We’ve set a national precedent. And it came through the hard work of our members.

The Sunnyvale City Council voted 4-3 to become the first city to require apprentices from state-approved programs on “large” private-sector development projects. The City Council directed staff to bring them a completed ordinance that would implement their decision.

While similar conditions are often written into public construction projects and private ones receiving government funding, this is unprecedented for private projects without public subsidies. Josue Garcia, CEO of the Building and Construction Trades Council, warned that without the ordinance, developers would continue to bring in low-wage workers from places like Texas and Kansas. “At the end of the day, all they leave you with is expensive homes and cheap wages,” he said.

Our work started in 2012, when UA Local 393 members joined a few hundred sheet metal workers and local leaders to picket a BRE residential project in Sunnyvale. The “Hope and Opportunity” rally exposed the awful work conditions and paltry pay of the non-union workforce.

Our activists living in Sunnyvale held a “meet and greet” with candidates at a local restaurant. The future City Council members heard directly from construction workers in their community how an imported low-wage workforce harmed working families.

Cheryl Pollock, a resident and member who recently passed, was a constant presence at council meetings, where she shared how a career in the trades gave her an opportunity to raise her family in Sunnyvale.

Our work in Sunnyvale not only has resulted int his groundbreaking policy, but developers now understand we are a force to be reckoned with. In the last 18 months, DR Horton, Sares Regis, Raintree and Watt Communities have all signed Project Labor Agreements (PLA) on Sunnyvale projects with our Local providing over 125,000 hours for our members! (We do have a dispute with Raintree on implementing their PLA.)

Mayor Jim Griffith and Councilmembers Jim Davis, David Whittum and Pat Meyering voted in favor of the ordinance. Vice Mayor Tara Martin-Milius and Councilmembers Glenn Hendricks and Gustav Larsson voted against it.