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The Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District Board of Commissioners will meet at the Wharfinger Building tonight to discuss two big items offshore wind-related items.

Commissioners will first consider a request to authorize staff to submit a grant application for a “multi-million dollar” Federal Multimodal Project Discretionary Grant through the U.S. Department of Transportation that would cover some of the constructions costs associated with the Humboldt Offshore Wind Terminal Project slated for the Samoa Peninsula. Commissioners will then consider a related request to approve a Project Labor Agreement (PLA) that will outline the terms and conditions of future building contracts with construction and trade unions as development efforts move forward.

The proposed agreement has sparked debate between unions and some local construction companies that run non-union shops. Union members largely support the PLA, whereas the companies argue that it does not provide fair and equal opportunity for all construction and trade workers. 

What is a PLA, you ask? A PLA is a pre-hire collective bargaining agreement made between one or more construction unions and one or more contractors to establish the terms and conditions of a specific project, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. PLAs are used to organize complex construction projects and include provisions to that bind all contractors and subcontractors to the agreement, including no-strike, no-lock-out clauses to eliminate delays associated with labor unrest. A PLA is required for any federally funded construction project valued at more than $35 million, per an Executive Order issued by President Joe Biden in February 2022.

The Harbor District has spent the last year working with members of the Humboldt-Del Norte County Building and Construction Trades Council, the State Building and Construction Trade Council of the State of California, and other local labor representatives to develop a PLA for the terminal project. Jeff Hunerlach, district representative for Operating Engineer’s Local #3, is satisfied with what they’ve come up with. 

“The labor unions have been involved in conversations surrounding offshore wind and port development really since 2016,” Hunerlach told the Outpost during a recent phone interview. “This has been a long, thought-out and drawn-out negotiation process and I think it’s a very good agreement for Humboldt and Del Norte communities. I think it’s a huge opportunity to grow our local workforce.”

He added that many of the local workers that he represents are only able to find high-paying, consistent work out of the area. 

“I have at least 100 journeyman operators that have been working down in the valley or in the Bay Area, but their families are up here,” he said. “I’m married to one of them, and she’s been out of the area for over four years. This is the first year that she got lucky and has been able to work here for the last three months. It’s hard on a marriage and there are many, many laborers – all the crafts – that are in the same situation because there’s no work here.”

The Harbor District has received dozens of letters of support for the PLA from construction and trade union members, representatives of Cal Poly Humboldt and regional elected officials, including state Senator Mike McGuire and Assemblymember Jim Wood.

Some non-union contractors, on the other hand, fear the proposed agreement would put many prospective local workers at a disadvantage. 

The Humboldt Builders Exchange, a non-profit construction trade association representing over 300 licensed general contractors and sub-contractors, asserts that the proposed PLA contains provisions that would exclude the vast majority – an estimated 90 percent – of local contractors.

“The provisions in the PLA as it stands contain a ‘core’ employment provision that requires a 1:1 hiring for the [Humboldt Offshore Wind Terminal] Project,” Lynette Mullen, an independent contractor hired to advocate on behalf of the Humboldt Builders Exchange, told the Outpost. “If I have 15 employees or less, I can put a maximum of seven employees out on that project. But, of course, that’s matched with union members that I’ve been required to hire. If I have over 15 employees, the maximum number of my non-union employees that I can put on there is five.”

Mullen also took issue with the fact that the PLA requires all non-union workers to register with and be dispatched through the union hall, adding that only non-union employees are subject to unnecessary expenses that are already covered by their employer.

“This PLA requires every single non-union worker to register through the union and pay union fringe benefits,” she continued. “These employees are required to pay this benefit – that they don’t need and unless they work for the union – that they will never benefit from.”

If the crux of the issue is unfair treatment toward non-union members, what’s stopping local contractors from unionizing? “They don’t want to,” Mullen said.

“That’s the whole point,” she said. “Let’s say my dad started a company 50 years ago. I’ve got all my systems in place, I keep my guys busy, I give them great benefits and I pay them well. Why in the world would I want to unionize? Why should I be forced to completely change the structure of my company in order to work on a project? People should be given the choice and nobody’s been given the choice here.”

The Humboldt Builders Exchange has asked the Board of Commissioners to table the vote for at least 30 days to provide additional time to “develop a version [of the agreement] that is fair for all construction and trade workers in Humboldt County.” The Harbor District denied the request.

Larry Oetker, executive director of the Harbor District, noted that the aforementioned grant funding application requires a PLA for submittal. Without it, the application could be denied.

“You meet a certain threshold when you submit a grant application,” he said. “If we submit the grant and we have a PLA, that’s one more box that we can check to demonstrate that we meeting the criteria for the grant. I’m not saying that we couldn’t have the [PLA] later, but anytime you’re writing a grant, you want to check as many of the boxes at the time that you submit the grant as you can because it makes you more competitive.”

The Board of Commissioners will consider the grant application request and the proposed PLA during tonight’s discussion. The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. at the Wharfinger Building at 1 Marina Way in Eureka. You can find the agenda packet at this link.

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DOCUMENT: Project Labor Agreement