Activism
City Report Calls for End of ‘Historic, Racially Exclusive Membership’ of Construction Unions
Local data, submitted by unions in July 2020, indicate that “numerous disparities” under PLA’s currently exist in Oakland. However, data was submitted to the city by only 10 out of 28 of the building trades. Presumably these may have been the unions with better results.
By Ken Epstein
The City of Oakland’s Department of Race & Equity recently issued a report calling for construction unions to abandon their historic, racially exclusive membership policies if they want the city to sign a contract guaranteeing the unions receive the lion’s-share of construction jobs on city-funded projects.
The City Council has been under behind-the-scenes pressure for several years from both building trades unions and their allied community groups to sign a binding contract, called a Project Labor Agreement (PLA), guaranteeing most jobs on city projects will go to union members.
Most building trades craft unions have failed to report numbers of Black and women members of their organizations. They also have not taken steps to eliminate the barriers to entry nor the sometimes-hostile work environments that keep African Americans and women out of union construction jobs.
So far, the 70-page racial equity analysis report, “Improving the Effectiveness of Project Agreements,” which examines current conditions and makes proposals for change, has been largely ignored by the media and most Oakland accountability activists.
The report was completed in in December 2020 by the Estolano Advisors and the San Francisco Foundation and submitted to the City Council by the Department of Race and Equity.
The San Francisco Foundation convened an advisory committee of representatives of public agencies, community-based organizations and the Alameda County Building Trades to examine strategies to diversify the construction workforce through PLA’s. Also supporting the study were Julian Gross of Renee Public Law Group, Junius Williams Consulting and others.
Local data, submitted by unions in July 2020, indicate that “numerous disparities” under PLA’s currently exist in Oakland. However, data was submitted to the city by only 10 out of 28 of the building trades. Presumably these may have been the unions with better results.
- 98% of current members in the data sample are male;
- 25% of building trades members lives in Alameda County (not necessarily in Oakland), and 75% do not;
- Union members in the samples were 54% white, 35% Hispanic/Latino, 5% Black, 3% Asian, and 4% other or unknown.
- Journey workers (the most skilled and highest paid) represent 79% of members, while 21% are apprentices;
These survey results confirm “that current data from the trade affiliates does not fully capture the landscape of the local construction workforce because trade affiliates do not collect data consistently and are not mandated to collect and report it,” according to the report.
The ongoing economic disparity in opportunities for women and African Americans in the building trades are national in scope and historically conditioned, according to a report to the City Council by Darlene Flynn, director of the Department of Race and Equity:
“Inequity in outcomes is the result of over 200 years of institutional policy and practice that excluded BIPOC Black, Indigenous, People of Color) groups from fair and equitable access to living wage employment and wealth building.”
“Government has a responsibility to right historical wrongs in which it participated, and the City of Oakland has made a commitment to address disparities through intentional equity strategies in all the City does,” Flynn said in her report.
One chart in the report shows that although Black workers comprise 12% of the nation’s workforce, they obtain roughly a flat 6% of the jobs in construction for 25 years, from 1995 to today.
National unemployment rates underscore the inequities. In July 2021, overall unemployment during the pandemic remained at 6.5%. White unemployment was lower at 5.1%, Black unemployment was significantly higher at 10.1% and Hispanic/Latino joblessness stood at 8.4%
The report listed some of the persistent barriers that at present maintain the underrepresentation of Black and female building trade membership:
- “Vastly different, opaque, sometimes subjective entry process for each trade (somewhat like trying to get accepted into an exclusive fraternity);
- Disparities in participation and success rates in apprenticeship programs, mainly for Black and women workers;
- BIPOC members disproportionately hired into lower-paid apprenticeship programs;
- Small and local contractors, many non-union but hire more women and African Americans, are often shut out of city contracting under PLA’s;
- Poor reporting of race and gender data for unions, and “ineffective/inconsistent monitoring of contractor obligations;”
- Poor funding for pre-apprenticeship programs;
- Unwelcoming worksite culture for under-represented groups, lack of mentorship support for underrepresented groups;
- Lack of public accountability for equity outcomes.
