Each year, the City awards hundreds of millions of dollars in public works construction contracts to private contractors. This article, also referred to as the Public Infrastructure Stabilization Ordinance, advances the interests of the City by promoting the use of project labor agreements for those public works construction projects meeting certain criteria.
Project labor agreements are the preferred tool to ensure that important proprietary goals of the City are achieved. These goals include completion of construction projects on time and within budget by minimizing labor misunderstandings, grievances and conflict, and by emphasizing worker safety.
Project labor agreements also advance the City's interests by ensuring that unemployed and under-employed residents will receive employment opportunities at City public works construction projects. Over the years, project labor agreements have proven to be an excellent mechanism to promote the hiring of unemployed and under-employed City residents. These agreements have proven their effectiveness in targeting construction employment and training opportunities to mitigate the harm caused by poverty which is geographically concentrated.
City public works construction contracts are subject to the State's prevailing wage laws or, in some instances, the Federal Davis-Bacon wage statute, each of which provides covered workers with substantially greater wages and benefits than otherwise required by law. Increasing access to employment opportunities where prevailing wages are paid is one way for the City to directly combat poverty and stimulate economic reinvestment.
In addition, having the opportunity to work on a City contract affords workers valuable experience which can be used to garner future employment. The City has an interest in expanding the field of competent construction workers to address the problems associated with a significant local unemployed, under-employed and unskilled workforce. The City serves this interest by expanding the opportunities workers have to be referred for employment by private contractors who are employed by the City.
Further, many unemployed and under-employed City residents are interested in getting good work and learning a construction trade. Young people constitute a significant portion of the City's unemployed and under-employed residents. Experience indicates that unemployment and under-employment contribute to devastating social burdens, including a sustained large population of unskilled workers, increased crime and increased need for costly social services. The City, as a principal provider of social support services, has an interest in promoting an employment environment that protects such limited resources. In creating a program that helps link contractors with potential construction workers, the City serves this interest and provides greater opportunities for employment on public works construction contracts.
In February 2008, the Economic Roundtable released a study commissioned by the Community Development Department titled "Concentrated Poverty in Los Angeles". For purposes of the study, concentrated poverty was defined as a census tract with 40 percent or more of households below the poverty level in 2000. The study found that the City of Los Angeles had higher rates of concentrated poverty than the nation and the broader Los Angeles region. In fact, "Nineteen percent or over 238,000 of the 1.3 million households in the City of Los Angeles were living below the federal poverty threshold in 2000. A quarter of the census tracts in the City (216 tracts) have poverty rates of at least 30 percent."
The City's areas of concentrated poverty are growing in size and increasing in number. The City desires to address this problem by creating programs that train and employ people living in these areas of concern.
The Public Infrastructure Stabilization Ordinance targets construction employment and training opportunities in ways calculated to mitigate the harm caused by geographically concentrated poverty, to address unemployment and under-employment in neighborhoods where poverty is concentrated, and to advance the skills of the local labor pool, especially the youth, by maximizing opportunities to earn a prevailing wage.
To further serve these interests, the Port of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles World Airports, the Department of Water and Power, and the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles are encouraged to adopt policies consistent with this article.
SECTION HISTORY
Added by Ord. No. 181,520, Eff. 2-20-11.
Amended by: In Entirety, Ord. No. 184,662, Eff. 1-25-17.