Oakland

Opinion: Brooks’ Demand for Local Hiring of Blacks Results in Building Trades’ Attack Ads

Published

7 years ago

October 12, 2018

In a recent news article, the secretary-treasurer of the local Building Trades Council asserted that racism is no longer a problem within the construction unions. He acknowledged that the construction trades have a history of excluding Black workers, but he said that is over.

Unfortunately, the evidence indicates a different reality, and there is no way for Andreas Cluver of the Building Trades Council to support his point, since the organizations he represents refuse to reveal their membership by ethnicity.

However, we do know for sure that on city-funded construction projects in the City of Oakland, Black workers get only 9 percent of the work, in spite of the fact that they make up 25 percent of the population (See records of the Oakland Office of Contract Compliance). And we know from national statistics that African-Americans are 12.3 percent of the U.S. population and only 6 percent of those employed in construction.

One of few councilmembers who has consistently protested discrimination against Black workers in construction, cannabis and other arenas important to the Black community is Desley Brooks.

Instead of taking the issues Brooks raises as an opportunity for discussion and change, several of the organizations Mr. Cluver represents are attempting to unseat her using an “Independent Expenditure Committee.”

The electricians union has contributed $10,000 to the expenditure committee. Data use reports that nationally only 2 percent of electricians are women and only 6 percent are Black.

Interestingly, supporters of Mayor Libby Schaff, whose gentrification and housing policies have also been opposed by Brooks, is contributing to the same “Independent Expenditure Committee” and so is the locally-based corporate-funded charter organization.

The building trades have started demanding recently that they get virtually all the work on city-funded construction projects, even if it means that Black workers will continue to be less employed, by virtue of their underrepresentation in the construction unions.

CM Brooks is one of few who has had the courage to ask questions about these demands.
The national unemployment rate in March 2018 was 7.2 percent for African-Americans and 3.3 percent for whites. These numbers fluctuate, but the 2 to 1 ratio between Black and white unemployment has remained the same for decades.

And a recent national meta-analysis indicates that there has been no decrease in job discrimination against African-Americans over the last 25 years. (See Quillian, Pager, Hexel, and Mitboen 2017).

Jobs in construction offer relatively high wages. Unlike many manufacturing jobs, most of the labor cannot be exported to lower-wage states or countries. It is considered a growth industry by the Department of Labor and is therefore an important industry for a group which experiences high unemployment.

This could be an historic moment, given that unemployment is relatively low for whites. The Building Trades could more easily develop an ethic of racial solidarity.

These unions could support racially progressive elected officials. They could take the structural steps necessary to welcome large number of Black workers into their ranks and facilitate their speedy achievement of journey person status.

This would require locating apprenticeship programs that are accessible to Oakland residents in this community, finally revealing their numbers by ethnicity and joining with all stakeholders to work together to take other pro-active steps.

Such steps of solidarity would help the whole labor movement and the general position of working-class people in the Bay Area.

Kitty Kelly Epstein, PhD is a professor of education and urban studies.

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Oakland Post: Week of May 21 – 27, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of May 21 – 27, 2025

Published

2 days ago

May 25, 2025

Oakland Post

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Activism

Oakland Hosts Town Hall Addressing Lead Hazards in City Housing

According to the city, there are 22,000 households in need of services for lead issues, most in predominantly low-income or Black and Latino neighborhoods, but only 550 to 600 homes are addressed every year. The city is hoping to use part of the multimillion-dollar settlement to increase the number of households served each year.

Published

1 week ago

May 18, 2025

Oakland Post

iStock.

By Magaly Muñoz

The City of Oakland’s Housing and Community Development Department hosted a town hall in the Fruitvale to discuss the efforts being undertaken to remove lead primarily found in housing in East and West Oakland.

In 2021, the city was awarded $14 million out of a $24 million legal settlement from a lawsuit against paint distributors for selling lead-based paint that has affected hundreds of families in Oakland and Alameda County. The funding is intended to be used for lead poisoning reduction and prevention services in paint only, not water or other sources as has been found recently in schools across the city.

The settlement can be used for developing or enhancing programs that abate lead-based paint, providing services to individuals, particularly exposed children, educating the public about hazards caused by lead paint, and covering attorney’s fees incurred in pursuing litigation.

Most of the homes affected were built prior to 1978, and 12,000 of these homes are considered to be at high risk for lead poisoning.