This is the first of a series of articles on Project Labor Agreements and racial equity analysis. Future articles will focus on concerns of Black construction workers and small contractors in Oakland and solutions that would produce more equitable outcomes.
Activism
An Inside Look into How San Francisco Analyzes Homeless Encampments
Dozens of unhoused people are camped at Sixth and Jesse streets in San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood. Tents made of tarps and blankets, piles of debris, and people lounging alongside the allies and walls of businesses are seen from all angles. These are some of the city’s hotspots. City crews have cleared encampments there over 30 times in the past year, but unhoused people always return.
By Magaly Muñoz
Dozens of unhoused people are camped at Sixth and Jesse streets in San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood. Tents made of tarps and blankets, piles of debris, and people lounging alongside the allies and walls of businesses are seen from all angles.
These are some of the city’s hotspots. City crews have cleared encampments there over 30 times in the past year, but unhoused people always return.
But it’s normal to have tents set up again within less than 24 hours after an encampment sweep, David Nakanishi, Healthy Streets Operation Center Manager at the Department of Emergency Management, says. Sometimes there’s less people than before but often there is also no change.
“Most of the people that were in the encampments that want to go inside, we’ve gotten the majority of those [into shelter],” Nakanishi says. “Many of the people we encounter now, are those who have various reasons to not accept shelter, and some are already in shelter/housing”.
Since the ruling of Grants Pass by the US Supreme Court earlier this summer, which allows cities the authority to ban people from camping or sleeping on the streets, San Francisco has been at the head of the conversation to crack down on encampments.
Where neighboring cities in the Bay Area are clearing encampments a few days a week, San Francisco is sweeping 10 times a week, two per weekday.
Considering the controversy that plagues the city around its harsh policies, the Post decided to tag along on a ride with Nakanishi to show us how he decides what encampments make it on the city’s sweep list.
Nakanishi, having over 20 years of experience in homelessness management, drives around the busiest parts of the city almost daily. He’s tasked with arranging a weekly sweeping operation schedule for city teams to engage with unhoused folks to help get them off the streets.
So what exactly is he looking out for when deciding what encampments get swept?
It depends, he says.
Locations like schools, recreational centers, senior centers, or businesses are places he tends to want to address quickly, especially schools. These are the places where the complaints are highest and access to facilities is important for residents.
He says he also takes into account 311 calls and reports made to him by city staff. On the date of publication, over 100 calls and reports were made about encampments around the city, according to San Francisco data.
Nakanishi made a few 311 reports himself on the ride along, pulling over to take photos and describe the encampments into his 311 app. He says it helps him remember where to possibly sweep next or allows smaller teams in the city to engage quicker with individuals on the streets.
Nakanishi also looks at the state of the encampments. Are there a lot of bulky items, such as furniture, or makeshift structures built out of tarps and plywood, blocking areas of traffic? Is trash beginning to pile up and spill into the streets or sidewalks? Sites that meet this criteria tend to be contenders for encampment sweeps, Nakanishi says.
Street by street, he points out individuals he’s interacted with, describing their conditions, habits, and reasons for denying assistance from the city.
One man on 2nd St and Mission, who rolls around a blue recycling bin and often yells at passing pedestrians, has refused shelter several times, Nakanishi says.
People deny shelter for all kinds of reasons, he says. There’s too many rules to follow, people feel unsafe in congregate or shared shelters, or their behavioral and mental health problems make it hard to get them into proper services.
Nakanishi references another man on South Van Ness under the freeway, who city outreach have attempted to get into shelter, but his screaming outbursts make it difficult to place him without disturbing other people in the same space. Nakanishi says it might be an issue of the man needing resources like medication to alleviate his distress that causes the screaming, but the city behavioral team is in the process of outreaching him to figure that out.
