News
Black Workers Receive Only 9 Percent of Hours on City- Funded Building Projects

A new City of Oakland report showd that during the past two years African American workers obtained a little over 9 percent of journeyman and apprentice hours on city-funded projects, though African Americans make up 28 percent of Oakland’s population.
The 34-page report, dated Jan. 10, 2018, shows that African Americans received 9.31 percent of the 659,544.32 hours worked on projects during the two-year period. Gross wages paid for the hours worked were $24,146,750.09.
The Oakland Post obtained the report, covering 2015 to 2017, after filing a California Public Records Act request.
Asians received 1.6 percent, Caucasians 20.09 percent, Hispanics 57.17 percent and Native Americans 0.07 percent of the work. The report does not break down journeyman and apprentice hours by ethnicity, though African American workers tend to be concentrated in the lower paid apprentice positions.
“We still have a tremendous disparity across ethnicities in the hiring on these city-funded projects,” said Brian Beveridge of OaklandWORKS.
“Based on other things we know, this reflects disparities in the building trades,” he said. High number of workers on sites are Latino, he said, which represents increased Latino membership in the Laborers Union and a few others, but the building trades unions overall remain segregated.
Among affiliated Building Trades unions are Laborers, Carpenters, Electrical Workers,Operating Engineers, Plasterers and Glazers.
The Building and Construction Trades Council of Alameda County has so far been unwilling to release information on the racial and ethnic composition of member unions.
“We would like to see a greater effort on the part of all the building trade unions to recruit from all ethnicities and get more balance in their membership,” said Beveridge. “We’re a union town and we support collective bargaining,” he said. “But we’re not seeing equity in hiring on publically funded projects. The solution can’t all be put on contractors. The trade unions have to play a role.”
Margaret Gordon, West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project co-director, told the Post that the failure of the building trades to hire and retain Black workers was the result of racism in the unions and economic obstacles to working in the building trades.
“Internal racism in the unions is a root cause,” she said.
In addition, the lack of retention of Black workers who do obtain apprenticeship positions often has to with the workers not having do the “resources to get from one job to the next job.”
“They can’t work if they don’t have the money for the tools, gas money, a reliable car, being able to buy lunch, pay for childcare, all those day-to-today things.”
A number of workers do not complete their apprenticeships, and there is little financial incentive to builders to reach their apprenticeship hour goals, Gordon said. “They pay liquidated damages, which is only. 1.5 times the person’s hourly wage. That needs to be need fixed. Liquidated damages should be 10 times a person’s hourly wages.”
The policy of the Army Base project establishes a flat rate of $20 per shortfall hour and is not tied to the wages that would have been paid to the worker.
Gordon said the participation of African Americans as apprentices and journeymen has been in decline since the construction projects in the wake of the Cypress freeway collapse in 1989.
“Those numbers have never recovered,” she said.
By the Oakland Post’s deadline, neither Mayor Libby Schaaf nor Andreas Cluver, secretary-treasurer of the Building and Construction Trades Council, replied to requests for comment.
Activism
Oakland Post: Week of May 21 – 27, 2025
The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of May 21 – 27, 2025

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OP-ED: Oregon Bill Threatens the Future of Black Owned Newspapers and Community Journalism
BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — Nearly half of Oregon’s media outlets are now owned by national conglomerates with no lasting investment in local communities. According to an OPB analysis, Oregon has lost more than 90 news jobs (and counting) in the past five years. These were reporters, editors and photographers covering school boards, investigating corruption and telling community stories, until their jobs were cut by out-of-state corporations.

By Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr.
President and CEO, National Newspaper Publishers Association
For decades, The Skanner newspaper in Portland, the Portland Observer, and the Portland Medium have served Portland, Oregon’s Black community and others with a vital purpose: to inform, uplift and empower. But legislation now moving through the Oregon Legislature threatens these community news institutions—and others like them.
As President and CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), which represents more than 255 Black-owned media outlets across the United States—including historic publications like The Skanner, Portland Observer, and the Portland Medium—l believe that some Oregon lawmakers would do more harm than good for local journalism and community-owned publications they are hoping to protect.
Oregon Senate Bill 686 would require large digital platforms such as Google and Meta to pay for linking to news content. The goal is to bring desperately needed support to local newsrooms. However, the approach, while well-intentioned, puts smaller, community-based publications at a future severe financial risk.
We need to ask – will these payments paid by tech companies benefit the journalists and outlets that need them most? Nearly half of Oregon’s media outlets are now owned by national conglomerates with no lasting investment in local communities. According to an OPB analysis, Oregon has lost more than 90 news jobs (and counting) in the past five years. These were reporters, editors, and photographers covering school boards, investigating corruption, and telling community stories, until their jobs were cut by out-of-state corporations.
Legislation that sends money to these national conglomerate owners—without the right safeguards to protect independent and community-based outlets—rewards the forces that caused this inequitable crisis in the first place. A just and inclusive policy must guarantee that support flows to the front lines of local journalism and not to the boardrooms of large national media corporations.
The Black Press exists to fill in the gaps left by larger newsrooms. Our reporters are trusted messengers. Our outlets serve as forums for civic engagement, accountability and cultural pride. We also increasingly rely on our digital platforms to reach our audiences, especially younger generations—where they are.
We are fervently asking Oregon lawmakers to take a step back and engage in meaningful dialogue with those most affected: community publishers, small and independent outlets and the readers we serve. The Skanner, The Portland Observer, and The Portland Medium do not have national corporate parents or large investors. And they, like many smaller, community-trusted outlets, rely on traffic from search engines and social media to boost advertising revenue, drive subscriptions, and raise awareness.
Let’s work together to build a better future for Black-owned newspapers and community journalism that is fair, local,l and representative of all Oregonians.
Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr., President & CEO, National Newspaper Publishers Association
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