City councilmember Noel Gallo, who represents a few of the lead-affected Census tracts, said the majority of the poisoned kids and families are coming directly from neighborhoods like the Fruitvale.

“When you look at the [kids being admitted] at the children’s hospital, they’re coming from this community,” Gallo said at the town hall.

In order to eventually rid the highest impacted homes of lead poisoning, the city intends to create programs and activities such as lead-based paint inspections and assessments, full abatement designed to permanently eliminate lead-based paint, or partial abatement for repairs, painting, and specialized cleaning meant for temporary reduction of hazards.

In feedback for what the city could implement in their programming, residents in attendance of the event said they want more accessibility to resources, like blood testing, and information from officials about lead poisoning symptoms, hotlines for assistance, and updates on the reduction of lead in their communities.

Attendees also asked how they’d know where they are on the prioritization list and what would be done to address lead in the water found at several school sites in Oakland last year.

City staff said there will be a follow-up event to gather more community input for programming in August, with finalizations happening in the fall and a pilot launch in early 2026.

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Alameda County

Oakland Begins Month-Long Closure on Largest Homeless Encampment

At 8 a.m. sharp, city workers began piling up trash and dismantling makeshift homes along the nearly five-block encampment. City crews blocked off streets from 14th Ave to 17th Ave, between E. 12th and International Blvd, due to the Safe Work Zone Ordinance that was passed by the city council in 2022 to protect workers from harassment during cleanings, according to a city spokesperson.

Published

1 week ago

May 18, 2025

Oakland Post

The City of Oakland began sweeping their largest homeless encampment on E 12th St. Monday morning. Advocates claim that the city has not done its due diligence with providing ample resources or outreach for residents at the encampment. Photo by Magaly Muñoz.

By Magaly Muñoz

The City of Oakland began a three-week-long breakdown of the largest homeless encampment in the city on E. 12th Street on Monday morning. Residents and advocates said they are devastated about the displacement of dozens of people.

Jaz Colibri, one of the many advocates at the closure, said the encampment sweeps were “intense and terrifying” to witness. They claimed that several residents, many of them non-English speakers, had not been aware that the sweep was happening that day because of a lack of proper communication and outreach from Oakland.

Colibri added that the city had done a Census “many months ago” and “had not bothered to count people since then”, meaning dozens of individuals have missed out on housing and resources in the last few weeks because the city doesn’t offer outreach in multiple languages.

“Basically, [Oakland] dropped the ball on actually getting to know everybody who lives here and then creating a housing solution that meets everyone’s needs,” Colibri said.

City spokesperson Jean Walsh told the Post that notices of the closure operation were posted in Spanish and Chinese prior to Monday, but did not clarify if outreach was done in those languages as well.

Nearly a dozen Oakland police vehicles, California Highway Patrol officers, and Oakland Public Works staff were gathered along E 12th waiting for residents to pack up their belongings and move away from the area.

Advocates said residents “felt unsafe” due to the hefty law enforcement presence.

One city worker, who was picking up debris near 16th Ave, said, “They’ve known we were coming for a long time now” in reference to resident confusion about the sweeping.

The state doubled down on its requirement to get cities and counties to deal with their homelessness crisis at a press conference Monday afternoon. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office released a “model ordinance” that is intended to provide a starting point that local municipalities can use to build from and adjust in creating their own policies on encampments, if they haven’t done so yet.

Newsom said “No more excuses, time to deliver” after the state has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into solving the issue.

Oakland was awarded a $7.2 million grant from the state in 2024 to close long-standing encampments in the city, including camps at Martin Luther King, Jr. and 23rd Street, and Mosswood Park.

Residents at these encampments were offered wraparound supportive services, temporary shelter, and eventually will be transitioned to permanent supportive housing, according to a city statement from last year.

Residents who accepted housing at these three encampments were moved into newly acquired property, formerly the Extended Stay America Hotel in West Oakland, which will first serve as interim housing for up to 150 individuals and couples in 105 units, and in the coming year, will be converted into 125 units of permanent housing.

Walsh said as of May 2, “32 residents of the recently closed Mosswood Park encampment moved into the Mandela House program” and as of May 12, “41 residents of the East 12th Street encampment have already accepted offers to move to the Mandela House.” The city will provide final numbers of how many accepted and moved into housing after the closure operation is over.