In October, city outreach teams engaged with 495 unhoused people. 377 of those engaged refused shelter and only 118 accepted placements, according to city data. That number of monthly referrals is consistent throughout the entirety of 2024 so far.
Nakanishi has long advocated for the well-being of unhoused people, he explains. In 2004, he was working with the Department of Public Health and told then-Mayor Gavin Newsom that there needed to be more housing for families. Nakinishi was told it was easier to deal with individuals first and the city “will get there eventually.” 20 years later, family housing is still not as extensive as it could be, and the waiting list to get placements for families is a mile long with over 500 names.
In 2020, he was a Senior Behavioral Health Clinician at a hotel in the city during the pandemic. He says in 2021 he collaborated with DPH to provide vaccines to those staying in the makeshift hotel shelters once those became available.
Despite the constant media attention that city outreach is inhumanely treating homeless people, so much so that it has led to lawsuits against San Francisco from advocates, Nakanishi says not a lot of people are seeing the true conditions of some encampments.
He describes soiled clothing and tents, drenched in urine, and oftentimes rodents or bug infestations in places where people are sleeping. He’s asked homeless advocates- often those who are the most critical about the city’s work- who have shown up to observe the sweeps if those are conditions the city should allow people to be subjected to, but not many have answers for him, Nakanishi says.
The city’s “bag and tag” policy allows city workers to throw away items that are “soiled by infectious materials” such as bodily fluids and waste.
Sweep operations are conducted at 8am and 1pm Monday through Friday. People at the encampments are given 72 hour notice to vacate, but some don’t leave the area until the day of the sweep.
City outreach workers come out the day before and day of to offer resources and shelter to those interested. The Department of Public Works discards any trash that is left over from the sweep and washes down the area.
Nakanishi told the Post that the only time the city takes tents or personal possessions from residents is when folks become physically violent towards workers and police take the items as evidence. Other items taken are bagged and tagged in accordance with city policy.
Stories from local newspapers such as the San Francisco Standard and the Chronicle show instances of SFPD handcuffing residents while their items are thrown in the trash or disposing of personal possessions without reason.
Advocates have long been pushing for a more competent and compassionate process if the city is going to choose to continue sweeping unhouse people.
No matter the lawsuits and constant criticisms from allies, the encampment sweeps are not slowing down, even with the cold weather quickly approaching the coastal city.
Nakanishi says there aren’t a lot of large encampments left in San Francisco so now they do runs of streets in order to stretch out the sweeps as much as possible.
It’s calculated strategies and years of first hand knowledge that make this job work, “It takes dedication to the work, caring for the people and the community, and persistence, patience and sometimes good luck to make the positive changes for the people on the street,” Nakanishi says.
Activism
Oakland Post: Week of November 13 – 19, 2024
The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of November 13 – 19, 2024
To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.
Activism
LIVE! — TOWN HALL ON RACISM AND ITS IMPACT — THURS. 11.14.24 5PM PST
Join us for a LIVE Virtual Town Hall on the Impact of Racism hosted by Post News Group Journalist Carla Thomas and featuring Oakland, CA NAACP President Cynthia Adams & other Special Guests.
Thursday, November 14, 2024, 5 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. PST
Join us for a LIVE Virtual Town Hall on the Impact of Racism hosted by Post News Group Journalist Carla Thomas and featuring Oakland, CA NAACP President Cynthia Adams & other Special Guests.
Thursday, November 14, 2024
5 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. PST
Discussion Topics:
• Since the pandemic, what battles have the NAACP fought nationally, and how have they impacted us locally?
• What trends are you seeing concerning Racism? Is it more covert or overt?
• What are the top 5 issues resulting from racism in our communities?
• How do racial and other types of discrimination impact local communities?
• What are the most effective ways our community can combat racism and hate?
Your questions and comments will be shared LIVE with the moderators and viewers during the broadcast.
STREAMED LIVE!
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