women, as well as other people in the trades. What does this mean for you?
Friday, May 13, 2011
UMass Boston broke ground in April for the first building in $700 million worth of work...a commitment to BJO hiring goals
Hi Tradeswomen and Allies,
UMass Boston broke ground in April for the first building in $700 million worth of work. They are essentially tearing down the entire campus and rebuilding it over the next ten years. The university and the state have made a commitment to meeting the hiring goals of the Boston Jobs Ordinance, which is 10% women, 25% people of color and 50% residents.
The entire project is under a Project Labor Agreement, and under that PLA, they have created an Access and Opportunity Committee to help the community get access to these jobs. The committee is having a public meeting next Wednesday evening at UMass.
This is an opportunity to show them that there are tradeswomen in Boston ready, able and willing to do this work, and to advocate for actually meeting (or even exceeding!) the goal of 10% women, which has almost never happened. Below are the details.
We hope you can join us - spread the word!
Wednesday, May 18
6 - 8 pm
Meeting of the Access & Opportunity Committee
Ryan Lounge
McCormick Building
UMass Boston
Parking: UMass will provide parking passes for those who attend this meeting.
A map of the campus can be found at http://uc.umb.edu/moreinfo/general/map/
If you have trouble reading the map, park in any parking lot, come up onto the campus, and ask around for the McCormick Building. It is marked as the McCormick Building.
The Access and Opportunity Committee was created under the PLA for this $700 million project and includes members from the Division of Capitol Asset Management (the state agency who owns this job), the UMass Building Authority, UMass Administration & Finance, labor unions and Boston city government people.
The PLA covers replacing many of the structures on campus. The first building is the $155 million Integrated Science Center. Walsh Brothers is the Construction Manager.
Some details about this, the first of many buildings, can be found at
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